Adding M.2 SSD with existing 1Gb SATA HDD on Pavilion 15

[nooneuknow]

I'd like to add an M.2 SSD to this laptop AND keep the existing 1Gb HDD. I've read some online posting that seems to indicate that an M.2 SSD can be used but they also seem to hint that it's an either-or situation; that adding the M.2 disables the SATA. Is that true?

Which M.2 SSD is compatible with this laptop (including non-HP parts - I've read that Samsung SSD's work).

Thanks.

[Huffer]

Here is the Service Manual:

Manual

The answer is yes it has an M.2 slot that can be used in addition to the hard drive. Here is what it looks like on the inside:

M.2 location circled

See p. 37 for the instructions on removing the back cover to see what is pictured above. 

The M.2 slot can accept EITHER a SATA-3 2280 form factor M.2 such as the Samsung 860 Evo OR the PCIe/NVME kind such as the Samsung 970 series. 

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

[nooneuknow]

Thank you for the very prompt reply. Just to be clear; addition of an M.2 SSD will NOT disable an existing HDD - is that correct? If so, will the BIOS allow me to select which to boot from?

[Huffer]

Yes and yes. When you install Windows on the M.2 remove the Hard drive until you get the system working the way you want. Adding the M.2 disk does not disable the hard drive but as long as the hard drive has a Windows installation on it having the hard drive in the system will make it harder to work with the M.2. 

[nooneuknow]

OK, thanks again. What I'll probably do is clone the existing disk onto the SSD. Acronis is supposed to be able to do this. I've used its cloning tool many time but never when cloning a source disk to a smaller destination. The current 1Gb HDD only has 42Gb in use so this should work. It's better than reinstalling everything.

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

Post back if you have problems. It is a bit tricky to clone from larger to a much smaller disk. One other option is to make a Windows system image backup and restore that to the M.2. Like a clone in that it copies apps, data everything but installs all new partitions so it gets that part right. Cloning to downsized disk often make a nonbootable image because system partitions are shrunk too much to work. 

[ailsa99]

Why you failed to clone a HDD to SSD? Did you get some error message? if not, you may try other ways to take a shoot, i used AOMEI Backupper to clone 1GB hard drive to 500GB SSD frequently without any issues, hope it can helps you out, refer to here to clone 1TB HDD to smaller SSD if required.