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I recently got a new (to me) computer. It was a workhorse computer from a few years ago. I'm trying to rig it up to work with an SSD in its new life with me.

Currently the motherboard has SATA II and PCIe x4 slots available. I purchased a SAMSUNG 850 EVO M.2 SATA III drive which I was hoping would wrok but because of my confusion on how the M.2 spec works the drive I purchased is not directly compatible with my motherboard. I was assuming I could plug it into a PCIe slot (obviously that was wrong), then I was hoping I could get a PCIe to M.2 adapter but because this particular drive is M.2/SATA which means if I get an adapter I'd have to plug it in to a SATA II port which is what I was hoping to avoid is the first place.

Is there something I can buy that can make use of the drive I purchased while not compromising speed?

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After checking specification of your motherboard (from this link) I checked that you have one PCI-E connector which will support PCI-E Solid State Drive. enter image description here

You have two possible solutions:

Buy M2 to PCIe adapter:

Buy new SSD drive:

I would reccommend to buy Addonics adapter it is cheaper and has good reviews.

EDIT:

If you will mount only one SSD you won't need additional power and sata cable (screen below): enter image description here Digging deeper I found two other Addonics adapters which have slot for only one SSD drive and no additional connectors (but only one can fit your SSD, because second one can only fit up to 80 mm M2 cards):

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  • for adapters like this where I "need to run standard SATA data cables to the SATA III ports on the motherboard" is PCIe even being used at all? Is it basically a power source/mounting bracket at that point? This seems like it will make the drive I purchased usable (which is good) but will still be limited to the speed of SATA II ultimately, right? Any insight on why the PCIe versions of these SSDs are more expensive that their SAT brethren?
    – Brad
    Mar 10, 2016 at 16:09
  • (I'm ordering this and will report back after it's installed)
    – Brad
    Mar 15, 2016 at 16:33
  • Just ordered off Amazon ( I had to wait for a new month's budget cycle to order) It was cheaper on the Addonics site but the shipping was 11 $ so I backed out of that order and went to Amazon.
    – Brad
    Apr 2, 2016 at 14:45
  • Also, the second item in your edit (ADM2NVMPX4) is for M.2 PCIe but my SSD is M.2 SATA and won't work with that adapter. SO yes, a better price but I think ultimately I need that SATA cable going to the actual SATA controller. You can sort of see that in your diagram one column to the right of the highlighted one.
    – Brad
    Apr 2, 2016 at 14:47
  • I got the AD2M2S-PX2 in the mail yesterday. I mounted my M.2 SSD in the appropriate SATA slot, plugged in the adapter into a PCIe slot and plugged a SATA cable between it an my motherboard. Then used Macrium Reflect to clone my old drive. Shut down, unplugged the old drive, restarted and bam! Worked like a charm.
    – Brad
    Apr 15, 2016 at 16:32

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