Install SSD as boot drive

[EnochRoot]

I have purchased an HP Pavilion 590 p0057c and HP SSD M700 (240GB). I have not yet set the system up, because I want to assiign the SSD as the boot drive and use the 1TB hard drive for data storage. How do I go about accomplishing this? I'm not a total novice, have had to deal with the BIOS and registry upon occasion. (It would also be nice to get rid of the bloatware in one swell foop, but that's probably a pipe dream.

[WAWood]

@EnochRoot

Hello;

Allow me to welcome you to the HP forums!

IF what you want to do is migrate the OS from the HDD to the SDD, that is a very complicated process -- involving the following steps:
1) Turn off the PC and insert the SSD by attaching it to a data cable and to a power cable.
2) Reboot the PC. If it tried to boot from the SSD, it will fail because the SSD is blank.  In that case, turn off the PC, swap the SATA data cables between the HDD and the SSD.  This will make the HHD the "first" drive the BIOS sees.
3) Once you reboot, that should be from the HDD, then you need to prepare the HDD for migration to the SSD.  Since the SSD is likely a LOT smaller than the HDD, then you need to shrink down the OS partition on the HDD until the total of ALL the partitions fits easily onto the SSD.  You can do this using the Disk Management utility.
4) Once you have the HDD partitions shrunk, download and install Macrium Reflect -- which you get from here:  http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
5) Follow the instructions in this link to "clone" the contents of the HDD to the SSD: http://knowledgebase.macrium.com/display/KNOW/Cloning+a+disk
6) Once that is done, turn off the PC.  Swap the SATA data cables again between the HDD and the SSD.  This will make the SSD the "first" drive the BIOS sees.
7) Reboot the PC, it should now boot OK from the SSD.

NOTE: If you are not comfortable doing 3) through 5) manually, there are these products that claim to be able to do this for you:
https://www.easeus.com/partition-manager-guide/migrate-os-to-ssd.html
https://www.paragon-software.com/home/migrate-os-to-ssd/#
https://www.minitool.com/help-pw/migrate-os-to-ssd-hd.html

However, you use these at your own risk ...

[EnochRoot]

Your instruction were quite clear, but when I took the cover off the computer, there was no place to install any additional drives, nor could I see anyplace to add a SATA cable. Is it possible to install an SSD in this model, or must I return it?

[jtpolk]

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@EnochRoot wrote:

Your instruction were quite clear, but when I took the cover off the computer, there was no place to install any additional drives, nor could I see anyplace to add a SATA cable. Is it possible to install an SSD in this model, or must I return it?

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I also have the HP Pavilion 590-p0057c which I purchased at Costco. I tend to go to too much lenght in technical advice, so bear with me. I'm trying to translate what was almost muscle memory of working on computing machines.

First, make sure that you have gone to Support >> Products and search for 590-p0057c. In [User Guides], download the Upgrading & Service Guide, in PDF format.  Looking that over will get you part of the way to where you want to be. Pay particular attention on how you need to remove the DVD first before you proceed with an upgrade, more later.

When you remove the side cover, look at the black metal extending from the top to the bottom of the of the case. If you look where the light slightly glints off the black metal, you will see that the metal has been inscribed. You will also see beside a number of hole either A, B, C or a A/B (some holes do double duty). These hold are where you attach the hard drives. Looking further at this black metal, which is actually the drive cage, you will also a legend as follows. On one side you will read:

A - 1st 3.5 HDD #6-32

B - 1st 2.5 HDD #M3

The labels of A, B and A/B correspond to where you would attach a 3.5 HDD (already installed), or if you were to replace the 3.5 HDD with a 2.5 HDD/SSD.

Look over to the other end of the drive cage, and you will see a further legend, all for the C holes, which reads:

C - 2nd 3.5 HDD #6-32

FYI: the #6-32 and #M3 refer to the screws.

You will see that the A/B and A holes already have screws in them, because you have the 3.5 HDD that came with your system.

Now, the drive cage is held in place with four screws. On mine I had to use a large flat head screwdrive to remove them.

Remember, before you do this, make sure you have removed the DVD. The cage will not come out with it still in place. The reason I belabor this is that an employee at a store opened the case for me to look inside, and broke the front of the DVD off with it flying off across the floor. Not Good!

When you have removed the DVD, then the four screws, you can slide the drive cage forward and up -- not out. There are still cables attached to it.

However, at this point you can look at the underneath of the drive cage, and if you system is like mine, you can see that there is a cable that is attached to 3.5 HDD that continues onward terminating in a plug. That is your HDD or SSD power cable. You will need to supply your own data (SATA) data cable.

Now, I do not believe that you need to get really complicated about installing the 2.5 SATA SSD. I personally would order or get from a local store a caddy (??) cage for a 2.5 HHD/SSD so it can be screwed into a 3.5 HDD location.

I think that keeping the HDD in its current position will be best for the cooling of the system.

After that, I am assuming that you want to put the Windows 10 original drive onto the 2.5 SSD? What I do not know is whether when you put everything back together you need to put the 2.5 SSD cable in the HDD 1 plug on the motherboard with the 3.5 HDD cable into the SATA 2 plug on the motherboard. I don't think so, that instead it is a BIOS (F10 key on boot) adjustment, but I have had a long and deep history with Col. Murphy, so...I don't know.

I hope that it helps. Just realize that if you have worked with the innards of a lot of computing machines over an almost 30 year period this all seems simple, but doing it the first few times is a little, ah, confusing.

Good luck...

enjoy!

[LHHeaton]

I also have the  HP Pavilion 590-p0057c from Costco, just getting around to setting it up, want to install a WD Black NVMe SSD,  looks like it fits (I did not realize there are several slot configurations). Neither the SSD nor the motherboard has the screw for fastening to the motherboard, and it is smaller than any screw I have. Also, the linked manuals at the support site are not for this model, and the motherboard information page has only general information. Is there any detailed information available for this model? For instance, except for your post, I have seen nothing explaining the markings on the hard drive bracket. Thanks.

[jtpolk]

Regarding the markings on the hard drive bracket, there isn't anything. It was only the 2nd time I opened the case that I finally noticed the markings. Combined with the manual, I finally figured things out, by looking at that manual (the one with all graphics and pictures) and then referencing the markings on the cage. So, the answer is no. One has to pretty much figure it out, but once one does, it all makes sense.

Hey, same for me regarding the screw. I figured decades of collecting screws, I was bound to have a fit. I most resoundlingly did not. As I have mentioned the correct screw size is 2.0 x 3mm (CM2x3-3.3) for installing the an M.2 NVMe SSD. I bought a bag of M.2 screws that were listed as for Asus and MSI motherboards, including standoffs from the motherboard and even some washers. Here is a link to company that makes the product I purchased:

[edit]

You can shop around and get them cheaper by several dollars. I was in a hurry so drove 30 miles to get them.

I also wish there were more detailed manuals by HP, but this computing machine is really finely tuned to give good value for the dollars spent. What that means is it really isn't like some computers that you can simply slap in all sorts of add-ons into different slots and load it up. You can make a few additions, however, without upsetting the balance. For myself, adding an M.2 NVMe SSD and swapping out the included HDD for a WD 3TB Red was sufficient. For graphics, about all you can do is swap out the Radeon RX 550 2GB for a Radeon RX 550 4GB, or going with Nividia 1030 card, everything else uses too many watts.

Keep reading and asking questions. These forums do a good job of answering questions, and do pass your knowledge along when you have got things figured out for yourself.

enjoy!