Installation of NVMe SSD as main system Drive

[noof]

Spoiler

I have an HP All-In-One 24-f0047c, Product ID = 00325-96486-82855-AAOEM and a new NVMe strip type SSD on order.
Can I wipe or reformat my existing Seagate SATA HDD, install a Pioneer 2TB SSD NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 Gen 3x4 Internal Solid State Drive, and then use my HP recovery USB to install a clean copy of Windows 10 on the new SSD?
I tried a Crucial MX500 but even with the adapter, the SSD would not mount in the existing HHD enclosure, as it would not allow the SATA plug connections to be accessible to the new internal SSD. I tried letting it float inside the computer and used the Acronis software license that came with the Crucial SSD to “successfully” clone the contents of the Seagate HDD, but the cloned disk would not boot up. I did not want the Crucial SSD floating inside the AIO permantly anyway…just wanted to see if it work before I cut up the sheet metal enclosure. I decided the NVMe might be a better alternative if I can install the operating system on an NVMe and use the existing HDD as additional storage only.

[BeemerBiker]

I use Acronis on several systems and have experience with the cloning and imaging tools that come with their TrueImage package.  I have had problems with their WinPE version but the Linux based version has always worked fine.  I do not know which one they licensed to Seagate.

Before going any further, exactly what is the problem with the SATA connector.  I looked at the motherboard image (found a larger image on eBay) and do not see a problem with the SATA connector and the M.2 80 slot.   If your adapter (?) covers the SATA you can always try a low-profile SATA cable such as the silverstone 

Did you see any error message when attempting to boot from the newly cloned SSD?  What were they?  It imay be possible to boot the Windows 10 media and have it do a boot or startup repair on the new SSD.

[noof]

Thanks for your input, but I have already returned the Crucial SATA SSD, so all of that is moot.

[BeemerBiker]

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@noof wrote:

Thanks for your input, but I have already returned the Crucial SATA SSD, so all of that is moot.

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You should be able to use the boot flash you created earlier to clone the existing C onto the new m.2.  It may not boot but that can be fixed:

Create a second boot flash 8gb minimum, with latest Windows 10 using Microsoft's media creator.  If the cloned m.2 does not boot then boot the Window 10 flash and do a repair.  I have had to do that a few times after using Acronis WinPe version as it seems to be missing something or is not as good as their Linux "universal" version.  

If you decide to do a clean install and use the original HP 10 restore then you may end up with an older version of 10 and it make take a lot of downloads to get to the 21h1 version.  In that case do not allow any updates.  Download the latest windows 10 "upgrade" from here and use it to bump your original HP win10 to 21h1 by skipping a lot of intermediate updates some of which may not be available any more.

HTH

[noof]

I am bummed out.  First, I had to go get a small screw to hold the SSD Card down onto the motherboard, then the computer does not show the new drive. The drive is in Device Manager and the indication is that it has the right driver, but it does not show up as a Device in the My PC portion of the explorer folder. ???