Could I replace my HDD with an NVMe SSD on my HP ENVY x360 15m-bp112dx?

[Rinzler_]

I have a compatible Crucial P5 Plus PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD that I want to replace my current HDD with. It's the same storage size (1TB), but I am not sure if I can remove the hard drive entirely (like recycle it or throw it away) and install the SSD in its proper slot. Can this be done? My files are backed up in OneDrive and in an external thumb drive for a clean Windows 11 install after I attempt this upgrade.    

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Your notebook has a M.2 slot that supports NVMe SSD's according to chapter 1 of the service manual.

HP ENVY x360 - 15m-bp112dx Manuals | HP® Customer Support

The Crucial P5 Plus PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD will not run at its maximum advertised read/write speeds since the notebook's M.2 slot is only PCIe Gen 3.0.

[Rinzler_]

At what speed will it revert to since the slot support is not the same? Will it still be significantly faster than that with the HDD or will it run at the slowest available speed for a PCIe Gen 3.0 slot? I just want there to at least be no compatibility issues besides the difference in generation.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

I don't know of any reason why the Crucial NVMe SSD wouldn't work.

There's no telling exactly how fast the Gen 4 SSD will run other than the max speed a PCIe Gen 3.0 slot can run a NVMe SSD at is 3,500 MBPS.

[Rinzler_]

As for the HDD, can I still remove it entirely from the computer and only insert the NVMe SSD? I do not want to clone the hard drive since I already have a backup ready, so I wonder if this is possible or if it’ll screw something up. 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Yes, you should be able to do that.

If I were installing a sufficient capacity NVMe SSD on one of my PCs I would remove the hard drive.

IMHO, that would cut down on the heat generated by a 2.5" mechanical hard drive and the drain on the battery.

I just did that recently on a HP 800 G3 desktop mini PC.

It came with a 2.5" SATA SSD but I removed that and installed a 1 TB Samsung 980 in the available M.2 slot.

Works fine.  I did leave the empty SATA drive cable connected because I didn't want to remove that from the motherboard--those delicate ZIF connector and the ribbon cable. 

Not very easy to reinstall if someone ever wanted to add the drive back in.