M2.SSD compatibility with HP Pavillion desktop Lubin Motherboard

[imjimmy]

Hello -

I was trying to get a M2 SSD for my HP Pavilion Desktop - 570-p013wb with the Lubin motherboard. (https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05382582) 

Following is the SSD that I'm considering: Crucial MX500 250GB 3D NAND M.2 Type 2280 Internal SSD 

http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/ct250mx500ssd4#productDetails  

Form Factor: M.2 Type 2280 

Crucial's memory advisor page says that this SSD is NOT compatible with my machine.   Is this right?

Does anyone know whether the lubin motherboard accepts the m.2 2280 form factor SSD?

Instead Crucial's memory selector recommends the same SSD in a 2.5" form factor:

Crucial MX500 250GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5-inch 7mm (with 9.5mm adapter) Internal SSD

http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/pavilion-570-p013wb/CT11210533

I'm hesitant to do this, as both SATA ports in my machine are occupied. One with the internal HDD (which I intend to use as a secondary drive) and the other for the Optical drive.

Could anyone please advise any other M2 SSD that could fit in the above HP Pavillion system with lubin motherboard.

Thanks in advance.

[DGroves]

Crucial is correct, your motherboard has limited expansion ability one pci-e slot (for video usually) and two sata ports and a M.2 socket that  seems to be able to take a 2280 SATA based SSD (but could just be for wireless/bluetooth card) and that's it

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05382582

if using onboard video, (nothing in the pci-e slot) you can also  use a addin card that either supports more sata ports (this will work but is slow in read/writes)

or a PCI-e x4 M.2 carrier for a sata based card might also work and would be fast

[imjimmy]

Thanks very much for the reply.  

Forgive me, if the question is naive.  But isn't this drive: http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/ct250mx500ssd4#productDetails%C2%A0%C2%A0  (Crucial MX500 250GB 3D NAND M.2 Type 2280 Internal SSD)  a SATA based m2 2280 drive?

The motherboard specifications say that there are 2 M2 slots -

• One M.2 socket 1, key A
• One M.2 socket 3, key M

Does it mean that NONE of these slots can be used for adding a m2 based SSD?  I'm not looking for a NVME based SSD.  I thought that I wouldn't have space for the 2.5" SATA based SSD (given that both SATA ports are occupied in the desktop).  So I figured I would go for the m2 SSD instead.

Does that mean I need to go for this drive: Crucial MX500 250GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5-inch 7mm (with 9.5mm adapter) Internal SSD 

I don't think there is a free SATA expansion slot in the motherboard as I want to retain my existing 1 TB HDD as a secondary drive.

Thanks again and apologies If I misunderstood.

[DGroves]

the "m" key M.2 slot should be for a Two lane (2x) SATA based 2280 SSD, but as the linked HP spec picture is  low rez i can't be sure that HP did not disable the M.2 slot. 

i would buy a SSD from a place (like crucial) that has a return policy, and see if the ssd does work

hp uses this motherboard in several diffrent models, and i suspect that you model simply did not offer it as a option

if this is true then the slot is active as other models that use the board will have a option for a SSD

[imjimmy]

Thank you for the response. I will try to get something with a return policy.

What did you mean by the below:

"hp uses this motherboard in several diffrent models, and i suspect that you model simply did not offer it as a option

if this is true then the slot is active as other models that use the board will have a option for a SSD"

Does that mean that the m2 slot in my motherboard is active and will NOT support SSDs.  Or do you think it is inactive? So HP did not offer this slot for SSD for this particular model, even though the motherboard has it?

[DGroves]

i ment what i wrote, go back and reread it

hp uses this motherboard in several diffrent models, and i suspect that your model simply did not offer it as a option

if this is true then the slot is active as other models that use the board will have a option for a SSD"

there is no hidden meaning in the above sentence. and i think it's fairly direct, but once more i'll try to spell it out

1. hp uses this motherboard in several diffrent models

2. your model simply did not offer a ssd option even though the board does have a M.2 SSD connector

3. other HP models that use the "Lubin" motherboard do have a option for a SSD to be installed

i don't own this motherboard so i can't confirm if the M.2 connection is keyed for  a "B"  2x  or "M"  4x  interface  and this is important because unless the ssd  you buy is a dual key (B+M) it must match the boards socket key

read this link for more info

https://rog.asus.com/articles/maximus-motherboards/buying-an-m-2-ssd-how-to-tell-which-is-which/

and from another forum post

Open up a command prompt (admin) and enter: MSINFO32

If the BIOS Level in your PC is F.14 then a m.2 NVME SSD should work.

[imjimmy]

Thank you so much for the reply. That helps. 

I just updated my BIOS and the number seems to be F. 25. Would they suffice? I know you F. 14, but I was hoping that F. 25 is simply the newer version. 

On further research it seems that the M2 socket does not support SATA based drives but should work with NVME PCIe based drives .

To that end I just purchased an HP drive, hoping got compatibility 

HP EX900 M.2 250GB PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe 3D TLC NAND Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) 2YY43AA#ABC

Do you see any problems with this? Thanks .

[DGroves]

no, you appear to be fine, F.14 is the minimum revision for nvme anything higher is fine . The EX900 should work as a boot drive without any problems you simply need to clone your existing drive to the SSD, then disconect the existing drive's data or pwr cable and reboot to confirm the ssd boots normally, then power down reconnect the mech drive and power up, enter the bios and make sure the ssd is the first boot device, reboot again and you should be fine

most users fail to make a OS restore disk/usb key, i strongly recomend you do so or keep the orig mech drive as the restore disk and buy a new mech drive to use as a data drive

[imjimmy]

Thank you so much again.  That is perfect. 

I'm planning to start fresh with the SSD.  I have a brand new system and there is absolutely no data at all so far,  other than whatever came with the factory machine.  

So I guess, could I skip the cloning and install the SSD as a boot drive and then reinstall fresh Windows 10 along with HP drivers on it?   I was planning to do a clean install anyway.  I'm also assuming it should be easy enough to change the boot order in the BIOS as long as the SSD is detected by the system 

Great suggestion on saving the mechanical drive with HP recovery. I will do that for sure.   I'm going to mark your previous reply as solution to the thread.  Thanks. 

[DGroves]

the factory disk is a perfect one to clone because it will have any needed drivers and the HP restore partition if this HP model uses it