Can I run the OS in my server off of a PCI-E adapter?

[kojack]

I am looking at adding an ssd for OS use in my little acer.  Can I use a PCI-E adapter to put an ssd in it and use for OS/Boot drive?  Then, I would use the 4 hotswaps for storage.

 

UGREEN NVMe PCIe Adapter, M.2 SSD M Key and M&B Key to PCIe 4.0 Adapter X4/X8/X16 Slot Card with Heat Sink, Up to 64Gbps Max, Size for NVMe M.2 SSD 2230/2242/2260/2280 : Amazon.ca: Electronics

[Sandy Bridge]

My knowledge on this is a bit dated, but I believe that the answer is generally yes*.

 

I was looking at the possibilities for this for my Sandy Bridge desktop, which predates native nVME support.  My research found that it is still possible to boot from an nVME PCIe card on a Sandy Bridge chipset, but only if the SSD being used has an option ROM that enables proper communication between the system that doesn't know anything about NVME and that SSD.  The Samsung 950 Pro being one such SSD (and generally regarded as the most recent).

 

If your Acer is Haswell or newer, I believe it should work out of the box without any hassle.  Disclaimer, I haven't tried it on a Haswell or newer desktop as all of my Haswell or newer systems are notebooks.

 

Though as of tonight I can confirm that Sandy Bridge reads any old NVME SSD from a PCE-E adapter with no fancy tricks required, just install it, no driver install needed (with Win8.1, which might be the earliest to not need special drivers?  Or maybe 7?), and it shows up in My Computer.  It's just the "being able to boot" that needs Haswell or newer.

 

Edit: Saw your other thread and realized your server actually is Sandy Bridge, or the server equivalent anyway.  My "probably too dated" knowledge is just the right age.

 

I saw you mentioned your ordered, or were planning to order, some kit in May, I'll be curious to hear how it turned out.  The option ROM part is the part that's easy to miss, I know there were other SSDs with them, but other than "earlier Samsungs" I never found a great listing of them, and it's niche enough that it can be difficult to find reliable information.

 

The other way-out-of-left-field option is finding an adapter that has an option ROM component built in.  I don't know if those exist for desktops, but a couple people in the ThinkPad community have created ExpressCard NVME adapters that include option ROMs built-in, so they can boot from any NVME SSD of an appropriate physical size.  But whether anyone's bothered with creating that for a desktop form factor?  I don't know.  The level of devotion of ThinkPad fans to their laptop exceeds that of the average computer enthusiast.

[kojack]

I received the adapter today. I have to install a new stereo in my jeep, finish the basement reno and mount my monitors on my new dual monitor stand. After that, I am going to get after the server build. This should be fun. I need to get a new 120mm Noctua fan and see if I can add a low low low profile Noctua cpu cooler. Also, I need to pick up 16gb of ddr3 desktop ram to max out the ram on the server.  Once that is done, I will load it with 4 of the biggest HDD I can find.  Stay tuned for some updates soon!