Upgrading my HP Pavilion 27-r014 all-in-one desktop from HDD to SSD questions

[Mike12343]

I have a HP Pavilion all-in-one desktop, Model 27 r014 with Intel Core i7-7700T, CPU speed: 2.9 GHz.  Purchased January 2018. 

The hard drive has failed and I appreciate the advice I received in this forum on troubleshooting the problems.

I am now replacing the 1TB HDD with a Samsung 2TB SATA SSD. My questions are:

1. The computer came with a 1TB HDD and a 16 GB NVMe M.2 TLC Solid State Drive, which I assume was to speed bootup and other processes. If I am now going to a 2TB SSD, should I leave the 16 GB NVMe M.2 TLC Solid State Drive in place or does it now slow down the processes by getting in the way? If it is better not to have it, should it be physically removed or should it be disabled somehow?

2. What is the best and safest way to partition the 2TB SSD? Should I create a 50GB? partition for Windows 10 and put everything else in a D-Drive partition?

3. The HP desktop came pre-loaded with HP software as well as Windows 10. I always thought the HP software slowed everything down. Should I load a clean Windows 10 install, or should I also load the HP management software?

4.  Are there any other worthwhile upgrades I could make to this computer while I have it open?  more RAM?   

Thank you

[banhien]

@Mike12343 

Its specs

      https://support.hp.com/au-en/document/c05665744

1. You can leave the 16GB as it is now even with SSD as primary storage because it is faster than normal SATA III.

2. I would keep C: around 100GB or more, 50GB is too small for Windows and applications

3. You can do a clean install Windows 10 then add other HP Services when required later.

4.  It has 12GB (4+8) of RAM now and it supports 16GB max. In terms of price/performance you won't gain much.

There is another option: Upgrade M.2 NMVe drive to say 256GB or 512GB and use it for Windows and applications then upgrade HDD to SSD you should bet better performance.

Regards.

[Mike12343]

Thanks for the advice!  I have gone ahead and  fitted the SATA SSD and it is a massive improvement.  I didn’t reinstall the HP management software and it is now super fast. 

I will keep in mind the NVME Drive upgrade as a future path.