Want to install M.2

[shani589]

Hi! I have HP Z240 Tower and I want to install a M.2 SSD but I am little bit confused which M.2 will support with my Z240 can somone please guide me which M.2 should buy? please

[SDH]

You probably know that your Z240 Tower form factor has a native PCIe M.2 slot on its motherboard. If you go to:

QuickSpecs HP Z240 Tower Workstation (dectrader.com)

you can see on page 8/9 some added details. Specifically, that the first NVMe M.2 stick is to be placed into that motherboard slot, which is PCIe3 and x4 electrical lanes, both good.  I'd make sure to first update your BIOS to the latest version (1.87, released by HP 4/28/23). You'll want to do a clean install of W10Pro64 onto that stick to ensure having the latest drivers, and you'll want to be using W10Pro64 for that if at all possible. W10 Home might be OK too.

However, first look into HP's no cost "Cloud Recovery" feature that provides online access to download their official W10 build that will be specifically fine-tuned by them for your workstation. See my edit below. After downloading that 2018 W10 install and updating via Windows Update you should have a nice current build on your NVMe boot drive. Later you can add in more drives... but do your initial install with only the M.2 stick in place.

What M.2 stick? We use a lot of these now in our Zx40 and above workstations. I prefer the Samsung more recent ones and specifically choose to use the "consumer" versions for the boot drive rather than OEM versions because then the free Samsung Magician utility features all work properly (such as overprovisioning, Performance mode, firmware updates, etc.). Otherwise, Magician works but only with limited features available. So, no you don't need to only buy a HP M.2 stick for your boot drive. We have those too, they work very well, but I like the Samsung Magician utility to the degree that I choose the recent Samsung Pro or Evo consumer versions if I'm doing the upgrade you propose. By the way, a PCIe4 M.2 stick will work fine in these PCIe3 workstations... those are backwards compatible.

Why a clean install? I've been able to upgrade older W10 installs to W11 and also clone some older 2.5" form factor SATA SSD installs onto NVMe M.2 sticks but have discovered that this approach drags along some older important drivers from the past rather than load the proper updated ones that a clean install achieves. That counts.

If you wanted to add in a second NVMe M.2 stick later for a very fast documents drive you'd need to use a HP Z Turbo Drive G2 PCIe card. That includes a nice big heatsink, is a single PCIe slot solution, and I've gotten a few for under 20.00 from eBay recently. Into that you could consider installing a 1TB or greater used Lenovo OEM Samsung M.2 stick for that. I mention Lenovo because they have a robust firmware updater pathway for their NVMe sticks. You end up with a very fast combo that way, and I'm amazed how many laptops running on 1-2 TB M.2 sticks are considered to have too little storage. So, the original NVMe M.2 sticks go on eBay for little cost and low hours. It's time to consider a smaller fast access NVMe documents drive and a larger slower access SATA III documents HDD or SSD in addition.

Get a copy of your HP Maintenance and Service Guide and look up what PCIe slot HP recommends for the second NVMe drive when using that ZTD G2 PCIe card. HP honestly is doing a horrible job of making their technical support PDFs for older workstations downloadable so expect to go non-HP for that guide. Here's a quote from HP on where a ZTD G2 PCIe card should go in a Z240 Tower after you first install an on-motherboard boot NVMe M.2 boot drive:

"Z240 - Native Motherboard slot first, then available PCIe Gen3 slot (either #1 or #4) " Note that slot 1 in a tower is a PCIe3 (good) x1 electrical (bad) so I'd not use that. Slot 4 in a tower is PCIe3 (good) and x16 mechanical but x4 electrical (still good) so I would use that. I have no idea why HP did not recommend use of slot 3 in a tower which is PCIe3 (good) and also x4 electrical (good) but that is what they said so I'd stick with using slot 4 if you choose this pathway. If you go less than PCIe3 or less than x4 electrical you limit the bandwidth for your M.2 stick (bad). Note that the slots in a Z240 small form factor (SFF) box are different.

EDIT:  HP also has more than a bit of a mess related to Cloud Recovery... they have business class, workstation, and notebook portals. Some work and some don't. Use this link:

HP Business PCs - Using the HP Cloud Recovery Client in Windows 11 and Windows 10 | HP® Customer Sup...

Go to the top link to see the supported platforms and your Z240 is in here. Note that gives you an older 2018 W10Pro64 installer. On that supported platforms page at the top left, second link down, it gives you the client download link, and save that. This client will get you started properly. After things are installed Windows Update will help shift to the latest W10Pro64. You even could consider using this forum's Paul Tikkanen's Rufus based approach to install W11 instead.

[shani589]

I have ordered a Samsung 970 Evo Plus PCIe3 X4 500gb M.2 Nvme. is that ok?

[SDH · Accepted solution]

I'd say yes to that. The Samsung OEM variant of that drive which HP, Lenovo, and Dell use is the PM981a.

You might be interested in getting a recycled HP heatsink via eBay... take a look at 919952-001. Those should come with thermal pads and would fit your new M.2 stick perfectly. Avoid knockoffs; get one with the HP part number on it. Note in the pic below that the tower form factor comes with a series of steel inserts for different length M.2 sticks and a special HP black plastic/brass hold-down screw milled to fit those tiny inserts. There is also a HP blue plastic/brass hold-down screw that looks the same, but its threads are true 2mm and they won't fit in your smaller inserts. You'll want to check that your Z240 came with the HP hold-down screw ready to use because they are hard to find. Don't lose it... it is not a standard 2mm M.2 screw... it is a bit smaller. You slip the black plastic part onto the curved recess built into the butt end of any M.2 stick first and then insert the contacts end of the stick into its socket, fold down gently, and screw down into place. Don't over-tighten... just snug so you don't strip the tiny threads. Don't ask how I know. There is a larger more complex 826414-001 HP M.2 heatsink for the "Z240" but I can't tell if it will fit in the Tower or only in the Small Form Factor version. If it fits in your tower that would be a great eBay buy currently at 10.00 including shipping... please let us know if you try that. There also are many good aftermarket M.2 heatsinks.

Anandtech.com has a good review HERE of your chosen M.2 stick.

Where the M.2 stick goes...

[shani589]

I have successfully installed Samsung 970 Evo plus in my hp Z240 and installed a fresh window.

One more question is that is there any need to use heatsink or I can use this without heatsink? Please guide me

[SDH]

I personally would. Take that newer (higher part number) HP heatsink I referenced... It is not that expensive, and you can add that after you've done some getting used to your new M.2 drive. What you are using the Z240 for counts... is it surfing the net and checking email? You're not stressing the system in that case and could justify never adding a heatsink.

However, heat kills computer components, or may throttle down their function. I take care of my gear and thus would rather error on the side of caution. I've checked that particular HP M.2 heatsink for whether it fits even in a Z Turbo Drive original PCIe card. Fits perfectly there too. So, if I knew that earlier larger more complicated "Z240" M.2 heatsink would fit your tower form factor that is the one I'd recommend instead. There is a seller on eBay who has 9 of those left for 10.00 each in US, shipping included. I'd splurge on that if I was you, and then contribute back to this forum and tell us if it fit a Z240 tower or not. Not too much to ask of you?