Installing a 2nd SSD in the B-Key SATA slot on NUC 12 Mini

[Unaffiliated777]

On the NUC 12 Mini PC, there is a second M.2 22x42 SATA slot under the main M.2 22x80 NVMe slot.
1. Can I install a second M.2 drive underneath the first and use it as a second SSD drive in Windows? I do see 2TB M.2 22x42 drives for sale. Can it handle one that large?
2. Is this M.2 22x42 slot only for some special type of card?

I have a NUC 12 NUC12WSHi5.

[n_scott_pearson · Accepted solution]

The M.2 connector that is under the M.2 2280 NVMe slot is of Type E and support for only M.2 2230 Wireless cards is provided. The Type E connector type does not include the SATA lane that is necessary to support a M.2 SATA SSD. 

The M.2 connector that is beside the M.2 2280 NVMe slot is of Type B and it includes the SATA lane that is necessary to support M.2 2242 SATA SSDs. This connector is more centrally located on the motherboard whereas the M.2 2280 NVMe slot is off to one side of the motherboard. 

There is no limit to the size of the SATA SSDs that can be supported other than availability. If someone produced a card with 4TB of storage on it, for example, it would work just fine.

The M.2 Type B connector can indeed be used to support cards other than M.2 SATA SSDs - cards that more-generally utilize the PCIe and USB lanes included in the connector.

Hope this helps,

...S

[Unaffiliated777]

Thank you for that great reply! So I don't see the "NVMe" used in relation to the Type-B  2242 slot. Does that mean an M.2 2242 SATA SSD that is labeled as Gen 4 and NVMe would not be compatible? For example, Corsair makes 1TB and 2TB M.2 2242 SSDs such as the:
Corsair MP600 MICRO 1TB PCIe 4.0 (Gen4) x4 NVMe M.2 2242 SSD      (SKU: CSSD-F1000GBMP600MCR)
Would that fry my NUC 12 motherboard in the Type-B?
Thanks,

U

[n_scott_pearson]

No, sorry, I am told that only M.2 SATA SSDs are supported.
...S