ASRock B450M Steel Legend Secondary M2 SSD
Printed From: ASRock.com
Category: Technical Support
Forum Name: AMD Motherboards
Forum Description: Question about ASRock AMD motherboards
URL: https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=100086
Printed Date: 31 Oct 2025 at 5:54pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.04 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: ASRock B450M Steel Legend Secondary M2 SSD
Posted By: Denral
Subject: ASRock B450M Steel Legend Secondary M2 SSD
Date Posted: 06 Mar 2025 at 7:30pm
Hi everyone,
I have a question.
Have been using as primary memory a Kingston NV3 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD 500 GB M.2 2280-SNV3S/500G
Recently I bought a ADATA Legend 710 512GB SSD for my secondary M2 (which I just recently discovered it exists in my motherboard).
Now my question is this,
Is this SSD compatible in the M2_2 slot because it is not showing up anywhere and I double check if it was installed correctly. Neither showing up on Disck Management or BIOS.
Am I doing something wrong? Should I maybe activate RAID on BIOS storage tab or anyone has any tips how to fix it? Or should I return it because it is not compatible.
Thank you all in advance!
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Replies:
Posted By: eccential
Date Posted: 06 Mar 2025 at 8:32pm
https://www.asrock.com/MB/AMD/B450M%20Steel%20Legend/#Specification" rel="nofollow - https://www.asrock.com/MB/AMD/B450M%20Steel%20Legend/#Specification
- 1 x M.2 Socket (M2_2), supports M Key type 2230/2242/2260/2280 M.2 SATA3 6.0 Gb/s module
That motherboard's 2nd M.2 socket will only support m.2 SATA. It does NOT support m.2 NVMe (PCIe) because it's not wired for PCIe devices.
If you have an unused and accessible PCIe slot, you can use something like this to add another NVMe drive:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FU9JS94/?th=1" rel="nofollow - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FU9JS94/?th=1
However, I see that the top PCIe slot is only wired for single PCIe lane and only Gen.2, so if you use a Gen.3 x4 NVMe drive on that slot, you're going to be limited to 1/8th of the maximum theoretical bandwidth that the drive can support.
The big slot at the bottom of the motherboard would be a good match for a card like this, if your GPU isn't so huge that it's blocking that slot.
If you don't even have a discrete GPU and using integrated GPU (G-series APU), then you can also use the main PCIe slot for this.
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Posted By: Denral
Date Posted: 06 Mar 2025 at 10:36pm
Hi, thank you so much for the response.
It was unfortunately what I was afraid of.
I was looking into a Pcie adapter also but my gpu blocks the slot.
Guess I will have to return the SSD.
Have a great day!
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Posted By: eccential
Date Posted: 06 Mar 2025 at 10:53pm
I've had much trouble with various NVMe to USB enclosures, so it might not be the best option, but you could turn it into an external USB drive.
This one has been pretty good to me:
https://plugable.com/products/usbc-nvme/" rel="nofollow - https://plugable.com/products/usbc-nvme/
The only quirk I've experienced with it is that it actually matters which orientation the USB-C connector is connected. One way is slow and maybe even unreliable, but the other way is super fast and reliable. SHRUG
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