ASRock Z170 Pro4 & Samsung 950 Pro NVM Express M.2

Good Evening, I have just purchased a ASRock Z170 Pro4 & Samsung 950 Pro NVM Express M.2 (MZ-V5P512BW) storage device. The problem I am having is within the Storage view of the UEFI of the motherboard it is showing that the M.2(PCIe) is not detected. It see's it in the system view and I can still boot from it however it doesn't want to see it in the UEFI setup. I am hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction and assist me in getting this device recognised within the motherboards UEFI. I have no other SATA devices plugged into the motherboard. The only device is the M.2 storage device. Cheers and thanks in advance.

homith wrote: Good Evening, I have just purchased a ASRock Z170 Pro4 & Samsung 950 Pro NVM Express M.2 (MZ-V5P512BW) storage device. The problem I am having is within the Storage view of the UEFI of the motherboard it is showing that the M.2(PCIe) is not detected. It see's it in the system view and I can still boot from it however it doesn't want to see it in the UEFI setup. I am hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction and assist me in getting this device recognised within the motherboards UEFI. I have no other SATA devices plugged into the motherboard. The only device is the M.2 storage device. Cheers and thanks in advance.

What you are experiencing is completely normal. You will NOT see an NVMe SSD listed in the Storage Configuration screen, that screen is meant for SATA drives. Your 950 Pro is an NVMe SSD, not a SATA SSD.

NVMe is a new and different protocol than SATA. While the M.2 slots can be used with both SATA and NVMe drives, they use different drivers and are not the same type of devices.

The only reason the M.2 ports are listed in the Storage Configuration screen, is in case you are using a SATA M.2 SSD. We are so used to only working with one type/protocol of storage drives (SATA), we overlook that NVMe is different.

In the Advanced screen in the UEFI, you should find an entry for NVMe drives. If you don't, you may not have the UEFI update that adds additional NVMe support, like this screen. Frankly, all it does is list the NVMe SSD, there are no configuration options.

Otherwise, you will only see the 950 Pro in the System Browser tool, the Boot Manager tool (if your board's UEFI has that feature) and in the Boot order. This is normal for any NVMe SSD. I use both Samsung 950 and Intel 750 NVMe SSDs on several ASRock boards, and that is how it works.

Are there other storage devices we use that are not included in the Storage Configuration screen? Yes, USB flash drives. They are also only shown in the System Browser tool and the Boot order. They are not SATA devices.

Nothing is wrong with your board or the UEFI.

homith wrote: Thanks so much for the explanation. Looks like I was looking for a problem that doesn't exist. I got confused by the entry within the Storage tab listing M.2(PCIE). So, what your telling me is that a NVMe drive isn't a M.2(PCIE) drive? I got to ask now, what kind of drives are M.2(PCIE) drives then? Anyhow, thanks again for the terrific explanation. Cheers :)

I'm not saying an NVMe SSD is not an M.2 PCIe drive. The main thing I was explaining is an NVMe SSD is not the same thing as a SATA SSD.

For more information, you could read my thread about installing Windows on PCIe SSDs, which includes information about the different types of M.2 and PCIe SSDs:

http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1236&title=how-to-install-windows-on-a-pcie-ssd

An M.2 slot or port is a type of physical interface. So is USB.

Physical interface characteristics include the number of electrical connections and their layout, the size and shape of the connector, and many others.

But the terms M.2 and USB don't just describe the physical interface/connection. There are electrical specifications too.

Think of all the different devices that are called "USB...", from flash drives, network and audio devices, IO devices, the list is endless. All use the same USB connectors.

In the same way, the M.2 physical interface is used by different types of SSDs. There are other devices that use the M.2 physical interface, but they are uncommon.

SATA and NVMe are different ways for a data storage device (SSD) to communicate with the rest of a computer. The M.2 physical interface can be (and is) used by SATA SSDs and NMVe SSDs. The connectors on these two types of SSDs are slightly different, which is how the type of SSD is communicated to the PC.

Samsung has M.2 versions of the 850 EVO SATA SSD: http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/memory-storage/MZ-N5E500BW

The main thing that separates SATA and NVMe SSDs is they use different drivers. If you check in Device Manager, the Storage Controllers entry, you'll find entries for a SATA controller and an NVMe controller (if you are not using the built in MSoft drivers.

While in theory, a UEFI/BIOS screen like Storage Configuration could include any and all types of storage devices, they normally only include SATA drives. While M.2 NVMe SSDs share the M.2 interface with M.2 SATA SSDs, they have the differences I've described above.

Does your board have an NVMe Configuration screen in the UEFI/BIOS, in the Advanced section? Mine does, and that is where NVMe drives are listed. Not a big deal, just different.