elitedesk 800 G1 mSATA Screws

[BlueWaffles]

Hello everyone

I ran into the problem whilest installing a mSATA SSD (Samsung 850 Evo). I noticed that the disc didn't come with it's screws and neighter the EliteDesk did.

So my question is what sort of screws do I need to install the SSD?

Thanks in advance

[DelvanN]

The standard screw size for mSATA is M2 (mine came with M2x4), and usually your SSD will come with the screws to mount it.  Unfortunately, HP opted to use a something else for this motherboard, which are either smaller than M2 (or possibly M2 with finer, deeper threads than typical).

I went through the Hardware Guide and the Maintenance & Service guides, neither specified the screw size for those parts on the motherboard (the Mini PCIe mounts appear to use the same size screw as the mSATA). I contacted HP support, and they didn't know, the best solution they put forward was ordering an entire new SSD from HP Parts (a whopping 32GB in size!) which would then come with the proper sized screws.

I ended up having luck with a misc. eyeglasses screw set, several of them fit the threads well enough and didn't feel like any threads were being crossed.  Unfortunately these small screws don't have as wide a head, so while they will fit the mounts on the motherboard, they won't actually hold down your mSATA drive or Mini PCIe card, so you'll need some thin washers for this solution (or make one with a few sheets of aluminum foil).

[BlueWaffles · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your answer. You were right, the HP Support has no idea what screws these are.

I chatted with their support and it took them 7 hours to say that they dont have a sparepartnumber or alike. I asked them to mail me a concrete answer in about a week, but they just said the same.

Afterall an employee of our company had to go to a specialists to analyse what screws they are. These are M1.6 screws, was it so hard HP?!

Thanks for your answer.

[Persepolis]

Should I be able to install an mSATA drive as a second (i.e., non-boot) HD in my HP EliteDesk 800 G1 Ultra-slim PC? It has an open mSATA slot, but don't think HP intended it to house an mSATA drive. I gather my PC is just the smaller version of yours, unless I'm mistaken. Thanks.

[DelvanN]

Yes, mine is the Ultra-slim model as well.  I installed a Crucial MX200 250GB mSATA drive (Crucial's part no. is CT250MX200SSD3) in mine, my only complication was finding suitable screws to mount it as above.  In my email notes back and forth with HP, I have that down as coming from a list of compatible mSATA drives, but I'm afraid I don't recall where that list was at, you'll have to Google around for it if you don't want to use the exact same drive I'm using (it may have just come from Crucial's compatibility list instead of from HP).

[Persepolis]

Thanks. Someone's reported the screw size as M1.6. I also understand that an mSATA drive can't be used as the boot drive in this PC. Advise if you've found otherwise, please.

[bufulo]

The obvious follow-up question is what length and where can I get these screws?  I really don't want to buy 100 on eBay although lower quantities are available at vastly higher per screw cost.  Where did you get some?