I "think" it should work.

What kind of problem are you experiencing, with the pci-e adapter card ?

Edit : being upgradeable ... yes. But finding parts directly from dell , seems being a bit problematic. On ebay is easier, but the kit that's easy to appear is the one for a 7920, and the 7920 is the machine that has actually videos to guide upgrading the flexbays.

The 5820/7820 I fear are not considered as easy to upgrade by a customer, in that sense, since there's a bit to disassemble to swap out the parts. So I think that there are less kits that can float around and it would be more down to some unit being disassembled and sold in pieces.

It's more apparent taking a 7820 with a 2nd cpu as example : remove the 2nd cpu card + power cable , remove the metal bracket needed to install a 2nd cpu board, remove the internal system fans etc

Hi,

Thanks so much for your reply! 

Yeah I agree, don't know why Dell cant provide this information in a straight forward manner! These machines are sold on the basis of them being upgradable in the first place! 

Ok so I will either resell or return the flex bay module. 

I actually have a pcie adapter, this was my first strategy but it has also been problematic. Do you know if the mentioned ssd card should work with this machine?

Thanks again for your help! 

Mark

Your BIOS has to be set to boot PCIe, if you don't have a setting for that you'll need a BIOS update to accomplish this. Not sure on Dell but I have 2 Z97 board that a BIOS update was needed to get the setting to allow PCIe bootability 

Also if your trying to create a new install of Windows you'll need the RST driver to see that new m.2 SSD

As mentioned, the most cost-effective solution is to get a 1X adapter card ($10- $15) for your single NVME SSD and insert into the PCIE x4 Slot #2.

Pictures below.

Dell 5820 PCIe SlotsNVME 1X adapter for PCIe slotNVME 1X adapter with SSD

In the next post, I also show a 4X adapter, and how it all looks in BIOS when both the 1X and 4X adapters are present.

What did you change in BIOS, so they all are seen as bootable media? I tried different combinations but can see any SSD; however, the workstation boots from SSD (I need to remove HDD). 

In addition, I have three HDDs installed in that workstation, but just one can be seen. Any suggestions on this issue?  

In my particular situation I had installed Windows on a U.2 NVMe drive I had in one of the standard caddies, but with the NMVe backplane installed. But since I wanted to use all the hotswap caddies for a SATA array in the future and put the 2.5" U.2 drive into a 5.25" to 2.5" adapter in the 5.25" bay, got an inexpensive, simple passive PCIe card with 4 U.2/NVMe SFF ports and put that in slot one. I have the latest firmware as far as I know, that was available to me in the standard Windows Update after I did a fresh install of Windows 10 pro USB stick made with the Windows Installation Media Creation Tool. 

There is no option for me to boot off PCIe. I can enable to disable the MiniSAS ports and/or the Intel Volume Mangement features. I found I had to disable the Volume management to boot from that U.2 drive in the caddy. But after I connected the drive onto the generic PCIe U.2 card with a standard SFF to U.2 cable (needed to connect that cable's power connector to the SATA power connector by the 5.25" bay.) then the only indication I had a PCIe/NVMe device in the machine in the BIOS was in the System Configuration page Slot 1 showed "Mass Storage Controller". Presumably because that controller is actually in the U.2 drive, when I only had the card in the slot, and no drive connected there was ZERO indication that adapter was installed. 

When I go to the UEFI Boot menu, it simply shows "Master Boot Record" as the only option to boot from. No place to say otherwise. No indication which drive or connection that MBR was found on. Not ideal. BUT it does boot just fine! Now, I'm not sure what would happen if I had a SATA drive connected that also had a MBR and/or Windows installation on it? Then it might show both in the UEFI Boot menu or something? 

But yes, it seems simple, generic PCIe NVMe cards (Either U.2 of M.2) do seem to work just fine. Now Dell mentions an option card for the 5820, a 4 slot M.2 card. Now THAT might show up in the BIOS specifically as a boot drive option? I don't know. I have no idea what that card costs or how it would compare to any random generic PCIe NVMe card?

This is the card I used. Simple, elegant, cheap. Said it would take 2+ weeks to come from China, but it showed up in less than a week I believe.

https://www.newegg.com/p/17Z-012A-00013?Item=9SIB2NHHWP3528

Hello @ainas96 , from the screenshots of other member, legacy boot was enable.  If you are able to boot now, I'd be cautious as some change in system BIOS may cause BSOD.  

If I may ask, what is your goal of storage setup and how do you connect your 3 hard drives currently.  Which one is the one can be seen?  Do you have them on Asus adapter card as pictured?

Correct, I have enabled Legacy boot. I'm using ASUS 4X adapter, but only one SSD is installed, and the OS is on. After I removed the original HDD with OS, the workstation began "to see" and boot from SSD. I can see the SDD on the boot menu (F12) and both HDDs (I needed to format the HDD with the original OS). However, BIOS doesn't show the SDD or HDDs.