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HP Recommended
HP ENVY Phoenix 860VX Desktop
Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit)

I purchased a HP ENVY Phoenix 860VX Desktop with a 256 GB SSD drive as the boot drive with a 1TB storage drive.  I have a Samsung Evo Pro 500GB SSD that I want to use as the boot drive.  I cloned the original drive to the Samsung Evo without a problem.  I opened the case of the PC to switch hard drives, and I can't find the SSD drive.  I found the 1 TB storage drive easy enough but can't find the SSD drive.  Can anybody help?

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
HP Recommended

Greetings,

 

You may have a 256 GB M.2 PCIe (Non-SED) Solid State Drive.

 

This drive connects on the motherboard, It is about the size of a stick of gum.

 

It could be mounted vertically or laying flat on the motherboard (MB).

 

The M.2 drive is much faster than a SATA 3 SSD.  You may not be happy with this change if you purchased a SATA 3 SSD. You might be better off going to a 512 GB M.2 if the MB supports it. I have noticed the M.2 drive performs closer to rated speed when you use an i7-5930k or an i7-5960x due to the 40 lane PCIe bus as opposed to 28 lanes on the i7 -5820k.

 

It should be near the PCIe slots. Asrock, Asus, and Gigabyte locate the M.2 slots there as it connects to the PCIe x16 bus and uses the bandwidth of one of the x16 slots.

 

If this is true, install the SATA SSD in available HHD bay using a 2.5 inch adapter. Then change default boot device in BIOS to the SATA SSD. You may have to experiment on what SATA port you use. EFI can be finicky. It is also possible that you may have to reinstall the factory image. I have an Asrock x99 board with M.2. The Asrock BIOS is much more forgiving and configurable. I am not familiar with your PC's MB or the boot configuration options available when going from an M.2 boot device to a SATA boot device.

 

Making this hardware change could also mess up using the factory image to restore the PC. It depends on whether this hardware change is a configurable option at purchase.

 

Cheers!

View solution in original post

3 REPLIES 3
HP Recommended

Greetings,

 

You may have a 256 GB M.2 PCIe (Non-SED) Solid State Drive.

 

This drive connects on the motherboard, It is about the size of a stick of gum.

 

It could be mounted vertically or laying flat on the motherboard (MB).

 

The M.2 drive is much faster than a SATA 3 SSD.  You may not be happy with this change if you purchased a SATA 3 SSD. You might be better off going to a 512 GB M.2 if the MB supports it. I have noticed the M.2 drive performs closer to rated speed when you use an i7-5930k or an i7-5960x due to the 40 lane PCIe bus as opposed to 28 lanes on the i7 -5820k.

 

It should be near the PCIe slots. Asrock, Asus, and Gigabyte locate the M.2 slots there as it connects to the PCIe x16 bus and uses the bandwidth of one of the x16 slots.

 

If this is true, install the SATA SSD in available HHD bay using a 2.5 inch adapter. Then change default boot device in BIOS to the SATA SSD. You may have to experiment on what SATA port you use. EFI can be finicky. It is also possible that you may have to reinstall the factory image. I have an Asrock x99 board with M.2. The Asrock BIOS is much more forgiving and configurable. I am not familiar with your PC's MB or the boot configuration options available when going from an M.2 boot device to a SATA boot device.

 

Making this hardware change could also mess up using the factory image to restore the PC. It depends on whether this hardware change is a configurable option at purchase.

 

Cheers!

HP Recommended

Thank you.  That is exactly the situation.  I glossed over the spec sheet that identified the SSD as an M2.

 

 I don't think I will replace the SSD.  I think I will just add one and use it to store programs that I use less often.  That shoud help keep the original SSD less cluttered.

 

Thanks again and be well.

HP Recommended

Greetings,

 

You are welcome.

 

Sounds good.

 

Cheers!

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