HP Z420 2To HDD

[dcabale]

Hello,
here is my current HDD installed on my HP Z420 workstation : 500GB SATA 500GB 7.2K SATA 3Gb/s 3.5" HP Z420 Workstation Hard Drive.
I would like to upgrade it to at least a 2To HDD.

Thanks to valuable members on this forum, I found now this article -> Samsung 990 Pro MZ-V9P2T0CW Disque SSD Interne avec dissipateur NVMe M.2 PCIe 4.0, 2 to : Amazon.fr:..., available *with heatsink*

Do you know if this article is compatible with my HP Z420 Mini Tower Workstation ?

[TheOldMan]

Sorry for the disappointing news, but that  PC does not have a M.2 slot for that type SSD.  You could install an adapter for allowing it but It might be more practical to use a SATA 2T SSD

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=SATA+2tB+SSD&crid=1XD54YQSIYXCU&sprefix=sata+2tb+ssd%2Caps%2C415&ref=nb_s...

It will not be quite as fast as the M.2 but still, a solution.

[SDH]

TheOldMan is correct, but you can do much better than what you currently have and actually can get close to the level of performance you initially described. The thing is that SATA HDDs and SATA SSDs have a speed limitation below that of what your workstation can provide, and "for all practical purposes" your generation of HP workstation can never run a NVMe M.2 SSD. You'd need to step up to a Zx40 HP workstation for use of a NVMe M.2 SSD.

Your steps:

Is your Z420 a version 1 or version 2? If you don't know what that is then you have some homework to do here on the forum related to boot block dates and bar code labels. Assuming you have a faster better v2 you'd want to be running a v2 processor that is matched to your needs, core wise, and running one that is fast as the ultimate speed your motherboard can run at. So, a v2 processor and memory that is matched to the fastest your v2 processor can run at. You want that memory to be running Quad Channel, and I prefer to load all 8 memory sockets with identical memory to ensure best performance from that side. Recycled HP memory and matching non-HP retired server memory has been posted about here.

Second, you need to make sure your BIOS is updated to the most recent because that can run the most recent v2 processors HP has certified for your presumed v2 workstation. Plus that will give you the BIOS that can run step 3.

Third, you want to buy a Z Turbo Drive v2 PCIe card because the PCIe bus is significantly faster than SATAIII. That HP card can only run if you have one of the more recent BIOS versions from HP for your workstation.  With the best possible M.2 stick inserted, see 4 below, you want the nice big heatsink the G2 has versus the earlier "G1" version. Faster runs hotter.

Fourth, and I'll be dogmatic here. You only want to buy one of the fast SM951 AHCI-controller M.2 SSD sticks to put in that ZTD G2 card. I'd only buy a 512GB one for that. DGroves has documented here that those run almost as fast as the NVMe-controller M.2 SM951 stick, and I have documented that also. You can search here for a post on secrets of the Z Turbo Drive. The original M.2 stick HP used in these cards was significantly slower. This faster one can be from HP or Lenovo, and there are even some non-branded Samsung ones too. I've bought a number of those with good eBay searching skills. A used one is what you'll buy, and these have a very long life so don't worry about that. Search under all of their part numbers and you'll find one at a good price. You want their speed and compatibility. If they have 95% life left when you probe with CDI it is zero issue. 512GB is the biggest they ever came in, and those are better/faster than the smaller/earlier options. HP tells you which PCIe3 Gen3 slots you can put the card in your Zx20 workstation. The first two preferred slots will provide PCIe Gen3 x4 electrical lanes for that card.

Fifth, you need to do a clean install of W10Pro64 with no other drive present. Set BIOS to factory defaults before the install. You can update that later to W11 and fine tune BIOS later too. If you like the concept of a documents drive I'd choose a SATAIII SSD that fits your needs, attached to one of the two bottom front SATAIII gray SATA ports. All the others are SATAII. If need be, you could use a (slower) SATAIII larger HDD.

Sixth, you need to learn how to optimize your BIOS settings, and your system settings to avoid mandated slowdowns to reduce energy use, if you so choose.

All the information on that is in here. You will be able to find it via the forum's somewhat limited search feature and targeted Google searches.

This should get you going... but I have no idea what is available via eBay in France. Good luck to you.

[dcabale]

1. Thanks for your reply @TheOldMan

2. What particular will I have to take care of, when swapping from my original HDD to my new SSD? Will the BIOS need to be set (F10 + set + save) once the new hardware in place ? Or can I expect that swap to be like a "plug & play" (turn power off, remove the old HDD, add the new SDD on the same port, turn power on, and voila) ? And any other precaution ?

[SDH]

With a SATA SSD it will close to plug and play. A new SATA HDD or SSD usually comes to you is a "RAW" condition. It is best to partition that (I choose MBR partitioning) and then do a NTFS formatting of it. I find it easiest to do that ahead of time using the present installed OS and navigating to the built in Disk Management utility Windows already has.

You'll end up having to do a clean install so hopefully you know how to do that. If your OS already is Windows 10 then you already have a digital license for that on the Microsoft licensing servers.

[dcabale]

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@SDH wrote:

With a SATA SSD it will close to plug and play. A new SATA HDD or SSD usually comes to you is a "RAW" condition. It is best to partition that (I choose MBR partitioning) and then do a NTFS formatting of it. I find it easiest to do that ahead of time using the present installed OS and navigating to the built in Disk Management utility Windows already has.

1. Thanks for your answer

2. Considering this new SSD will replace the data (not the OS) HDD, why do you consider being "best to partition that"? IOW, for what reason a secondary 2TO SSD used for data (not the OS) needs to be partitioned ?

You'll end up having to do a clean install so hopefully you know how to do that. If your OS already is Windows 10 then you already have a digital license for that on the Microsoft licensing servers.

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Considering this new SSD will replace the data (not the OS) HDD, will it be necessary to "having to do a clean install" ?
Thanks for your help.

[TheOldMan]

Considering the new SSD is not going to host the OS, then you do not need to do much to the new drive.  You can add it to the system, leave the 500GB data drive in place and have all drives active.  You will need to have Windows format the drive with  NTFS before being able to use it, however. Be extremely careful the correct drive is chosen before the format command is given.

The HP Z420 workstation has drive bay room for three internal 3.5" drives, so you can have all of them, if you wish.  The new SATA SSD is going to be a 2.5" drive, so an adapter is needed to mount it in a 3.5" bay.

Hope that is clear enough.  Come back if you need additional help.

[dcabale]

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@TheOldMan wrote:

Considering the new SSD is not going to host the OS, then you do not need to do much to the new drive.  You can add it to the system, leave the 500GB data drive in place and have all drives active.

I'm afraid I don't follow you there.. my two existing disks, the SSD hosting the OS and the HDD I want to replace, are plugged to the two AHCI 6Gb/s. Thus if I would let all my existing disks in place and add my new SDD to a new port as you propose, it would be added on a AHCI 3Gb/s only.
c04205252.pdf (hp.com)

I loose performance here -> would it not be better to replace my existing HDD (connected to the AHCI 6Gb/s) by the new SDD ?
..and move my existing HDD to a (unoccupied) AHCI 3Gb/s port ?

You will need to have Windows format the drive with  NTFS before being able to use it, however. Be extremely careful the correct drive is chosen before the format command is given.

The HP Z420 workstation has drive bay room for three internal 3.5" drives, so you can have all of them, if you wish.  The new SATA SSD is going to be a 2.5" drive, so an adapter is needed to mount it in a 3.5" bay.

Hope that is clear enough.  Come back if you need additional help.

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 That's a good point indeed !
Would you recommend this article -> deleyCON Cadre de Montage pour Disques Durs 2,5" Adaptateur SSD vers 3,5" Cadre Amovible Cadre de Mo...
Thanks for your help ! 🙂

[TheOldMan]

Looking at the motherboard picture, I would assume the two darker SATA ports are 6Gb/s but I am not positive.  So "I loose performance here -> would it not be better to replace my existing HDD (connected to the AHCI 6Gb/s) by the new SSD "?  If that is true , (the dark SATA ports are 6Gb/s),  then Yes.  There is no real need for the data drive to be on a faster SATA port unless you are using it for video work or graphics rendering.

The adapter you linked is a good kit for adding the SSD.

[SDH]

It would have been nice to have started your posts by explaining that you intend to keep your current "boot/applications" SSD as is and upgrade your current "documents" drive to that (incompatible) NVMe-controller M.2 form factor SSD from Samsung. These days most people would want to have the boot/applications drive be the fastest possible and their documents drive could be as fast but is generally slower. That is why I presented you with the information that the Z420 can use a M.2 form factor SSD if it is in a Z Turbo Drive and also is a particular type (has an AHCI-controller). The best one HP certified is the Samsung SM951 AHCI-controller version that is 512GB maximum in size. Both HP and Lenovo offered those, and they are not easy to find. Below is a picture that shows a 512GB one, at the bottom, from Lenovo. The HP and Lenovo ones work equally well and have the same P/N at the top left (up to the hyphen), and also have the Model MZ-HPV5120. However, I now don't think that is reasonable advice for you. Stick with your plan.

You don't seem to understand that giving a drive a proper partition table does not mean that you're chopping its storage spaces up into different chunks. You really risk your data if you copy it over to a drive that has not been MBR or GPT partitioned first. If a drive is over 2TB in size you should use GPT partitioning. I use the Legacy MBR partitioning because we don't use client drives over 2TB, it is more compatible, and has never failed us in our enterprise here. Then I do a "long type" NTFS formatting (uncheck the "quick" box to get that) which maps out any dubious sectors. That is over compulsive I'm sure, but I do it always for any new drive. You should not store things you want to keep reliably available on a "RAW" drive. Read up on this... maybe start with the link HERE.

Yes, those bottom front two gray SATA ports on your motherboard are the SATAIII full speed ones. Attach your current boot SSD to the far right (front) port which is SATA port 0. Attach your new MBR partitioned (you might wish to call it "partition-tabled") 2TB or less long-type NTFS formatted SSD documents drive to the second gray SATAIII port (which is SATA port 1). Attach your SATA optical drive cable to the very top front black SATAII port. Those optical drives will run as fast as they ever can using a SATAII port. Do this all with your current slow HDD documents drive out of the case. Get things up and running that way. Then shut down, attach your original HDD to any of the remaining black SATAII ports, power up, copy over your documents from that to your new SSD, shutdown, remove the HDD for safekeeping, startup and live life well.

I'll assume your current SATAII documents HDD is NTFS formatted. In this situation I'd go to its properties page and down at the bottom I'd turn off indexing if it is turned on. For the new documents SSD I'd turn indexing on because that helps me find stuff... I'd let that run without the computer going to sleep over night.