How to choose new SSD drive?

bobkn · Aug 15, 2025

SIW2 said:
Does it have a pcie x4 or larger slot ?

could use somthing like glotends pcie to nvme adapter it will work in a pcie gen 3 slot

Amazon.co.uk

In a laptop? Seems unlikely.

SIW2 · Aug 16, 2025

@bobkn

I was obviously replying to glasskuter as quoted in my post

glasskuter has a dell optiplex

glasskuter · Aug 16, 2025

SIW2 said:
could use somthing like glotends pcie to nvme adapter it will work in a pcie gen 3 slot

It's gen 3. I'm not too swift on hardware so I'm not sure it would work for me since I have this damn Dell proprietary mobo that puts so many limitations on me. See here.
OptiPlex 7080 Tower Setup and specifications guide | Dell US

hader · Aug 16, 2025

Ouch. That must hurt. Buying a new 4TB NVMe and can't use it.... First off all; It's a M-slot device. (and not a B+M slot device I hope) M-slot devices has 6 pins that stand alone on one side. That should match with the slot inside your laptop. The device is a PCIe Gen4 one. Does that match with the specification of the NVMe slot? It should. Looking at the specs (a 12th gen CPU) that should not be a problem.

I find one thing odd; The date of the BIOS; 9/5/2022. A bit old! Did you go to the manufacturer-site to check if there is a new BIOS version? Maybe the combination; A new NVMe and an old BIOS may be the problem. That Crucial P3 Plus did not existed in 2022. Maybe that's why your laptop does not "see" the new NVMe device. If it is not visible inside the BIOS this might be a clue. (It should be visible inside the BIOS!!!) It is not uncommon that BIOS are updated with a new version in order to see newer devices. If would go first to the manufacturer-site and update my BIOS. Look also in the specs of the laptop that it can handle 4TB NVMe's. It could handle 2TB devices previously.... Normally this combination; it should work.

The brand is a cryptic one. Could find some info on the internet and they all mentioned their BIOS version; INSYDE Corp. 1.07.12MIN29. It's not a brand I know with this model name; PD5x_7xPNP_PNR_PNN_PNT. I could not find any manufacturer-site. This might be a problem. I saw a site where you can get the latest windows drivers; It mentioned a brand name; ARDOR. Is this correct? I saw also a Userbenchmark site (19 PC's) of this laptop with NVMe's not higher than 2TB. With no new BIOS maybe this laptop can't handle NVMe higher than 2TB.....

Brand. Found it. ARDOR is a Russian PC manufactory. (a bit odd...) Using the model number here (Документация и ПО - Ardor Gaming) it did come up with nothing. Maybe this model (PD5x...) has an other name. You may try If you have one. Under this page it should give you a recent BIOS version. Otherwise your stuck. Contacting them and asking for support might give you an answer......

werty · Aug 16, 2025

Check in BIOS if the drive is recognised properly - name and capacity. If not the slot may not support the full size of the new drive or even worse - the BIOS is hardcoded to use specific drives.
Post a screenshot from BIOS if possible.

Scannerman · Aug 16, 2025

hader said:
Ouch. That must hurt. Buying a new 4TB NVMe and can't use it.... First off all; It's a M-slot device. (and not a B+M slot device I hope) M-slot devices has 6 pins that stand alone on one side. That should match with the slot inside your laptop. The device is a PCIe Gen4 one. Does that match with the specification of the NVMe slot? It should. Looking at the specs (a 12th gen CPU) that should not be a problem.

I find one thing odd; The date of the BIOS; 9/5/2022. A bit old! Did you go to the manufacturer-site to check if there is a new BIOS version? Maybe the combination; A new NVMe and an old BIOS may be the problem. That Crucial P3 Plus did not existed in 2022. Maybe that's why your laptop does not "see" the new NVMe device. If it is not visible inside the BIOS this might be a clue. (It should be visible inside the BIOS!!!) It is not uncommon that BIOS are updated with a new version in order to see newer devices. If would go first to the manufacturer-site and update my BIOS. Look also in the specs of the laptop that it can handle 4TB NVMe's. It could handle 2TB devices previously.... Normally this combination; it should work.

The brand is a cryptic one. Could find some info on the internet and they all mentioned their BIOS version; INSYDE Corp. 1.07.12MIN29. It's not a brand I know with this model name; PD5x_7xPNP_PNR_PNN_PNT. I could not find any manufacturer-site. This might be a problem. I saw a site where you can get the latest windows drivers; It mentioned a brand name; ARDOR. Is this correct? I saw also a Userbenchmark site (19 PC's) of this laptop with NVMe's not higher than 2TB. With no new BIOS maybe this laptop can't handle NVMe higher than 2TB.....

Brand. Found it. ARDOR is a Russian PC manufactory. (a bit odd...) Using the model number here (Документация и ПО - Ardor Gaming) it did come up with nothing. Maybe this model (PD5x...) has an other name. You may try If you have one. Under this page it should give you a recent BIOS version. Otherwise your stuck. Contacting them and asking for support might give you an answer......

Yup. *Ouch*. (I said it first.) Three years isn't that old but definitely old enough to look for a BIOS upgrade. Myself, I would first try using the 4TB NVMe in the slot that runs the original OS and look for it in the UEFI/BIOS. Also, in some systems, a secondary M.2 needs to be activated in the BIOS although I've only seen it first hand in older system boards such as the ASUS Z97-P. I also stated that the SATA M.2 might be a bit of a reach because this has been pretty much phased out in newer systems. This isn't to say that it no longer exists and as you stated this is a bit of of a "cryptic" brand so who knows?

IF the 4TB NVMe can't be seen in the BIOS after it has been installed in the slot where the OS drive was originally then it is only logical to look for a BIOS upgrade. Flashing a BIOS these days is fairly easy and the risk is minimal when done correctly. That wasn't always the case but it generally is with newer systems. I've flashed BIOS probably hundreds of times and only bricked a system once doing it. This was on an old Pentium II IDE system board that was my own and I wished it good riddance as all I needed at the time was an excuse to upgrade my PC. No loss there.

To be perfectly honest I think the storage capacity cap on this system is 2TB per drive. Personally, I really don't know why anyone would need it to be higher on a laptop considering how fast external storage can be these days; but that's just me and user preference prevails.

abactuon · Aug 16, 2025

Clevo/KAPOK Computer (KunShan)
The laptop's motherboard should be written PCIe 3.0 or PCIe 4.0
The device must be initialized by using the GUID Partition Table (GPT) partitioning scheme.
The system firmware must use UEFI (if bootable).

Helmut · Aug 16, 2025

1. I would suspect that it does not support as large as 4 TB SSDs, that's for you to research your particular Laptop. Try users groups etc.

2. You need to initialise the drive before partitioning and formatting.

3. I actually use an external M.2 NVMe enclosure to Initialise the SSD. Of course this also has to support 4 TB. These enclosures are not expensive, more or less an essential accessory.
Then partition and format in whatever it is put in.

I did this for my laptop with the same CPU as the OP and came to the conclusion that the limit was 2 TB. With a further proviso that 1 of 2 SSD slots can only take single sided SSD, bit in the way.
So single sided 2 TB SSD. NVMe has been the norm for many years.

abactuon · Aug 16, 2025

Optimization and update utility

Crucial P3 Plus NVMe SSD Support

Discover all-inclusive support for the Crucial P3 Plus NVMe SSD, including warranty coverage, effortless installation guides, seamless data transfer instructions, and essential NVMe SSD driver assistance. Everything you need for a hassle-free SSD experience.

www.crucial.com

SIW2 · Aug 16, 2025

glasskuter said:
It's gen 3. I'm not too swift on hardware so I'm not sure it would work for me since I have this damn Dell proprietary mobo that puts so many limitations on me. See here.
OptiPlex 7080 Tower Setup and specifications guide | Dell US

The blue pcie slot will be x16 so presumably the black one at bottom is x4

You are not using a graphics card so you could use either or both. I can recommend the glotrends pcie to nvme I have one it works for pcie gen3 and pcie gen4

Page 90

https://dl.dell.com/topicspdf/optiplex-7080-desktop_owners-manual5_en-us.pdf

The setup guide is better

page 12

https://www.prodimex.ch/dell-optiplex-7080-5v40h-mt-5v40h-120878_en.pdf

Either slot 19 or 17 in the diagram below for pcie to nvme adapter

bobkn · Aug 16, 2025

SIW2 said:
@bobkn

I was obviously replying to glasskuter as quoted in my post

glasskuter has a dell optiplex

View attachment 142444

Maybe this thread is wandering too far off the original topic.

bobkn · Aug 16, 2025

SIW2 said:
The blue pcie slot will be x16 so presumably the white one is x4 at least

You are not using a graphics card so you could use either or both. I can recommend the glotrends pcie to nvme I have one it works for pcie gen3 and pcie gen4

Page 90

https://dl.dell.com/topicspdf/optiplex-7080-desktop_owners-manual5_en-us.pdf

View attachment 142585

The white one is PCI, not PCI-E. I'm a little surprised to see a PCI slot on a 2020 PC.

But there are PCI-E X1 and X4 slots.

glasskuter · Aug 16, 2025

SIW2 said:
You are not using a graphics card

I think at one time I knew this was possible but hadn't even thought of using the GPU slot this time around. Thanks.

How to choose new SSD drive?

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