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HP Recommended
TE01-4000

I have a envy 4000 on order.

 

I would like to create an internal RAID but there is only 1 open M2 slot.  There are adapters for the PCIe slot that would provide additional M2 slots but it is my understanding that the BIOS must support bifurcation to "see" more than one drive on a PCIe card.  If I can bifurcate, then that would let me add several slots for future needs.  I am thinking it will not...

 

So here is my current plan.  Hope this will work...

 

Researching the motherboard ( I think I have the right one) then the to M2 slots are 2230 and 22110 sizes.  If the default drive is in the 2230 slot, then I think I could use the second slot for a 2T HD and then add a 3rd M2 2T SSD via the PCI slot (with a converter card).  This rules out any expansion in the future for other things... but I think I may have solved the dilemma.  This all hinges on the operating system living on smaller m2 slot (otherwise it could be cost prohibitive to put a 2TB in the 2230 slot.)  My plan is to use Microsoft's Storage Spaces utility as the RAID manager.

1 REPLY 1
HP Recommended

Turns out, both M2 slots are occupied from the factory (wifi card and SSD).  You can add at least two more internal drives (3 if you leveraged the PCIe slot) via SATA ports on the motherboard.  Power cords are available for two internal drives.  Here is a great video that covers how it is done.    https://youtu.be/ouZHCs7si2Y?si=eo7l2vbAn0jg0j44.

 

Note there is a single drive slot inside the chassis.  However, a 3.5" drive can also be mounted to the front of the case.  You could also mount an SSD from the underside of the disk slot and then a 3.5 drive in the usual position, but this would also require you remove CD drive (no room for all of those together).  

 

I plan to run Microsoft Storage Spaces to pool the drives into a RAID.  I always have the PCIe slot to add a 3rd drive (M2) in the future, if needed.  If someone solves the bifurcation mystery, then maybe you could even have multiple M2 drives on the single PCIe slot.

 

Hope this helps others who like a lot of internal and potentially redundant (RAID) storage. 

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