HP Pavilion 15-ak011na Gaming Laptop P0S80EA#ABU

[evans89lfc]

@huffer

the OS is installed on the M.2 SSD, about 15Gb is for the recovery which means 118GB is left with the OS install and software that comes pre installed about 81GB is left for users to install there own software onto the M.2 SSD

thanks for your help

[Huffer]

I am pleased to see the Gaming Laptop has developed such interest. I think there has been a call for such a product for quite some time and the New HP is starting off well by filling the niche. Just based on the interest seen here, I think they are going to move some units here.  

[cybernick]

You have received it?

Is it easy to install a 2nd ram/ change the m.2 ssd?

[evans89lfc]

there has been a massive call for this, lots of gamers still use CD's and most prebuilt gaming rigs for laptops come with out one, were this does come with a CD which is fantastic.

were do i make my suggestion's for a 2nd generation design and specs

[evans89lfc]

i have not taken it apart yet, in regards to the memory i contacted kingston memory who said KTH-X3CL/8G Equiv HP/Compaq PN 693374-001 they have not tried this memory on the motherboard, but think it will be comptiable with the specs that HP have specficed.

in regards to the M.2 SSD, replacing it says how to do it on the service manual, the only problem would be getting an ISO on USB/external hard drive and then getting the OS to be imaged onto that, having never tried i am getting, to get a quote from HP in regards to them replacing it

[cybernick]

How about if I just clone the Hard disk into the ssd? that would be faster i presume?

[evans89lfc]

If you are talking about cloning the SATA HDD drive to a SSD according to the service manual it won't be able to take a SATA SSD that is my understanding, if you are talking about cloning the M.2 SSD onto a bigger M.2 SSD I have never done this and I don't know of any cloning devices that can do this, my plan is to build a recoverable media USB with the OS and the insert the 256Gb M.2 SSD and then boot the OS onto that from the USB recoverable media @huffer may be able to shed more light.

[Huffer]

I just had to replace the M.2 mSSD in my personal laptop but it was a matter of cloning one 256 gig to another. I was getting some error messages and the manufacturer of the laptop actually sent me a replacement M.2 mSSD. I used Acronis True Image Home 2014 bootable media, and first cloned the M.2 to an external 500 gig USB SATA drive. I did not use the proportional resize option so that it left a bunch of unused space on the drive but all partitions were copied as is. Then I swapped in the new M.2 and reversed the clone so that the 500 gig external usb drive cloned to the internal 256 gig M.2 mSSD. I had to use two steps like this because I did not have an M.2 to USB adapter. It worked perfectly. 

[cybernick]

If the laptop model that I'm buying does not have a m.2 drive & I'll be installing my own, what's the best way to clone the OS in the HDD to my self-installed m.2 drive?

[Huffer]

That should work internally. Boot from a software disk with the cloning app (like Acronis) after installing the blank M.2 and just run the clone from the main SATA HDD to the M.2. My experience confirmed that Acronis 2014 will see an M.2 mSSD and give the option to clone it, copy, back up, etc. If the M.2 is blank you will need to "initialize" it i.e. "add disk".