M.2 SSD not showing up in Windows 11

[macca70]

Hi all

My new desktop PC came with only one M.2 slot.  The system disk is in there (obviously) but it's a paltry 250gb.  So, I bought a PCI express x16 to M.2 storage along with a 1TB M.2 disk from Amazon to increase storage capacity.

Once it was all put together and into the empty PCI slot on the main board I booted the PC up but it doesn't show up in Win 11.

If I boot into the bios the HP Diagnostics comes up.  Running the disk diagnostics it shows the main M.2 board and ALSO the 1TB drive I installed.

My question is how do I get Win 11 to recognise it?

Any help much appreciated.

Cheers

Paul

[BeemerBiker]

Try running the disk manager:

enter "create and format " into the Win11 search box.  You will then be asked to initialize the drive.  It will show up as drive D unless you already have a D.  If you tried this already and it did not work, then what model M.2 did you get?

Another option would have been to clone the 250gb to the 1tb using any of the free drive cloning software.  You could then substitute swap drives and use the 250gb for secondary storage.

[macca70]

Hi

Thanks for the reply.

The M.2 is a crucial 1TB bought from amazon.

HP bios sees it and reports it as fine but I can't do anything to it in there.

Windows still doesn't see it and neither does Disk Manager.

I'm at a loss but thanks for replying

[BeemerBiker]

You may have an incompatibility problem with either the motherboard (x16 x4 electrical) or the adapter (x16 requiring x16 electrical) or the m.2 chip being gen3 instead of gen 4.  This is just a guess.

If the x1 slots is open ended then try that adapter in the x1 slot instead of the x16.  I suspect it is not open ended.

Try running diskpart at an administrator level. Run CMD then diskpart to see if the disk shows up

If the disk shows up then ask for "help" and create a partition and format it.

Another thing you can try but I am guessing as I do not have your system

In the bios, if it is available, try different options for the PCIe expansions slots

If already AUTO then try GEN3l or GEN4 and specify x4 or x16 (not sure if x16 is possible)

--------------another option even better------

obtain something like this and put your new m.2 into it.

then using any of the free cloning software, clone your old 256gb drive to the new one

after cloning finishes, swap the m.2 devices

[macca70 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the reply.  Sorted it at last - here's how for anyone with the same problem.

Purchased a USB3 M.2 enclosure, cheap on amazon.  Inserted the 1GB M.2 that wasn't recognised in the PCI card.  It was immediately recognised by windows in the USB enclosure.  Downloaded Mini Tool Partition Wizard version 10 ( newer versions don't clone disks unless you pay - version 10 does it free).  Used the Clone System disk option and it copied the OS over exactly the same as on the original 256GB M.2.

Replaced the original disk with the cloned M.2 and bingo all worked as it should.

Thanks for all the replies to my problem, you got me there in the end and the PCI card is destined for the bin!!!!

Cheers Paul