Can PCIe Solid State Drives store items like hard drive?

Question

I am customizing a workstation in a computer brand website and it offers PCIe Solid State Drives category and hard drive category.

I want to add a solid state drive in the workstation, but I could not find solid state drive under hard drive category.

Then I check the PCIe Solid State Drives category and there are solid state drive options (bootable & non-bootable) for me to add to workstation.

1) Can a 256GB 4*Drive PCIe x16 M.2 Solid State Drive Card (boot/non-boot) be used to store items like an ordinary (SATA 7.2k RPM) hard disk?

2) Will the PCIe Solid State Drive appear as a drive in My Computer in Workstation like the ordinary hard drive?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Question 1 & 2: Yes, as TECHIE007 already said. You can store items on a PCIe drive and it will appear as a drive under My Computer.

Usually the reason for going to PCIe instead of a SATA SSD is due to bandwidth restrictions provided by the connector, as there are SSDs which can use up the available bandwidth. However, if crazy performance isn't your main need for going this route, just choose whatever is cheapest and easiest for you to work with.

Answer 2

Yes for 1 and 2. Keep in mind , booting off of 256GB 4*Drive PCIe x16 M.2 Solid State Drive Card is very fast but takes up four of your PCIe lanes. so you need to consider other cards that need PCIe lanes and the number of lanes your Mobo and processor support.