I'm building a new computer and plan to use two M.2 drives. My motherboard has four slots, but the two fastest ones are going to be covered by my GPU, which makes it tricky to install the operating system on just the OS drive before setting up Windows. One of these drives contains backup files from my old PC, so it won't show its full capacity during installation. When I go to install Windows 11, will it be clear which drive is which during the process?
3 Answers
Short answer: probably not clear. For ease, do a clean install with just the drive you want for Windows first. In my recent experience (I did it with Windows 10), they generally show up as Drive 0, Drive 1, etc. It’s usually safe to assume Drive 0 is the first one, but it's better not to take chances. Once Windows is up and running, you can plug in the other drives, though you might need to temporarily remove your GPU and heatsinks to access everything.
You should have enough space beneath your GPU to install both drives. I'd suggest checking your motherboard manual for the best slots to use. As for the Windows installation, you'll definitely have the option to select which drive to install the OS on, so just make sure to choose the one that's not storing your backups.
That’s spot on! If you’re really worried about picking the wrong drive, a good approach would be to start by installing just one M.2 drive. You can add the other drive later without an issue. I did this on my setup since my backups were important; it’s better to be safe! Windows 11’s installer might not clearly label the drives, so going with one at a time can help avoid any mishaps.
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