Can this laptop support a NVMe SSD?

[perpstudent]

I have been trying to upgrade this laptop with an M.2 SSD, but can't get the BIOS to find it.  The socket is right for this drive, but does the motherboard support it?

Thanks!

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

Chapter 1 of the service manual indicates that only SATA M.2 SSD's are supported, not NVMe.

c04510889.pdf (hp.com)

One cannot look at the slot and make a determination that it will support a NVMe SSD in those older notebooks just because it has one key.

Some M.2 slots support SATA only, some support NVMe only and some support both.

[perpstudent]

Thank you, Paul.  I jumped right to the section on HDD replacement and missed the front material.  D'oh!  Now I can go pound my head against something else for a while.

Dave

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, Dave.

If you want to add a SATA M.2 SSD in the slot, I recommend one of the Western Digital Blue SA510 M.2 SATA SSD's which in my opinion offer the best performance for the price.

This is the 500 GB model for example:

Amazon.com: Western Digital 500GB WD Blue SA510 SATA Internal Solid State Drive SSD - SATA III 6 Gb/...