After much toiling and waiting, I finally got all the parts for my build. But lo and behold, I think I made a super newbie mistake.
I have the Supermicro X11SSH-F motherboard and was planning on using the m.2 port to attach the FreeNAS boot SSD. I ordered the Transcend MTS600 32Gb SATA III M.2 SSD and though all would be fine. I guess that's where my newbishness comes to bite me in the ass. First of all I didn't realize that m.2 is only the connector's form factor and that I should also pay attention to the data protocol (in this case SATA III) (I didn't realize this because older SATA drives have a SATA connector and use the SATA protocol so everything is under the same name.) Looking at my motherboard and trawling the forums, it seems that the X11SSH-F board supports m.2 drives with the PCI-e 3.0 x2 protocol.
The second extremely stupid mistake was not looking at the size of the drive. The Transcend MTS600 is 22x60mm and the Supermicro X11SSH-F m.2 port is for 22x80mm SSDs meaning if I connect my MTS600 it kind of sticks out because it doesn't reach the screw to secure it to the motherboard.
My questions are the following. If the SSD is not held in place by the screw is it really bad? (I don't plan on playing the maracas with my case, so things should be moving too much). If the data protocol is different than the specification in the motherboard manual does it mean I won't be able to use my SSD at all with this system ?
If I have to buy a new SSD what are the things I really should pay attention to, in order to not repeat this mistake ? Will either of the following SSDs work? Samsung M951 or Samsung 950PRO ? would you know any other compatible SSDs ? Since I'm still not totally clear on the PCI-e protocol, M.2 form factor etc. what is the difference between PCI-e 3.0 x2 and PCI-e 3.0 x4 ?
Sorry a bunch for the super rookie questions and thanks a lot for your help.
I have the Supermicro X11SSH-F motherboard and was planning on using the m.2 port to attach the FreeNAS boot SSD. I ordered the Transcend MTS600 32Gb SATA III M.2 SSD and though all would be fine. I guess that's where my newbishness comes to bite me in the ass. First of all I didn't realize that m.2 is only the connector's form factor and that I should also pay attention to the data protocol (in this case SATA III) (I didn't realize this because older SATA drives have a SATA connector and use the SATA protocol so everything is under the same name.) Looking at my motherboard and trawling the forums, it seems that the X11SSH-F board supports m.2 drives with the PCI-e 3.0 x2 protocol.
The second extremely stupid mistake was not looking at the size of the drive. The Transcend MTS600 is 22x60mm and the Supermicro X11SSH-F m.2 port is for 22x80mm SSDs meaning if I connect my MTS600 it kind of sticks out because it doesn't reach the screw to secure it to the motherboard.
My questions are the following. If the SSD is not held in place by the screw is it really bad? (I don't plan on playing the maracas with my case, so things should be moving too much). If the data protocol is different than the specification in the motherboard manual does it mean I won't be able to use my SSD at all with this system ?
If I have to buy a new SSD what are the things I really should pay attention to, in order to not repeat this mistake ? Will either of the following SSDs work? Samsung M951 or Samsung 950PRO ? would you know any other compatible SSDs ? Since I'm still not totally clear on the PCI-e protocol, M.2 form factor etc. what is the difference between PCI-e 3.0 x2 and PCI-e 3.0 x4 ?
Sorry a bunch for the super rookie questions and thanks a lot for your help.