840 G5 SSD Upgrade process and compatibility

[Vevus]

Hello,

I have a HP Elitebook 840 G5 with INTEL SSD 512GB  (INTEL SSDPEKNW512G8 - SSD 660p Series). I am running out of space and need to upgrade the SSD. I will appreciate your help on these three questions to select a compatible SSD, transfer data, and replace the old SSD with the new SSD. 

1. COMPATIBLE SSD for upgrade: Will the following INTEL 2TB SSD work (2.0TB, M.2 80mm PCIe* 3.0 x4, 3D2, QLC) - link included here https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/memory-storage/solid-state-drives/consumer-ssds/6-s...

2. DATA TRANSFER FROM OLD SSD to NEW SSD: How do I transfer my data from my existing SSD to the new SSD? Since the SSD is on the mother board, I am assuming that I can swap the old one with the new one once the data is transferred.

3. REMOVE and REPLACE SSD: For this I intend to follow the HP EliteBook 846 G5 Notebook PC  Maintenance and Service Guide, Chapter 5 Removal and replacement procedures for Customer Self-Repair parts

Thank you so much! 

[Huffer]

Since the laptop has only one M.2 port you are going to have to either make a backup of the existing 512 gig SSD and then restore it onto the 2 TB or get an external USB to NVME adapter and clone the original drive to the new drive with both connected to the computer. End result is the same. One operation requires an external hard drive of some sort to hold the backup and one requires an NVME adapter. Macrium Reflect Free software will carry out either operation. A clean install onto the new SSD is also possible and you need no Key Code. Windows 10 will just activate. 

Post back for more details if needed.

[Vevus]

Hello Huffer,

Thank you so much for the reply. I like your suggestion about cloning as opposed to back up and restore. Few questions here

1) Can you suggest a USB to NVME adapter that will work seamlessly with the HP 840 G5 and the INTEL SSD mentioned above?

2) When the INTEL 2TB SSD mentioned above is installed in the USB to NVME adapter and connected to the computer using the USB port, will the INTEL 2TB SSD be recognized automatically or do I have do something special/ extra to get that to happen?

3) After I clone the existing INTEL 512 GB SSD using Macrium Reflect Free Software to the INTEL 2TB SSD and swap out the hard disk in the HP 840 G5 on its mother board and power on the machine, will the computer work with INTEL 2TB SSD just as before using my Windows 10 OS license and all other software programs that are currently installed (e.g. Office, Adobe, McAfee, Chrome, Dropbox etc).

Thank you again. Your suggestions are a huge help for me to avoid any "gotcha" moments. 

[Huffer]

All excellent questions. Yes if you do the clone properly afterwards you will swap the new 2 TB from the external position into the inside of the laptop, power it on and it boots and works just as before. All your apps, your docs and such where you are used to seeing them. Moving from a smaller to larger disk you want to do a "proportional resize" so all partitions are enlarged the same percentage or you can do a literal copy in which case you will be left with a big unformatted section of the drive but you can use disk management and initiate it and format it and mount it. 

This one is NVME only. 

https://www.amazon.com/Enclosure-Adapter-Tool-Free-Thunderbolt-External/dp/B08C2THR25/ref=sr_1_9?dch...

Post back with any more questions and please accept as solution if this is the info you needed. 

[Vevus]

Thank you this is really helpful. I will order the parts and undertake this project on Thursday. I want to keep the post open until the job is complete as it can potentially serve to help others too as they begin to run out of space on what is otherwise a lovely HP 840 G5 computer. A request for a few more pointers:

1. When the INTEL 2TB SSD is installed in the MOKIN USB to NVME adapter that you recommended, and connected to the computer using the USB port, will it be recognized automatically by my 840 G5? As I am reading on some posts, the SSD wont wont be recognized connected externally for the first time. Is this correct? As I understand, I will need to use "Disk Management" in Windows 10 (my OS), find the unallocated disk and use the "New Simple Volume Wizard"?

2) Where shall I do the proportionally resize of partitions when moving from small to larger SSD? Is it from Disk Management in Windows 10 or from the Macrium Reflect 7 software? (It has this knowledge base article about cloning a disk )

If there is anything else I need to be aware off please let me know. Its going to be an exciting holiday project on Thursday. I hope that everything goes off smoothly. I will post updates and accept the solution when done. I appreciate your guidance very much. 

[Huffer]

Macrium Reflect will pick up a drive connected externally to a USB port. It will show up in the Macrium user interface and Macrium will also initiate partition and format it so no need to do that in Windows beforehand. Proportional resize is one of the options you will be given in Macrium when you tell it to clone the existing drive and give the new blank 2 TB as the "target". 

Download and install Macrium to the laptop and launch it in Windows. Look for the option to make a rescue media disk which is a bootable usb thumb drive with the app installed on it. You then hook up the NVME adapter and boot from the Macrium thumb drive. The rest is pretty intuitive. We have walked hundreds of Forum users through this exact same operation. 

[Vevus]

Hi Huffer,

Thank you for the new information. I have understood now that Macrium Reflect will pick up the New SSD from the USB port when connected using the NVME adapter. However, the second part of your message has me very confused. 

Can you please explain why it is required to create the "bootable rescue media" using Macrium Reflect?

Based on the thread above and your suggestion, my understanding is that the I can clone my existing 512 GB SSD using Macrium Reflect to the new 2TB SSD connected through the USB port using the NVME adapter. After the clone is complete (which essentially to my understanding is a copy of the content on the existing disk), I then need to open the back of my HP 840 G5 and replace the existing 512 SSD M.2 with the new 2TB SSD M.2. After this I would start up the computer and it should all work as before. Am I missing something? Please do let me know > I will start the project tonight/tomorrow morning so it will be very useful to know why/whether I need to create the bootable rescue media.

Thank you very much. 

[Huffer]

This is fundamental. You cannot clone the hard drive you are using to run the computer. So you have to do the clone from an environment in which neither source nor target disk is active. Hence we boot the system from the cloning app (they are basically a Linux program) and then clone from that environment. 

[Vevus]

Hi Huffer,

Whew! That I did not know. It opens up a whole new set of questions. To be sure, can you please confirm my understanding below. If I may ask, please try to respond inline to my questions.  

1. Is it ok to connect the new 2TB M.2 SSD via the USB port using the NVME adapter to my computer before it has been cloned or shall I connect it only after I boot using the rescue media?
2. For the process of creating a clone can you please confirm the steps are
   1. Create the "bootable rescue media" using Macrium Reflect:
      1. Is this rescue media created on a separate external USB disk drive?
      2. What size does this external USB disk drive need to be store the rescue media ?
      3. Can this external USB disk drive have other folders on it or will these get overwritten during the creation of rescue media?
      4. Any additional guidance that I need to be aware off when doing this step?
   2. Boot the computer using the rescue media : How will my computer know that it needs to book from the rescue media instead of the already installed 512 SSD M.2?
   3. Clone the disk: After booting from the rescue media, do I clone the currently installed 512 GB hard disk to the 2TB connected externally via NVME adapter using the Macrium Reflect "Clone this Disk feature"?
3. Final step: Swap out the SSD in the 840 G5: After creating the clone on the 2TB M.2 SSD, it can be installed into the HP 840 G5, and the computer will work just as before with the only difference now being that the storage is 2TB instead of 512 GB?

Thank you so very much for your assistance. I am trying my best to prepare for this to go smoothly and now have all the gear ready (USB NVME Adapter, new 2TB M.2 SSD, Macrium Reflect has been installed on my computer)

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

1. Yes you can put the blank brand new NVME SSD in the adapter and plug that into the computer before you boot it from the thumb drive. As I said, Macrium will prep the drive for you. See below

2. Bootable rescue media will be a relatively small usb thumb drive. No bigger than a 32 gig and maybe a 16 gig will work. The program will tell you. The thumb drive will get wiped in the process of creating it. 

3. To boot from the thumb drive turn the computer off. Put the thumb drive created by Macrium in a port. Turn laptop on. Immediately start tapping F9 for boot device selection. You will see the usb thumb drive as an option. Choose it and boot from it. 

4. The rest. You have the rest of it figured out.