Adding Samsung 850 EVO M.2 SSD to HP Envy m7-n109dx

[jkmatthews]

I recently purchased the HP Evy 17t, model m7-n109dx laptop, and installed the Samsung 850 EVO M.2 500 GB SSD in the M.2 slot on the laptop.  However, I cannot determine how to enable the drive so it shows up in either Windows 10 or the BIOS.  I have made a recovery USB stick so I can install the OS on the M.2 drive and make the 1 TB drive that came with the computer a storage drive.  Am I overlooking something?  I have seen others on this forum that have installed this drive and apparently had no issues at all.  I have looked in the Boot Order setup and the BIOS settings as well, and checked disk management, but nothing is there.

[LaptopJack]

Jkmatthews,

Did you download the migration software from Samsung?  I have a m7 laptop also and have considered upgrading to the SSD option - but have not done so yet.

I do know that Smasung provides toos to help migrate the OS from the 1TB to the SSD - and there are others out there as well.

I would advise to NOT restore the OS from your memory-stick - until you've spent some time on the Samsung site and look at their migration tools.  And I believe there may be some configuration settings in the BIOS - but not sure,

Hope this helps,

LaptopJack

[jkmatthews]

I will check on the Samsung migration software, had not thought of that. My biggest issue is the computer not recognizing the ssd stick. I know I have seen other posters here who have successfully done this install. The other possibility is that I have to unplug the existing hard drive before the computer will see the SSD stick drive. If someone here has done this install, please offer some insight as to what steps I am overlooking.

[LaptopJack]

jkmatthews,

Thanks for your prompt reply - and follow up question.  The primary reason your laptop is not recognizing the m.2 SSD is because it has not been initialized.

The Migration Software / procedure will provide you with the exact steps to execute in order to 1) Initalize your SSD, and 2) migrate your OS to the SSD (so you can boot from the SSD and use the HDD as a storage media.

Do some research on the Samsung web site - they have tutorials on how to implement a SSD - just download and review - that should get you going...

Hope this helps,

LaptopJack

[jkmatthews]

Ok, that makes sense. Thanks so much for the help! I will post my results one way or another.

[Huffer]

None of the migration software or Windows install is going to work until the mSSD shows up in the BIOS. I would try removing the regular SSD and see if the M.2 then shows up. On this model you should not have to do that, however and I am concerned that maybe you got a bad M.2 drive. 

[jkmatthews]

What would the description be in the BIOS? I'm not sure what to look for to check this out.

[brandycmc2]

Did you find a solution to this?

I have a similar problem with a new Envy 17-n104.  Nothing I do gets the machine to recognize the Samsung Evo 850 SSD in the M.2 slot - by which I mean that not even the BIOS acknowledges that there is anything in that slot.

I have tried for hours various BIOS configuration and physical hardware configurations, including all the combinations of having the factory HDD and Evo SDD connected, in BIOS having Legacy Support enabled/disabled, various boot orders, and in desperation even tried some of the security options (like turning off TPM!!!) just in case.

The Evo SSD itself seems to be functioning - it works fine connected to the USB port of my other laptop (the SSD is placed in an adapter housing (M.2 -> SATA) and connected to a SATA->USB bridge).

I have tried 'ignoring' the fact that the BIOS does not seem to recognize the presence of SSD, and just gone ahead and cloned the HDD to the SSD.  When the SSD is installed back in the Envy, nothing has changed;  its presence still not recognised by the system.  I tried Samsung's own Magician software, plus a couple of other cloning programs.  Unsurprisingly, this did not help the Envy to recognize the SSD.

So unless anybody else has an example of a Samsung EVO 850 SSD working in the M.2 slot of an Envy 17-nXXX, I will have to conclude that - as of their current firmware versions - they are incompatible.

[szwejk]

This is much wider problem. I have the latest spectre x360 Skylak i5 processor (HP Spectre x360 - 13-4102na) and just simple replacement of the current 128GB ADATA drive with Samsung 950 Pro NVMe results with the BIOS not recognizing the new drive.

Strange thing is that there are people who successfully upgraded their laptops with different SSDs including Samsung 950 Pro NVMe. (link page 4)

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Hp-spectre-x360-SSD-replacement...

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/SSD-upgrade-for-spectre-x360/td...

Unfortunately not much details are being posted on how and seems that successful installations are related to the previous wave of HP Spectre based on 5th series of processors vs. your model and my model are Skylak 6th gen., don’t know if that would be the factor.

I know you have a different HP model but conceptually procedure and supporting mother boards/processor shouldn’t be much different and I would think to be even easier to do replacement.

What you did is exactly my next step, ruling out NVMe / PCI factors. Fact that your bios didn’t recognize the drive makes me very pessimistic about my try (850 should be on my desk next Monday)

Solving that mystery have cost me so far ~$300 and apart from being pissed off I’m stuck with ridiculous 128GB drive.

All the posts about unsuccessful installations make me think that there is something in version of the bios related to Skylak. BTW my bios version is F.2D

But maybe is just my ignorance. I’ll let you know about my try with 850 next week.

Would be nice if someone from HP tech. support took part in the discussion and clear the issue once for all, saving other’s people money.

[jkmatthews]

I was not successful in my effort either.  I removed and reinstalled, checked the BIOS, boot order, disk management, used the Samsung Magician, and none recognized the drive.  I am on BIOS version F24, and I made sure to update all drivers to the latest version.  The seller agreed to a return, so I think i will purchase another at 250 GB and see if it was perhaps a bad M.2 stick.  

I also wish others who had success installing this drive in a similar unit would join in and maybe give us some more detail as to how they accomplished this.  I know user MarkH29 was successful on his, as well as rmhutchins.  I may post a message on their thread andd see if I can gain some insight.  

If I get any help from them or find that I am successful with the new drive, I will post here.