Using a SATA M.2 SSD won't block the physical SATA ports on your computer.
Using a SATA M.2 SSD won't block the physical SATA ports on your computer.
You already have an NVMe M.2 SSD installed on your ASUS ROG B450-F motherboard. Adding a SATA drive would not disable any SATA ports.
When the M2 slot is used, it blocks the two latest SATA connections to provide bandwidth. This doesn’t affect adding additional SATA drives.
Using the lower M.2 port won’t turn off any SATA connections; it will halve the bandwidth of the larger top M.2 slot. Note that only the top M.2 slot can accept M.2 SATA devices—place your NVMe drive in the bottom port (remember, the second slot won’t work with certain CPUs and graphics cards).
It works. Adding a SATA drive to M.2_1 blocks those connections. Linking extra SATA drives outside M.2 won't affect this. The original board doesn't support disabling ports. You should skip the lower M.2 area for M.2 devices. Installing a SATA M.2 in the bottom slot isn't possible here.
If you place an M.2 in the top slot, ports 5 and 6 become unavailable, regardless of type. Only PCIe or NVMe M.2 slots are allowed there. When M.2_1 is in SATA or PCIe mode, ports 5/6 are turned off. *3 If M.2_2 gets used, PCIe x16_1 operates at 8x speed. *4 When M.2_1 runs in SATA or PCIe, the corresponding ports are disabled.
I updated my previous comment to include that detail, and added the note about the bottom slot not working with Ryzen Vega graphics CPUs. This information wasn't essential because the original poster already listed their CPU on their profile.