Has anyone Installed a 480SSD in an HP envy15 M6 w105dx

[RichieFromBosto]

Has anyone succesfully upgraded thier M6 to 480 GB SSD even tho HP says not to go over 250? and if so is she still running smoothly?

I cant help but to want to upgrade it BIg whie its open  And if yes, what else was required should the ram go up to 16 as well?

[WAWood]

@RichieFromBosto

According to the Maintenance and Service guide for your PC, that 256GB "drive" is actually an M.2 SATA "stick" -- that is configured to function like an SSD, although it really is a memory stick.

Here is the link to that guide and the storage info is on page  2:  http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c04763031

If that is the only storage your PC has, replacing it is very difficult as there are currently no external M.2 SATA-to-USB adapters that would allow you to connect a larger M.2 SSD stick to your PC and "migrate" your current installation over to it.

So basically, you're stuck with that.

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

Here's the Manual:

Manual

HP does not say not to go over 250 as you say it is just saying that is the maximum size they offer on an M.2 disk. It can take both a 2.5 inch SATA SSD/hard drive/sshd AND an M.2 SATA mSSD drive. You could install a 2 TB hard drive and a 1 TB M.2 disk. It can take 16 gigs of RAM but installation requires motherboard removal and is not easy to do. 

Migrating your OS to an M.2 drive can be done inside the computer but would require booting it from a cloning software disk or you could do a clean install or use the HP recovery medium or other methods. A bit techhy but doable. 

Post back with any more questions. 

If this is "the Answer" please click "Accept as Solution" to help others find it. 

[RichieFromBosto]

Ok, so what I intended to do was replace the m6s 1TB HDD with a 480SSD then I was clued in about the m.2  so what I need to know if i install the m.2

Samsung 850 EVO - 500GB - M.2 SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-N5E500BW)

will it workin conjuction with the HDD and all will end well ,computer becomes faster and even more awesome than when HP designed itor am i getting this whole deal fouled up.

[Huffer]

As I said and was inferred by @WAWood the M.2 is a more difficult option and requires some pretty serious tech chops to get it to work. If 480 gigs is enough storage for you, I might suggest you consider just replacing the 2.5 inch HDD with a SATA 2.5 inch SSD. 

Since your unit will only accept an M.2 SATA disk, there is no speed advantage over a 2.5 inch SATA SSD. 

[RichieFromBosto]

so instead of installing the m.2 stick along with the already installed HDD 1tb, i should swap out the HD for  1tb sdd and call it a day? also any good cloning info on how to put my os on an external drive to later upload to the ssd and thank you for all the comments/help

[hchen42]

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@RichieFromBosto wrote:

so instead of installing the m.2 stick along with the already installed HDD 1tb, i should swap out the HD for  1tb sdd and call it a day? also any good cloning info on how to put my os on an external drive to later upload to the ssd and thank you for all the comments/help

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Your laptop should be similar to ours.  We've had long discussion at this thread http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/HP-Envy-x360-M6-aq105dx/td-p/58...

Our laptops are Envy X360 15" M6 AQ105DX.  We've had folks installing 500GB SSD in our m.2 slots.  I am going to assume your laptop has similar spec as ours and is capable of pcie speed.  This would mean your ssd in m.2 could be 3x-4x faster than the regular SSD.

My recommendation is to go to a local computer shop where they have good return policy and try out with m.2.  

I use Acronis to clone drives.  Acronis allow you to shrink partitions.  Acronis will cost your.  Clonezilla is free, but I don't think it shrink partition (ie, if you go from bigger drive to smaller drive).  If you go with m.2 route, I highly recommend you do clean install.  You can create Windows 8/10 install usb drive.  See the above thread, we have steps on how to rebuild.  The thread is long, 11 pages.  

Good luck.

[Huffer]

The laptop will only take SATA M.2 mSSDs which are no faster than SATA 2.5 inch SSDs. If you aren't going to take a look at the manual please don't add speculation to make the situation more confusing. The hardware is different than your x360. 

[RichieFromBosto]

Oh no, I should have been more specific, my HP has an 6th gen I7 8gb ram and a 1TB HHD I want to install the m.2 version alongside the 1tb HP offers this model but mines an m6 w105dx and Id like to install the m.2 to get max performance out of it. on my M7 i installed and additional 480SSd because it has the room, so is this a good move installing the m.2 drive and leaving in the 1Tb or am i getting in deep waters? 

[Huffer]

We understand perfectly what you have. Yes, there is a place to put a SATA M.2 drive IN ADDITION TO the 1 TB drive already in it. It is not real easy to make sure you get exactly the right kind of M.2 drive as they are very confusing and then it is not super easy to physically install it. Then, before the M.2 will do you any good, it has to be the bootdisk which means you have to transfer Windows to it or somehow get Windows onto it, which is likely the hardest task of all. For an experienced technician it would be a chore. For an end user it is going to be a real chore but we can walk you through it all if you want to go down that road.