Hello everybody,

i have a minitx board withg 4 sata ports and a pcie <=> sata adaptors for my 7 sata HDDs. 5 HDDs and 2 SSD sata cache drive (2x 512 Go).

I would like to increase cache size with 2 SSD of 4To.
To get performance and be "futur proof", i would like to use 2 M2 nvme SSD.

So i need a low profile pcie adaptors with 2 M2 slots and at least 1 Sata connector.

Do you have any advice or recommandation ?

regards

12 hours ago, nunu22 said:

with 2 M2 slots and at least 1 Sata connector.

That would mean one M.2 slot would be NVMe and the other one SATA, is that what you want?

hi,

i thought about Something like That (2 sata ports and 2 NVME M2 slot):

i don't need performance, but to avoid write on HDD and to get some images or shared directory on SSD.
I don't know if this kind of adaptors has been used or tested with unraid.

regards

Just by looking at it can't say, but if those are two NVMe slots, it should use x8, without accounting for the SATA controllers, so it seems fishy. Do you have a link?

arg .... this is NGFF
https://www.startech.com/en-eu/cards-adapters/pexm2sat3422

It's also Marvell, so not good even for SATA: Marvell - 88SE9230

ok ...

so i think i need to use a double face adaptors like this :




i will be able to install 2x M2 MVME SSD and an other adptor like that :




i don"t know if this could be reliable ...

That should work as long as your board supports x4x4x4x4 PCIe bifurcation.

the pcie adaptors : Carte PCIe 3.0 x16 for 4 SSD M.2 NVMe (PLX PEX8747) has its own pcie switch. This should work ?
My board has an intel H170 , bifurcation seems not be supported.

12 hours ago, nunu22 said:

has its own pcie switch. This should work ?

It should.

On 11/27/2025 at 7:14 PM, nunu22 said:

ok ...

so i think i need to use a double face adaptors like this :




i will be able to install 2x M2 MVME SSD and an other adptor like that :




i don"t know if this could be reliable ...

I have two m.2-to-6-port sata adapters in my current unRAID "media" Server and two in my "backup unRAID Server. Both have worked flawlessly for years. Care does need to be taken with the sata cables as the cards are quite delicate.

I have also used the pcie x16 card with the nvme switch chip. This also worked without issue. A bit of an expensive card though - I purchased a LinkReal card (LRNV9547L-4). Wasn't particularly impressed with the speed using four m.2 gen3 nvme 4TB disks but this was a while ago and may have been before ZFS was an option.

Thanks for your answers.
as my case is a jonsbo2, LRNV9547L-4 is too long.
My other concern is about thermal in this case. there is no ventirad for air extraction, only a low profile one on CPU.
So i'm hesitating with my initial idea ...