PCIe SSD M.2 Interposer Card FAQ

Summary: This article provides answers for frequently asked questions regarding M.2 PCIe SSD Interposer Cards

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Symptoms

Questions

Explanations
Is a driver needed after the M.2 card is installed in the PCIe slot? No driver is required. The current drives to be launched with are Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) and do not require a driver. The drives will transition to Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVME), which will also have a native driver in Windows 8.1. For Windows 7, there is a hot fix that contains a driver.
How will the hard drive storage appear in the system? As one volume or four volumes? What disk management utility (software) is used to manage these drives? The drives will show up as four volumes. These drives will be managed by the built-in disk management utility for Windows (DISKPART). These drives are not managed by Intel or LSI
How are these drives displayed in the BIOS / System Setup? The drives will show up as Mass Storage devices in a PCIe Slot in BIOS / System Setup, and they show up in the F12 Boot Menu
What are the methods to make the SSD drive bootable? It is the same method as any standard AHCI drive. No special steps / requirements are needed
What is the diagnostic tool used to troubleshoot / detect the drive(s)? ePSA supports the PCIe card. Click on ePSA diagnostic for more information
Why can you see only the M2 drive that is loaded in Slot 1? In the Precision systems, there are only enough lanes for x4 PCIe card (Zoom 4) to see one drive. The PCIe card is passive and requires the slot it is installed in to have enough electrical lanes to support the number of drives installed.
  • 1 drive requires a x4 slot minimum
  • 2 drives require a x8 slot minimum
  • 3 drives require a x12 slot minimum
  • 4 drives require a x16 slot minimum
If 4 drives are installed and a Zoom 4 is added in a x4 slot, only one drive will be seen. If 4 drives are installed and and a Zoom 4 is added in a x8 slot, you will only see 2 drives.

(Note: x12 slots are not supported in Dell systems but is included as a theoretical requirement)

 

Additional information can be found in these Knowledgebase articles:

 

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Article Properties
Article Number: 000149155
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 26 Mar 2025
Version:  7
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