ADSA-M2C44 USB4 docking station for 4x M.2 NVMe SSDs with disk cloning function without a PC

AXAGON M.2 SSD disk adapter is let say only HW connector change from M.2 into PCI-Express or SATA. Adapter itself do not have controller electronics and need no drivers. It is necessary to check M.2 disk driver availability for older OS like Windows 7.

Proper M.2 adapter function requires:
- computer mainboard support M.2 disks – SATA disks are more often supported than NVMe disks,
- computer mainboard support booting from PCI-Express bus – in case of OS installation to M.2 NVMe disk,  
- driver availability for M.2 SSD disk – apply especially for NVMe disks on Windows 7 OS.

Please contact the motherboard manufacturer's technical support to determine support for motherboard M.2 drives. In some cases updating the BIOS/UEFI is sufficient.
Check the M.2 SSD driver availability on the manufacturer's website or contact the disk manufacturer's technical support.

The disks connected to the SATA motherboard controller are usually displayed In BIOS/UEFI. The NVMe disk is usually displayed in the "Disk Boot Order" menu.
This applies when the requirements of "Prerequisites for proper M.2 function" are met.

A): If the PC does not run with the card or the card is mistakenly detected in “Device Manager”, or if there is a yellow exclamation mark on the driver, or if “Device Manager” reports an error code “Code 10 - The device cannot start”, the card is in conflict with another device in your computer.

B): In most cases, this conflict can be solved by moving the card to another PCI (PCIe) slot, with the BIOS assigning other free resources to the card. If the move does not help, try the card separately, with no additional cards inserted. If the card cannot be moved to another slot, you can reset the BIOS of the computer (by jumper on the board or pulling out the backup battery, we recommend that you note all the original settings and reset everything to the required values). This will cause the IRQ, DMA, and I/O resources to be redistributed.

A): If the network card is not displayed in "Device Manager", a USB port (or a PCIe slot in the event of an internal network card) may be malfunctioning.

B): Try plugging the network card into another USB port (or another PCIe slot on the PC motherboard in the event of an internal network card, or temporarily disconnect all other PCIe cards). The network card should be detected and you should be prompted to install the drivers. If the problem persists, plug the network card into the USB port (PCIe slot) of another computer to verify its functionality.

A): By initializing the disk, you can set the mode in which the hard disk will work

B): You can use the partition with the master boot record (MBR) or the GUID partition table (GPT). For disk up to 2TB, use the MBR option, we recommend selecting GPT on a larger disk than 2TB. Subsequently, the initialized disk should be formatted.

A): The newly purchased disk must be initialized before first use.

B): If the new disk is not initialized automatically, open "Disk Management", right-click on the desired disk and initialize it.

A): If this happens, it means that the operating system failed to get the necessary information to install the drivers.

B): The cause may be a defective USB cable or damaged device. If the problem persists, plug the external box into the USB port of another computer to verify its functionality.

A): The newly purchased disk must be initialized before first use.

B): If the new disk is not initialized automatically, open "Disk Management", right-click on the desired disk and initialize it.

A): First, try moving the card to another PCI-e slot in case there is a device conflict. The issue could also be caused by a poor-quality or damaged SATA cable.

B): Check whether your SSD partition is properly aligned (using a program that displays this information, e.g., ASS SSD Benchmark). More information about this issue can be found here: http://pctuning.tyden.cz/software/ladeni-windows/17030-optimalizace-windows-7-pro-ssd-co-funguje-a-co-ne?start=2

A): By initializing the disk, you can set the mode in which the hard disk will work.

B): You can use the partition with the master boot record (MBR) or the GUID partition table (GPT). For disk up to 2TB, use the MBR option, we recommend selecting GPT on a larger disk than 2TB. Subsequently, the initialized disk should be formatted.

Test

A): The ADSA-ST clones disks bit by bit, regardless of their content. This creates an identical copy of the disk. A requirement for cloning is that the source disk must not contain any bad sectors (otherwise, the cloning process will stop). If the target HDD is smaller than the source HDD, cloning will not start.

B): For cloning, the target HDD must be the same size or larger than the source HDD. If the target HDD is larger than the source HDD, a partition equal to the size of the source HDD will be created on the target disk, and the remaining space will stay unallocated. After cloning, you can extend the partition to include the unallocated space or create a new partition using Windows Disk Management.

A): Drivers are included with operating systems and are installed completely automatically. The external box (adapter / docking station) is detected as a standard storage device, such as a USB flash disk, no additional drivers are needed.

B): No other drivers need to be installed and are not even available. If you continue to have problems with your external box (adapter / docking station), check out more tips that can help you troubleshoot problems.

A): If the external box (adapter / docking station) is not displayed in "Device Manager", there may be a USB port malfunction. It is also possible that your computer has a poor power supply to USB ports and the power is not sufficient to operate an external box (you can detect by listening that HDD is not spinning). This is a problem especially for older computers, where the source part already works at the limit of its parameters. In this case, it would help to use a USB hub, with an auxiliary power supply, by which the external box (adapter / docking station) would be connected to the computer.

B): Try plugging the external box (adapter / docking station) into another USB port, preferably on the back of your PC. The external box (adapter / docking station) should be detected and the drivers loaded automatically. If the problem persists, plug the external box (adapter / docking station) into the USB port of another computer to verify its functionality.

A): If this happens, it means that the operating system failed to get the necessary information to install the drivers.

B): The cause may be a defective USB cable or damaged device. If the problem persists, plug the external box (adapter / docking station) into the USB port of another computer to verify its functionality.

A): If this happens, it means that the Windows operating system did not assign a drive letter to the new storage device.

B): If the drive letter is not assigned, open "Disk Management", right-click on the desired drive and manually assign the drive letter. If the drive letter can not be assigned to the disk, it is possible that the disk is formatted as "dynamic". If you want to keep disk data, connect it to the original device and make a backup of the disk. Then convert it to a normal disk, initialize it to MBR (or GPT, see other points), and then perform Low Level Format (e.g. using the Low Level Format Tool)

A): The newly purchased disk must be initialized before first use.

B): If the new disk is not initialized automatically, open "Disk Management", right-click on the desired disk and initialize it.

A): By initializing the disk, you can set the mode in which the hard disk will work.

B): You can use the partition with the master boot record (MBR) or the GUID partition table (GPT). For disk up to 2TB, use the MBR option, we recommend selecting GPT on a larger disk than 2TB. Subsequently, the initialized disk should be formatted.

A): If the external box (adapter / docking station) with a 3.5“ HDD is not displayed in "Device Manager ", the inserted disk may not be powered.

B): Make sure you have the power supply plugged in and the external box (adapter / docking station) turned on with the power switch. If the disk is properly powered, it should spin (can be detected by listening).

A): The AXAGON external boxes (adapters / docking stations) are always equipped with the latest firmware to support disks of all capacities.

B): The 2TB limit is given as the maximum partition size when initializing a disk with the master boot record (MBR). If you want to create a larger partition on the HDD stored in the external box (e.g. 3TB or more), you must select the GUID partition table (GPT) when initializing the disk. Subsequently, the initialized disk should be formatted.

A): The external AXAGON boxes (adapters / docking stations) support the USB Mass Storage protocol making it easy to connect to TV.

B): When using a disk larger than 2TB, some TVs do not support GPT format. In such case, MBR format must be used when initializing a disk.

A): Check if the M.2 disk type is NVMe (neither SATA M.2 drives nor mSATA drives are covered by this box)

B): Update the firmware of your NVMe M.2 drive using the manufacturer's utility

C): Update the firmware of the external box - download link

A): Drivers are included with operating systems and are installed completely automatically. The external box is detected as a standard storage device, such as a USB flash disk, no other drivers are needed.

B): No other drivers need to be installed and are not even available. If you continue to have problems with your external box, check out more tips that can help you troubleshoot problems.

A): If the external box is not displayed in "Device Manager", there may be a USB port malfunction.

B): Try plugging the external box into another USB port. The external box should be detected and the drivers loaded automatically. If the problem persists, plug the external box into the USB port of another computer to verify its functionality.

In the ACTIVE profile, set the hard drive sleep time for battery and mains power to 0 minutes / Never.

A) Path in Windows 10: Settings > System > Power & Sleep > Additional power settings > in the ACTIVE profile Change Schema Settings> Change advanced power settings > Hard drive > Turn off hard disk after

B) Path in Windows 11: Search for: Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options > in the ACTIVE profile Change Schema Settings> Change advanced power settings > Hard disk > Turn off hard disk after.