256GB PCIe NVME M.2 SSD for HP Pavillion 15-cs0064st

[TT304]

Hi, I just bought HP 15-cs0064st laptop with 1TB Hdd (No any SSD). I would like to add a 256GB PCIe NVME M.2 SSD on it as Windows system disk. 

1. What brand/mode 256GB PCIe NVME M.2 SSD is completely compatible with is laptop? is HP Solid State Hard Drive EX900 250GB M.2 PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe 1.3 3D NAND, Internal (HPEX900250GB) compatible? I heard that a lot M.2 NVMe SSD were not be recognized by HP laptop BIOS and Windows 10 system. 

2. Is possible to boot up laptop to added NVMe M.2 SSD with Windows 10 installed? How do I setup for it?

Thank you very much for helps!

[Huffer]

Specs say you do have an M.2 SSD in the form of a 16 gig Optane module. An Optane module is nothing more than a small capacity NVME M.2 SSD that works together with the hard drive to speed it up. 

Service Manual

Installing a larger M.2 as a bootdisk would begin on p. 32 with removal of the rear cover and you find this inside:

M.2 slot in red HDD in green

You will have to use the Intel Rapid Storage app to disable the Optane module, then open the laptop to install the larger capacity M.2 disk. The slot circled in red above now has the Optane in it and you would remove that and replace it with the new M.2 SSD. Since the laptop is new the very easy way to do this is to use the HP Backup and Recovery app and just make the restore usb disk and use that to put a factory image on the new blank M.2 SSD. Remove the hard drive while you are doing that. 

A good M.2 SSD is a Samsung Evo 970 NVME:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-970-EVO-500GB-MZ-V7E500BW/dp/B07BN4NJ2J/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=154732...

I know I have skimmed the surface here so if you have more questions post back and if this is what you needed to know please accept it as the solution. The problems you may have read about were happening with earlier laptops and there have been few if any issues with 8th gen systems like yours. 

[trollybaz]

Hi! I'm interested in replacing the Optane module with an NVMe SSD.

I was wondering about a couple of things:

- Can I retain use of the PCIe drive while booting from the NVMe drive? Is that recommended?

- Will backup and recovery manager essentially back up the OS? That's all I really need, I believe.

[Huffer]

Please start your own thread. And I relly do not understand either question. Let's discuss in moredepth when you post your own.