Using an M.2 SSD in the Pavilion 570-p017c

[trigeek]

NonSequitur777, 

Thanks very much. I actually did see a post somewhere by Paul TIkanen and earmarked it for further investigation, so I was a bit hopeful of finding a solution. I will pursue these leads. Thanks once again. I think you can publish a research paper with a reference to my struggles.

Kevin

[trigeek]

I've got rEfind working and it's helpful but I still cannot get the boot to go to the SSD or to get the root partition / on the SSD mounted instead of on the HDD. I may have to employ some of the tricks I used with the SSD on my newer Pavilion. Also, powering off the primary hard drive causes the boot to hang up.

[trigeek]

After much gnashing of teeth, many errors dealing with rEFIND and the grub bootloader in Ubuntu, I managed to get the PC to boot off the USB containing rEFIND into the NVME SSD. Details on request.

Thanks for all your help, NonSequitur777.

[NonSequitur777]

@trigeek,

Outstanding!

Oh yes, I definitely would like to know how you did it in case I want to replicate it in one of my legacy HP desktop.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[trigeek]

Here's how I did it. I will try to remember all the positive steps and remark only on the errors to avoid. I will address the installation for Ubuntu Linux only,

1. Install rEFIND as per these URLs: https://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/getting.html and https://www.hamishmb.com/booting-nvme-older-pc-refind/ I found the second more useful in general. Pay attention to putting the NVME drivers in the right directories. To create the USB bootable drive use the Ubuntu startup disc creator.
2. You can clone a hard disk onto the NVME SSD using the tool Clonezilla tool https://clonezilla.org/show-live-doc-content.php?topic=clonezilla-live/doc/03_Disk_to_disk_clone or the tool provided with your hp desktop in Windows. I preferred the simple command line dd if=<source disk> of=<target>. If you're doing a fresh install use the Ubuntu live CD or USB.
3. Ensure the file systems table /etc/fstab on the SSD does not list any of your hard drives, otherwise the boot may fail.
4. Disconnect power  from any hard drives in the chassis and plug the USB drive in ( I used a free slot in the rear so it's not vulnerable. Close the case.
5. Power on the PC. rEFIND should give you a list of partitions to boot, including Windows if you cloned your HDD. Select the Ubuntu on the SDD with EFI in the name.
6. Your system should boot into Ubuntu on the SSD. If, however, it goes to a grub (bootloader) prompt., then follow the instructions here: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/how-to-fix-minimal-bash-like-line-editing-is-supported-grub-error-in-l...

[NonSequitur777]

@trigeek,

Thank you for the documentation!

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[trigeek]

You're welcome. I hope it repays the help you provided in some small way.