Is your M.2 SSD not showing up in BIOS, File Explorer, or Disk Management? This guide explains the common causes and safe fixes. If the SSD contains important files, recover your data before formatting or initializing it.
Quick Answer
If your M.2 SSD is not showing up, first determine where it is missing.
- If it is not detected in BIOS, check the M.2 slot, SSD installation, slot compatibility, and BIOS settings.
- If BIOS detects the SSD but Windows does not, check Disk Management and Device Manager, then assign a drive letter or initialize and partition the SSD if it is new or empty.
- If the SSD contains important files, avoid formatting or initializing it before recovering your data.
A Brief Introduction to M.2 SSD
An M.2 SSD is a compact solid-state drive commonly used in laptops and desktop PCs. Depending on the drive and motherboard, an M.2 SSD may use the SATA or PCIe/NVMe protocol.
If the drive is not compatible with the M.2 slot or is not detected correctly by the system, it may not appear in BIOS, Disk Management, or File Explorer.
Case 1. M.2 SSD Not Showing up in BIOS
If your M.2 SSD is not showing up in BIOS, first check the physical installation and slot compatibility.
The SSD may be improperly seated, installed in an M.2 slot that does not support its protocol, or affected by a disabled PCIe/M.2 configuration. Incorrect BIOS settings, a faulty M.2 slot, or a damaged SSD can also prevent the drive from being detected.
After knowing the possible causes of the problem, now you can follow the methods below to fix it.
Fix 1. Enable M.2 in BIOS
In this section, I will introduce how to enable the M.2 slots and how to change the SATA mode to AHCI. Note that the operations may vary from different motherboards. Here I would like to take ASUS for example.
To enable the M.2 slot:
Step 1. Shut down your computer, and then restart it. During the boot process, press and hold the Del key until you access the BIOS configuration screen.
Step 2. You may need to press F7 on your keyboard to access the Advanced Mode.
Step 3. Go to the Advanced tab, and then scroll down to click Onboard Devices Configuration.
Step 4. Scroll down to find the CPU PCIE Configuration Mode category, and then choose the option with the most M.2 slots from the drop-down menu, such as PCIEX16_1 + M.2_2 + M.2_3.
Step 5. Press F10 to save the changes.
To change the SATA mode to AHCI:
Step 1. Access BIOS and go to the Advanced Mode.
Step 2. Go to the Advanced tab, and then select PCH Storage Configuration.
Step 3. In the SATA Mode Selection section, select AHCI from the drop-down menu instead of IDE or other options.
Step 4. Save the changes and exit BIOS.
Fix 2. Reseat the M.2 SSD
If the SSD still doesn’t show up after enabling the M.2 slot and AHCI mode, you can try reinserting the disk and make sure it is firmly inserted. Alternatively, you can replace a slot to rule out a card slot failure.
Fix 3. Insert the SSD Into Another Computer
Also, if there is another computer, you can connect your M.2 SSD to that computer and check whether it can detect your disk. If yes, the problem may not be with the disk itself. On the contrary, if the SSD does not show up on another device either, it may be that your SSD is faulty.
Case 2. M.2 SSD Not Showing up in File Explorer/Disk Management
When your disk is detected in BIOS but not Windows, it may be due to the following reasons:
- The SSD driver is not installed, outdated, or corrupted.
- There is no drive letter assigned to the M.2 SSD.
- The SSD is not initialized or does not have any partitions.
- The SSD’s file system is corrupted or incompatible with the Windows operating system.
- The M.2 SSD has hardware issues or is physically damaged.
Taking into account the common causes mentioned above, here are some potential solutions for you to refer to. You can try each of them to pinpoint the exact issue.
Solution 1. Update the Disk Driver
When the “M.2 SSD not showing up in Disk Management” issue is caused by the disk driver, you can update or reinstall the driver to fix it.
Step 1. On your taskbar, right-click the Start button and choose Device Manager.
Step 2. Expand the Disk drives category.
Step 3. Right-click your M.2 SSD, and several options will pop up.
- If you want to update the disk driver, select Update driver and then choose Search automatically for drivers to install the most appropriate driver.
- If you prefer to uninstall and reinstall the driver of your SSD, select Uninstall device, and click Uninstall in the new window to confirm. Next, restart your computer to get the driver downloaded and installed automatically.
Solution 2. Assign a Drive Letter to the M.2 SSD
When an M.2 SSD partition does not have a drive letter, Windows may not display it in File Explorer even though the partition is visible in Disk Management. In this case, you can assign an available drive letter manually.
Step 1. Right-click the Windows logo button and select Disk Management to open it.
Step 2. Find your SSD partition according to the volume size and other disk information. Then right-click it and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths.
Step 3. In the new window, click Add. Expand the drop-down list, choose an available drive letter for your M.2 SSD, and click OK to confirm.
If the above two ways do not make your M.2 SSD visible in File Explorer, you may need to take some other actions depending on the actual situation. Since these methods could result in file loss or data overwriting (which may potentially make the original files unrecoverable), it’s advisable to recover your files from the M.2 SSD beforehand, if needed.
Necessary Step: Recover Files From Your M.2 SSD
If your M.2 SSD is detected by Windows but you cannot access its files, recover important data before making further changes to the drive.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery can scan detected SSDs and help recover existing and deleted files. It can also scan drives shown as Unallocated, Unknown, or Not Initialized in Disk Management.
You can watch this video to learn how to recover data from an SSD using MiniTool Power Data Recovery:
Now, click the download button below to get the free edition and check whether it can recover your files. The free edition supports up to 1 GB of free data recovery.
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Once you get MiniTool Power Data Recovery installed, launch it and follow the steps below to retrieve your files.
Step 1. Find the M.2 SSD and scan it.
On the main interface of this free data recovery software, find your M.2 SSD partition under the Logical Drives recovery module, hover your mouse cursor over it, and click Scan to start the scanning. Moreover, you can also move on to the Devices tab and select the target SSD to scan.
If there is a large amount of data on the SSD or the file system is severely corrupted, it may take longer time to scan for the existing or lost files. Waiting patiently for the scan to complete automatically guarantees the best data scanning effects to the greatest extent.
Step 2. Locate and preview the found files.
After scanning, you may notice that all files are listed by file path under the Path tab. This is the default file display mode of this software. In addition to finding the required files by expanding folders one by one, you can also go to the Type section, where all files are classified by file type and file format.
When you locate files that you might need, double-click on each of them to preview and confirm their contents. Most file types are supported for preview without restriction, such as documents, videos, photos, audio, emails, and more. Some files need to be no larger than 100 MB to be previewed.
Moreover, there are two more features you need to know that can simplify the file discovery process:
- Filter: This button is located in the upper left corner. After clicking on it, several options will be displayed, enabling you to filter files by file type, file modification date, file size, and file category.
- Search: The search box in the upper right corner is designed to help you search for a file with a certain name. Type the keyword of the file name in the box and press Enter, and then you will get the search results. You need to save desired files directly from the search window, as they will not remain selected after you exit this window.
Step 3. Save the wanted files to a safe location.
Finally, make sure all wanted files are selected, and then click the Save button. When you are prompted to select a directory to store the recovered files, select another drive rather than the original M.2 SSD (if it is available) and click OK.
Solution 3. Create a New Partition
When a disk lacks partitions, its entire space remains unallocated and thus unusable by the Windows operating system. In this case, it is displayed as Unallocated in Disk Management, and you need to create a new partition to use it.
Step 1. In Disk Management, right-click the unallocated space on your M.2 SSD, and click New Simple Volume.
Step 2. Click Next to continue.
Step 3. Specify the volume size and click Next.
Step 4. Assign a drive letter and click Next.
Step 5. Format the disk to a wanted file system, and click Next. Finally, click Finish.
Solution 4. Initialize the Disk
If the M.2 SSD contains important files, do not initialize it immediately. A disk that suddenly appears as Not Initialized may have a damaged or lost partition table, and initializing it can make data recovery more difficult. Recover important files first if possible.
In this situation, right-click the disk and choose Initialize Disk. Next, choose a partition style from MBR and GPT, and click OK.
Once the M.2 SSD is initialized, you will need to partition it using the unallocated space to make it functional.
A Practical Advice: Back up Files on M.2 SSD
As you can see, in addition to connection failures that might prevent the M.2 SSD from being recognized, your disk can face numerous issues leading to potential data loss. M.2 SSDs typically have large storage capacities and contain vast amounts of data. Recovering this data can be expensive. To avoid such problems, it is essential to keep a backup, as it is the simplest and most secure data recovery solution.
To make a file backup, I recommend you use MiniTool ShadowMaker, the best Windows backup tool. It not only supports data backup but also works well on disk cloning and system backup. Click the button below to get its trial edition and use it for free within 30 days.
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Bottom Line
An M.2 SSD may not show up because of an installation problem, incompatible M.2 slot, BIOS configuration, driver issue, missing drive letter, partition problem, or hardware failure.
If the SSD is detected in BIOS, check Windows Disk Management and Device Manager to identify the specific issue. If the SSD contains important files, recover the data before initializing, partitioning, or formatting it.
If you encounter any problems with MiniTool software, feel free to contact us via [email protected].
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