Solved: HP EliteDesk 800 G1 - SSD Compatibility - HP Support Community

Queiroz-JD · ‎03-21-2022

Hi,

I want to upgrade my old HP EliteDesk 800 G1 SFF, adding a SSD for OS and basical data, but keeping the 2,5 SATA HDD.

I see that the mainboard have a M2 slot. Can I use it for a NVMe SSD? Is there any specification I need to follow?

Thanks in advance.

Queiroz-JD · ‎06-20-2022

Finally, I'm back, and with great news: my HP 800 EliteDesk 800 G1 is fully functional.

After lots of struggle, I finally realized that a BIOS-based boot manager would never be capable of booting a SO in a device that wasn't recognized. Keeping this on mind, I started searching and found rEFInd [content removed].

Thanks a lot to all of you who lent me some of your time to help with the solution.

View solution in original post

Paul_Tikkanen · ‎03-21-2022

Hi:

The service manual parts list indicates that only SATA M.2 SSD's are supported.

c04327174.pdf (hp.com)

See chapter 4, page 22.

Page 10 of the HP Quickspecs indicates that PCIe SSDs are also supported.

Microsoft Word - HP_EliteDesk_800_G1_Business_PC_Series_QuickSpecs_12.03.13.docx

PCIe normally is an equivalent term for NVMe, but since the service manual doesn't show any part numbers for NVMe SSD's, unless you have one to try out, I would not go out and buy one unless you like to gamble.

Queiroz-JD · ‎03-24-2022

Thanks for the response.

I see that in service manual parts list, pages 22 and 23 indicate a "128 GB solid-state drive (SSD), M.2" (P/N 757990-001), and page 51 indicates it again, and gives instructions to remove it.

The Quick Specs Guide states that only the "Desktop Mini" version of the HP EliteDesk 800 G1 have the M.2-2280 slot, no problem as this is my device (sorry not mentioning it).

A friend of mine said, also, that he had success instaling a 240GB PCIe NVMe SSD on his EliteDesk 800 G1, the only problem he couldn't solve was to put the SSD as first boot device.

Paul_Tikkanen · ‎03-24-2022

You're very welcome.

Perhaps you can ask your friend if the 2.5" drive is disconnected, will the PC boot from the NVMe SSD?

If so, then you can just use a NVMe SSD without having a 2.5" drive.

Just buy a larger capacity NVMe that meets your storage needs.

SDH · ‎03-24-2022

Wait! There is hope for your nice little mini to have a much faster boot drive...

This comes from knowing the difference between HP Spares P/N vs HP Assembly P/N... two different numbers for exactly the same part. Paul's link to the page in your technical/service manual shows "128 GB solid-state drive (SSD), M.2 757990-001". That gives the Spares P/N (as stated at the top right corner of that manual's page). Using eBay I searched for that and found a listing that included that number... but on the front of the HP M.2 stick the "HP P/N" is shown as 752820-001. From my work on the Z Turbo Drives G1 used in the ZX20 family of workstations I've learned that the front P/N is the HP "Assembly P/N". Sometimes on the rear of the M.2 stick HP will add a label saying to replace the stick with a specific HP "Spares P/N"... there are two different numbers for the same part. This HP XP941 stick on eBay has two pictures, one front and one rear:

Note that the rear sticker also states "PCIE". That took me back to the front of the M.2 stick to look up the actual type of stick that is... and surprise... look up MZHPU128HCGM-000H1. That is an AHCI-controller based M.2 PCIe bus XP941 stick. This is exactly the type of M.2 stick that is used in most of the Z620 Z420 Z820 workstations when a HP PCIe card called the Z Turbo Drive (G1) is inserted into a PCIe slot in those workstations. That generation of workstations can only run AHCI-controller M.2 PCIe sticks in that PCIe card. The ZX40 next generation can run the newer NVMe-controller M.2 PCIe bus sticks in a newer "G2" version of the card (which is backwards compatible). I believe this proves that your mini can duplicate what the ZX20 family of HP workstations can do in terms of booting off an AHCI-controller M.2 stick, but your mini does not need a Z Turbo Drive G1 or G2 PCIe card to do that. Your built in M.2 slot is already connected directly into the PCIe bus. In the ZX20 workstations NVMe-controller M.2 sticks cannot be booted from, but can be used as a fast documents drive. You want a fastest boot/applications drive instead.

It turns out that the PCIe bus level of technology which can be used by a M.2 stick is actually determined largely by the controller built into the M.2 stick, not so much by the PCIe card it may be plugged into. The XP941 AHCI-controller M.2 stick can only use PCIe generation 2 technology and a maximum of 4 electrical lanes on the PCIe bus regardless of how many more lanes may be available to that slot.

A little known fact is that Samsung ran out of the PM941 M.2 sticks and HP/Samsung then started to use the AHCI-controller version of the SM951 in the ZTD (G1) for the ZX20 family of workstations. Those sticks are relatively rare but significantly faster. The SM951 M.2 PCIe stick also was released a bit later with a NVMe-controller instead of its original AHCI-controller, and that version was used in the later ZTD G2 in the ZX40 family of workstations. Those NVMe-controller M.2 sticks cannot be used without significant added work as a boot drive in the ZX20 workstations and I'm quite sure now also not as-is in yours (as your friend has shown).

Speed testing by DGroves and recently by myself show that the AHCI-controller version of the SM951 has close to exactly twice as fast throughput as the older slower XP941 M.2 stick on the same PCIe bus, in the same test workstation. This version of the SM951 runs at speeds well above what the XP941 can do (close to the performance of a NVMe-controller SM951). That is a big deal, and you might end up being the first of us to actually do this in your mini.

Here is a LINK to read more these discoveries, and if you want to try an AHCI-controller 256GB SM951 my original picture in that post shows the HP Assembly P/N to search for if you want that size. I added a HP 512GB size pic too, with its Assembly P/N showing so you can search for those if you wish. I prefer those larger ones.

I could not find any specs on your M.2 socket's capabilities. It most likely uses PCIe generation 3 and also 4 electrical lanes considering its release era. I was able in a Z420 to use the latest Samsung Magician utility to probe both types of the HP AHCI-controller M.2 sticks and run speed testing with Magician. The AHCI SM951 is much faster. The W10 device manager and W10 disk management also could see both types of those AHCI-controller M.2 drives and that allowed me to delete their prior partitions and to then do MBR partitioning and long-type NTFS formatting so that both drives showed up in W10 properly while the Z420 was booted off its internal boot SATAIII SSD. I'd go for the SM951 AHCI-controller version, at least 256GB size.

This would be a great experiment... I wish you lived down the street!

EDIT: Here is a picture is of the AHCI controller HP SM951, 512GB size. There is the HP part number... I don't have one that has the Spares P/N on a back label. The fact that HP only listed the XP941in your technical/service manual means nothing... none of the Z Turbo Drive G1 info is in the technical/service manuals for the ZX20 family. Use of the AHCI controller SM951 was never documented for the ZX20 workstations (except by us., initially by DGroves here). There is a very good chance that a AHCI controller SM951 would work perfectly in your mini, and it would be great to prove it. I would not advise getting the 128GB smallest version unless you found a very low price for one and just wanted to experiment with that initially:

DGroves · ‎03-25-2022

don't forget the Lenovo versions of the SM951 AHCI m.2 ssd have also been tested to boot on HP systems, however since their firmware is different it's possible (but unlikely) that some incompatibility may exist

SM951 04x4480 FRU / ssd0E97911 (MZ-HPVxxxxxxxx) note the hp"V" indicates it's the AHCI version

https://greenteksolutionsllc.com/store/product/Samsung_Lenovo_MZHPV512HDGL-000L1_SM951_512GB_AHCI_SS...

SDH · ‎03-25-2022

DGroves... thanks, good tip.

Say, we've had a difference on how we tell the AHCI SM951 apart from the NVMe version. You put emphasis on the 5th alphanumeric, the V after the P in the top left part number... I believe the emphasis should be on the third alphanumeric... the H. The "HP" in that part number has nothing to do with the HP brand name... that same "HP" is seen in all the Lenovo/IBM, and Apple-compatible AHCI versions of the SM951. It is the third alphanumeric being H that is the key, not the V after the P. And, for the NVMe version of the SM951 I say it is the third alphanumeric being V instead of H as the key. Note that in both the AHCI and the NVMe versions of the SM951 they each have a V after the P... 512GB example:

AHCI: MZHPV512HDGL

NVMe: MZVPV512HDGL

Here's a picture of a HP NVMe controller version of the SM951:

If you say to look for "HPV" to ensure it is an AHCI version I respond that you are technically correct but it is the H at the beginning of those 3 that makes it so, not the V at the end. I just want people to focus on the little detail that works every time. This same rule works for the Model number... the third alphanumeric in that is again the key. MZ-HPV5120 is always a AHCI version and MZ-VPV5120 is always a NVMe.

So, to the OP, also search for MZ-HPV5120 and MZ-HPV2560 too, prefer a HP one over the others, and be careful.

DGroves · ‎03-25-2022

while i have to agree completely with you (and will henceforth id it as such on this forum) i usually use the P/N: MZ HPxxxxxx to tell people AHCI vs nvme i am a bit concerned that confusion with the "H" and the following P that these 2 letters somehow id the ssd as a HP unit instead of a lenovo one, i'm not kidding i have had two people do this on me even though it's marked lenovo........

Queiroz-JD · ‎05-16-2022

Sorry for the late reply.

So... I bought a 240GB SSD, and after disassembling almost every screw from the computer, found the M.2 slot, inserted the SSD, and... nothing. The device wasn't recognized by the BIOS.

After a few unsuccessful attempts (including upgrading BIOS to the latest version I found on the support site), I saw that I bought the wrong type of SSD -- a SATA one (M&B connector). Shame on me.

Finally, I bought a NVMe SSD, which was also not recognized by the BIOS, but at least was shown by the Windows Install, so I'm back to the game.