Dual NVMe PCIe Card

[Duke of Kidderminster]

I have 1 PCI slot but 2 NVMe SSDs. Does such a PCIe card exist that i can connect 2 NVMe drives to?

The only ones I can find are like this: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07HJ1PCPD/r...


The sockets on this board are mirror opposites so i wonder if 1 is for NVMe and the other for a different type.

Otherwise, what options do i have to install another NVMe drive? I don't have any spare PCI or PCIe slots

[snuffy]

If your M.2 drives are NVMe type and you connect them via a PCIe adapter (like in your link), then will you not lose the NVMe speed since they will have to run at PCIe speeds ?

[Duke of Kidderminster]

Hmm, so even though one of the sockets are reversed on the card in that link?

[snuffy]

Ah, I'm not right there, ignore my previous post - I've mixed the two types up !

You can connect one of the drives on SATA (which uses a cable), and the other on PCIe. But only one SATA, not two (since there's only one SATA cable connection of the card)

So, can you connect 2 PCIe drives, that is the question ? It looks like you can, because it says using the SATA cable is optional. But I'm not sure now with the M and B type keying,

[Duke of Kidderminster]

don't worry. it's all a bit confusing in the product specs.

i have 2 identical NVMe SSD drives with the M.2 connector. one is already in a PCIe card and i want to add another SSD to the system. So, i either need some dual NVMe PCI card or find a cable that can convert a NVMe SSD to allow it to plug into the SATA port on the motherboard.

And i'm totally confused...

[Duke of Kidderminster]

something like this i think: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Lycom-DT-130-Dual-Carri...


but without that bonkers price

[snuffy]

Duke of Kidderminster said:

something like this i think: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Lycom-DT-130-Dual-Carri...


but without that bonkers price

That is a bit bonkers since you could get a new MB with the slots you need for not much more. And that one is PCIe x4.0 which is quite new (but then you need a x4.0 drive to go with it.) And it gets even more confusing because for a PCI slot, the x4, x8 and x16 are the physical slot size, by for the speed it's a x3.0 and x4.0.

Who comes up with all these slightly differing names, for maximum confusion !!?

[Duke of Kidderminster]

i know. there is no need for such complexity!

[theboss]

Do you not have a spare PCI-E x4 slot you could stick a single carrier, like the one you already have, in?

That would be by far the simplest thing to do if possible.

Otherwise the part linked above should do the job. Each NVMe usually requires x4 connectivity so a two way board requires x8 and a quad board requires a x16 slot.

[Duke of Kidderminster]

theboss said:

Do you not have a spare PCI-E x4 slot you could stick a single carrier, like the one you already have, in?

That would be by far the simplest thing to do if possible.

Otherwise the part linked above should do the job. Each NVMe usually requires x4 connectivity so a two way board requires x8 and a quad board requires a x16 slot.

none spare as it is a SFF server and the slots are all taken.

so you are saying that i could plug 2 identical NVMe SSDs into that card from my first post? even though one of the sockets is the mirror of the other? the screenshot below shows how they differ

[theboss]

Duke of Kidderminster said:

theboss said:

Do you not have a spare PCI-E x4 slot you could stick a single carrier, like the one you already have, in?

That would be by far the simplest thing to do if possible.

Otherwise the part linked above should do the job. Each NVMe usually requires x4 connectivity so a two way board requires x8 and a quad board requires a x16 slot.

none spare as it is a SFF server and the slots are all taken.

so you are saying that i could plug 2 identical NVMe SSDs into that card from my first post? even though one of the sockets is the mirror of the other? the screenshot below shows how they differ

No, the right hand port accomodates a SATA m.2 NVMe only, and attaches to an onboard SATA controller to provide connectivity for this drive.

Don't buy this.

[theboss]

Do you know if the slot you are using is x4, x8 or x16?

You'll need something like this if you have a x8 slot.

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-com-Dual-PCIe-...

This appears to be the same product as linked above, probably just the same board OEM'd by different brands, but carries the important distinction in the description that it doesn't depend on PCI-E bifurcation support in the motherboard chipset and thus would work in any x8 slot.

I have a x16 4 drive adapter in my own workstation but that does require bifurcation support and is a workstastion oriented component.

Essentially there's no cheap and dirty fix that I'm aware of. All the £15 parts that claim to carry 2 x m.2 drives are SATA instead of PCI-E, or 1 of each.

[Duke of Kidderminster]

i don't think it does support that, plus i would need SFF to get it to fit. i think this is a non-starter really.

so - do you know if a drive enclosure - or cable - exists that would allow me to connect the PCIe NVMe drive to the motherboard with a SATA ribbon?

[theboss]

I doubt it - SATA is a different signalling protocol and significantly lower bandwidth than PCI-E

You’d be better off just selling the NVME and getting a SATA SSD