DT-120 M.2 Interface Card and Adapter – Accessory (PCIe, M.2, Low Profile, -40 – 80°C)

The installation was easy and flawless! The CrystalDiskMark test results and app performance....priceless (see pictures below)!!This is a real worth while upgrade!Caveats:-------------- Made No Changes to DELL BIOS settings!-- Ran CrystalDriveMark benchmarks on full up system (116 background processes and 83GB of drive C: populated with OS and Apps) but with anti-virus and firewall switched: OFF-- Installed Samsung Magician 4.9.5 (it uses 10% unallocated space). The jury is out on this since Rapid disk is not supported for this device.-- Drive C: is UEFI by Acronis partition restore noted below.Instructions and/or recommendations:---------------------------------------------------1. Run CrystalDriveMark (free download: http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskMark/index-e.html) and benchmark the existing drive C:. save the results!!2. Download the Samsung NVMe Driver first from Samsung site: [...]3. Make an image backup of current Boot drive (in my case the LITEON M.2 OEM SSD). I used Acronis TI 2016 (all partitions),4. Shutdown system, unplug and open case (one screw), if you have a non-Boot HDD plugged into SATA-0, move it to another free SATA port (this is just insurance),5. Assemble NVRe SSD onto the Lycom PCIe 3.0 adapter. Secure with included screw (it fits just fine),6. Install the PCIe Storage assembly into one of the free PCIe 3.0x4 slot (I used the unused 16-bit slot but you can use the free short slot too),7. Plug in system and power-up,8. Press F2 to get into DELL BIOS setup. check the MOBOard slots and make sure Mass Storage device is populating a slot (should be OK)9. Restart the system. You should get a system notice to GPT initialize the new NVRe SSD, initialize it.10. Now is a good time to install the Samsung 950 Pro NVRe driver you downloaded previously,11.Check Disks in the device manager. You should see the new Samsung NVRe device and it should be working,12. I created the needed partitions on the Samsung NVRe SSD using "Minitool Partition Wizard FREE", they are as follows:Partition #1: FAT32, Size 500MB, No Label (this is the EFI system partition)Partition# 2: NTFS, Size 462GB, Label "OS"Partition# 3: NTFS, Size 450MB, Label "WINRETOOLS"partition# 4: NTFS, Size 12.7GB, Label "Image"!!!! DON'T USE DRIVE LETTERS !!!! Select none for new partition drive letters13. From within Windows 10 (pro), startup Acronis TI 2016 and perform a full restore from OEM LITEON SSD to Samsung 950 Pro NVRe. I did this from OEM SSD because it had the new Samsung NVRe driver installed after Image backup was performed.14. When restore is completed, shut down system, unplug system power, ground yourself, open case (if not opened), remove Nvidia Card and power connector,15: Remove the OEM LITEON SSD by removing m.2 small screw to MOBOard, THIS IS IMPORTANT TO PREVENT BOOT FROM OEM SSD!16. Reinstall Nvidia card and power connector and bracket,17. Plug system power back in and power up. The 1st boot will take a little while,18. If all goes well...you'll be at the Windows 10 logon prompt.19. Re-install the case cover.Attached images:--My system overview (using speccy)--Before CrystalDiskMark benchmark result--After CrystalDiskInfo result--After CrystalDiskMark Result

I've been doing more and more RAW photo processing lately and my computer would hesitate longer that it should (2 year old Dell XPS i7 6700 cpu 16gb RAM & PNY SSD). I had considered getting a new desktop but how would that help, as I noticed many of the mid ranges I was looking at, still only have spinning or tiny SSD drives! And with all the talk of M.2 chips and their relative affordability and performance, I can't think of why all new computers shouldn't have these.However, I learned that my Dell M.2 slot on my motherboard is only single lane, i.e.: would keep the drive throughput at 25%. (Essentially the same speed as my SATA fed SSD drive!). The remedy for full speed anarchy, this PCIE / M2 adapter.My install technique: 1) backup files. 2) Make Windows 10 recovery media with 32gb USB stick. 3) turn off, unplug, remove old drive. 4) Install card (combined with a Mushkin Pilot 500gb m.2 drive). 5) boot to bios 6) Bios settings that worked for me (yours may be different): AHCI + RAID ON; then make sure your USB windows recovery drive is reading in the boot order. That's it. 7) Save and reboot, started the reinstall of windows and I was on my way.One week later report: Wow, my computer is snappy. Glad I didn't just install the m.2 drive in my crippled motherboard slot. With 4 lanes of speed allowed by the card I ran the passmark test on the drive and it's in the 99th percentile. Files open instantly, programs almost open instantly. Way faster than my 1st gen PNY SSD. Raw photo processing is a pleasure, with no hesitation. I would recommend this upgrade to anyone. Christmas is coming, stoke that computer user in your life!

I am so embarrassed by what I did with this thing. I have a bunch of new Dell OptiPlex machines that run Windows 7 and Samsung NVME SSDs, which is a combination that probably shouldn't exist, but it does. The issue is that few conventional imaging tools support NVME drives yet, so... what to do? Answer? Buy a PCIe riser cable and hang this adapter outside a computer and then start loading disk images from within Windows 7. Yeah, you have to power off the machine to swap drives, but that's a lot less hassle than alternatives. No, you don't need a PCIe riser cable, but having this card sitting on the desk is a lot more convenient than constantly installing & removing it from the computer. It works, and works great on all the Samsung PM951 drives I've got.There are no drivers that come with this card and that initially threw me. The tiny little instruction sheet very clearly says to go get the hotfix from Microsoft. You have to give them your email address and they will send you back a link to the "untested hotfix." I've tried this combination on three PCs and all three worked fine, so it seems pretty reliable.Bottom line is this card allowed me to start buying PCs with NVME drives before formally moving to Windows 10 which is a big deal. Very happy with this purchase so far.