Is an external USB to m.2 adapter slower than an internal m.2 slot on the motherboard?

[ratrotator_1616]

For a little more context, I wanted to do a SSD upgrade, but have little to no reason actually removing my old SSD, since my OS is on that drive, and it has no issues. So, my next game plan was to just get an external m.2 adapter with a case, to prevent any dust from getting into the SSD. Are there any downsides to doing this? Anything I should look out for? I’m not new to PCs, just looking for advice, since cloning and moving an OS can be time consuming and very difficult if not done correctly. Thanks!

 

[Wirko]

Is there no way to mount the second M.2 SSD inside? Maybe you have a free PCIe x4 slot, so you could do that with a cheap adapter card.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Actually cloning or restoring an existing system image is very easy to a larger drive.
Clonezilla for one
Macrium reflect for two can clone or do the system imaging/ restore with it,s winpe recovery flash media it prompts you to create on first start.
Extensive tutorial here
Backup & Restore Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect - Windows 10 Forums

Hell I watched this long long time ago when I first started if you'd rather see it

 

[ratrotator_1616]

Is there no way to mount the second M.2 SSD inside? Maybe you have a free PCIe x4 slot, so you could do that with a cheap adapter card.

No other m.2 slots. Just one. Cheaper, kinda shittier dell motherboard but computer works very well. A friend gave me an idea to use my extra SATA extension cable as an adaption so I can put my SSD in the case but I’d have to mount another cage in my pc without hurting anything and the case is rather small.

Hi,
Actually cloning or restoring an existing system image is very easy to a larger drive.
Clonezilla for one
Macrium reflect for two can clone or do the system imaging/ restore with it,s winpe recovery flash media it prompts you to create on first start.
Extensive tutorial here
Backup & Restore Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect - Windows 10 Forums

Hell I watched this long long time ago when I first started if you'd rather see it

Are any of them free? I’d rather do this with little to no money and I know an adapter costs money but is cheaper than the only cloner/partitioner/snapshooter I’ve found, which is acronis

 

[TheLostSwede]

USB enclosures are a lot slower, assuming your system has an NVMe drive and not a SATA drive in an M.2 form factor.
Even a 20 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 enclosure, is limited to a peak interface speed of 20 Gbps or 2.5 GB/s, but real world performance is closer to 2 GB/s and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 enclosure is half that.

 

[Wirko]

No other m.2 slots. Just one. Cheaper, kinda shittier dell motherboard but computer works very well.

What I meant as an adapter that fits in a PCIe card slot, such as this one, which is also low profile. It may be a good option if you have a free slot, but even if you do, you first need to learn exactly what kind of slot it is. As for the number of lanes, it could be x1 or x2 or x4 (or more), and the PCIe version could be 2.0 or 3.0 or 4.0. It would be very helpful if you could post a photo of your motherboard and the model number of your Dell computer here.

USB enclosures are a lot slower, assuming your system has an NVMe drive and not a SATA drive in an M.2 form factor.
Even a 20 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 enclosure, is limited to a peak interface speed of 20 Gbps or 2.5 GB/s, but real world performance is closer to 2 GB/s and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 enclosure is half that.

There are other issues too. HBM does not work over USB connection as far as I know, so the OP would need to buy an SSD with DRAM, and those are costlier on average. TRIM might also not work, I don't know the details but it seems that some bridge chips support it and others don't.

 

[ratrotator_1616]

I do not know if they’re readily available, but I have one PCIe x16, one PCIe x4 and one PCIe x1. Any of those fit in there?? Any recommendations on which one i should use?

What I meant as an adapter that fits in a PCIe card slot, such as this one, which is also low profile. It may be a good option if you have a free slot, but even if you do, you first need to learn exactly what kind of slot it is. As for the number of lanes, it could be x1 or x2 or x4 (or more), and the PCIe version could be 2.0 or 3.0 or 4.0. It would be very helpful if you could post a photo of your motherboard and the model number of your Dell computer here.


There are other issues too. HBM does not work over USB connection as far as I know, so the OP would need to buy an SSD with DRAM, and those are costlier on average. TRIM might also not work, I don't know the details but it seems that some bridge chips support it and others don't.

 

[ThrashZone]

No other m.2 slots. Just one. Cheaper, kinda shittier dell motherboard but computer works very well. A friend gave me an idea to use my extra SATA extension cable as an adaption so I can put my SSD in the case but I’d have to mount another cage in my pc without hurting anything and the case is rather small.


Are any of them free? I’d rather do this with little to no money and I know an adapter costs money but is cheaper than the only cloner/partitioner/snapshooter I’ve found, which is acronis

Hi,
Yes both are free.
I believe clonezilla is one off thing it clones I've never used it.

Macrium went subscription but the winpe recovery media is all I use so even an older version will work as long as you don't update it.
Once you have the winpe recovery media you're done with the app.
All versions of Macrium Reflect for Windows - FileHippo.com

 

[ratrotator_1616]

Wait so what if I don’t have winpe recovery media? I’m sure I do since it’s a windows thing, but I can use that to clone and move my OS to my new SSD without an adapter?? Also, how much is the macrium subscription??

 

[nomdeplume]

Dell was a flag for me.

I seem to be on a BIOS frenzy lately, but looking at the release notes as far back as they remain relevant could offer some large indicators what is officially supported, PCIe to NVMe. Even then it can be hit or miss what add-on card is going to play nicely. Research is your friend. Search your model name and nearby results for what did or didn't work.

One plus here is you will probably need a low profile mounting plate. Card construction and near standard inclusion of a low profile mount will both work well in a tight case. Make sure it is listed if you do buy a card and will need it.

 

[ThrashZone]

Wait so what if I don’t have winpe recovery media? I’m sure I do since it’s a windows thing, but I can use that to clone and move my OS to my new SSD without an adapter?? Also, how much is the macrium subscription??

Hi,
All you need is a 2gb flash drive for the winpe and macrium reflect writes it to the flash drive anytime you want
Technically reflect has a 30 trial not sure how much they want for it but like I said once you have the recovery media you're done with the app if you can boot to it and it works.
I'm using flash drives reflect created 2-3 years ago lol

 

[ratrotator_1616]

Okay okay one last question. I have a 32 gb flash drive, or what I call a thumb stick, would that work too? And if so, all I have to do, is move my OS over to that flash drive using winpe recovery and Reflect? Then use reflect again to move the OS from the flash drive to my new SSD?

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Yes
Waste of 30-31gbs though lol
But you can always pickup a smaller flash drive and create another winpe.

 

[ratrotator_1616]

Wait does it burn my flash drive after I reflect? How is it a waste? Am I thinking of a different flash drive?

 

[R-T-B]

It's not a literal waste, you can always recover the space with a simple format.

He just means you won't use the rest of the USB drive during the clone, but who cares really?

 

[ratrotator_1616]

It's not a literal waste, you can always recover the space with a simple format.

He just means you won't use the rest of the USB drive during the clone, but who cares really?

Okay that’s great to hear lol. But like we’re talking the external flash stick you usually use to move files to other PCs, correct? Or that’s what I normally use them for

 

[ThrashZone]

Wait does it burn my flash drive after I reflect? How is it a waste? Am I thinking of a different flash drive?

Hi,
It simply formats and writes to the 32gb flash drive a reformat of the flash drive and it's back to normal but winpe is gone to.

Recovery media really is something you only use for that one purpose because if things go bad you would value the recovery media working
You wouldn't want to write other stuff to it because you rely on the recovery for just that purpose that's why I said 30-31gb is wasted.

 

[R-T-B]

Hi,
It simply formats and writes to the 32gb flash drive a reformat of the flash drive and it's back to normal but winpe is gone to.

Recovery media really is something you only use for that one purpose because if things go bad you would value the recovery media working
You wouldn't want to write other stuff to it because you rely on the recovery for just that purpose that's why I said 30-31gb is wasted.

This pretty much. And yeah it can be any flash drive over or around 2gb.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Yeah even a 1gb flash drive will work although a rare size now days
I use 8gb ones because they are easy to find for cheap but the winpe on it is priceless

 

[ratrotator_1616]

Hi,
It simply formats and writes to the 32gb flash drive a reformat of the flash drive and it's back to normal but winpe is gone to.

Recovery media really is something you only use for that one purpose because if things go bad you would value the recovery media working
You wouldn't want to write other stuff to it because you rely on the recovery for just that purpose that's why I said 30-31gb is wasted.

Okay okay this is great. You’ve helped me a lot, but are the steps to this easy? Have you already gave me the steps and I’ve overlooked them? I really don’t want to f this up lol.

 

[ThrashZone]

Okay okay this is great. You’ve helped me a lot, but are the steps to this easy? Have you already gave me the steps and I’ve overlooked them? I really don’t want to f this up lol.

Hi,
Pretty straight forward process cloning.

Biggest thing is having the original ssd installed
Install the new ssd.
Boot to the os and see if the new ssd shows up
If not install the driver for it.
Once the os sees the new ssd just follow the prompt to initialize the new ssd and create one partition.

Then create the winpe recovery media with reflect 30 trial or an older version I showed.
Once that is created boot to it with which ever hotkeys the board uses.

Now your ready just identify the os ssd and deselect all other devices reflect shows
Then just select clone this disk.

Then search for the new ssd and now it's just a waiting game.

Once reflect is done click the bottom left exit button and exit.

This is where you just want to hold down the power button on your computer or unplug the machine so all power is off.
Important with clones seeing they are identical and windows will disable one of the two boot loaders

So power is off now just uninstall your old ssd.
Start up as normal and use boot menu to boot to the new ssd.

Visual of the clone option

 

[ratrotator_1616]

Oh crap, did I not mention that I had only one SSD slot? Will this method still work if I only had one slot? I thought we cloned the OS to the flash drive by using macrium reflect, then power everything off, uninstall the old one and install the new one, power it on, do the same process using macrium reflect to clone the OS on the flash drive to the new SSD, power off and remove the flash drive?

 

[ThrashZone]

Oh crap, did I not mention that I had only one SSD slot? Will this method still work if I only had one slot? I thought we cloned the OS to the flash drive by using macrium reflect, then power everything off, uninstall the old one and install the new one, power it on, do the same process using macrium reflect to clone the OS on the flash drive to the new SSD, power off and remove the flash drive?

Hi,
You can do that as well
I didn't know your setup thought you were on sata ssd now.

Install the new one in the usb device it will just be slower process this way.
Once done same process swap them out...

No clones on flash drive
You can create a system image to a flash drive though if it's large enough.

Then restore the system image on the new ssd.

 

[Wirko]

I do not know if they’re readily available, but I have one PCIe x16, one PCIe x4 and one PCIe x1. Any of those fit in there?? Any recommendations on which one i should use?

OK, so you've probably chosen another option, but in case you're going to (ever) add a second internal PCIe SSD:
x16 is the best but it's usually occupied by a graphics card; if you don't have one and not planning to buy one, it's the one to use
x4 - motherboards can be tricky, maybe it shares PCIe lanes with the only M.2 slot on board, and if that's the case, only one of them will work, not both
x1 will at best achieve 1/4th of SSD's maximum transfer speed.
Also, if the CPU and chipset support PCIe 4.0 for example, the x16 port will operate at that speed. The x4 and x1 ports, however, are likely connected to the chipset instead of CPU, and only support PCIe 3.0.

 

[ratrotator_1616]

Okay so, it’s back to square one… I’m really limited on how much I want to spend on this so I’ve just been looking for the cheaper and easier ways to move my os to a new SSD while only having one m.2 slot. I have SATA extension cables to attach a 3rd storage device but it doesn’t help me in the sense that I can’t seem to find a way without spending over $30, and was hoping this way was going to be my shining light in the tunnel thing, but I mean I guess not, or I misread what you stated. Thank you again for helping me. I do appreciate it.

OK, so you've probably chosen another option, but in case you're going to (ever) add a second internal PCIe SSD:
x16 is the best but it's usually occupied by a graphics card; if you don't have one and not planning to buy one, it's the one to use
x4 - motherboards can be tricky, maybe it shares PCIe lanes with the only M.2 slot on board, and if that's the case, only one of them will work, not both
x1 will at best achieve 1/4th of SSD's maximum transfer speed.
Also, if the CPU and chipset support PCIe 4.0 for example, the x16 port will operate at that speed. The x4 and x1 ports, however, are likely connected to the chipset instead of CPU, and only support PCIe 3.0.

I haven’t yet, since I kinda got stuck again, but I’d have to look at my PC right now to tell you what is hooked up. I do play video games, so the x16 is occupied by a GPU I believe.
I haven’t actually looked at the service manual, but most people I’ve found on forums do not recommend running a PCIe to m.2 adapter through that PCIe x4 slot.
I bought this new SSD mainly for storage, but I’d love to keep the speed lol.

Also the chipset is an 11th gen i7? I’d have to look at the manual but I do believe it only supports up to 3.0