Does ProBook 450 G4 support M.2 PCI-Express SSDs?

[yari1]

I have an HP ProBook 450 G4 laptop and wanted to upgrade the hard drive. I wanted to get the Samsung SSD 960 EVO but since it has the M.2 PCI-Express interface I don't know whether it is compatible with the laptop.

Here are the specs of the laptop: https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-probook-450-g4-notebook-pc/10477253/document/c05273411#AbT5

Here is a picture of the connector: https://imgur.com/usV55AD

Thanks for your help,

Yari

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

Here's the Service Manual:

Manual

You can only use SATA M.2 storage. See p. 3. So you want to get something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-NAND-500GB-SSD-WDS500G2B0B/dp/B073SBX6TY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=15202600...

Even though the slot has two chambers, the B + M keyed 3-prong SATA M.2 2280 will fit and work fine. The circuitry is not present to install the NVME-type Evo 960. It would not be recognized by the system. 

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

[yari1]

Thanks a lot for your precious feedback.

So the Samsung 850 EVO (https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-850-EVO-Internal-MZ-N5E250BW/dp/B00TGIVZTW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=152...) will work, correct?

Thanks again, Yari

[Huffer]

Yes it is a SATA-III 2280 M.2 so is compatible. 

[yari1]

Great! Thanks again for the prompt reply

[drainuzzo1]

Hello, do you know If the M2 slot is bootable? I should install Linux on it, a this moment I have Windows on the SSD drive

Do you have any hints to do this installation without modify the Windows SSD drive (and its boot efi  system partition)?

Thanks

[yari1]

Hi, I don't know for sure since I didn't use that slot in the end. You should create a new post and ask the same question.

I suppose you should be able to install linux on the M2 slot hard drive and leave windows intact but I don't know how to handle linux and windows boot loaders.

[Mina-Laptop]

How come? the specification exciting speccy mention that this laptop uses PCI-Express so it must allow NVMe as it also has only one pin on the motherboard, could you please confirm as I want to buy it.

Speccy:

Slot PCI-E Gen 3 x2
Slot Type PCI-E Gen 3 x2
Slot Usage Available
Data lanes x2
Slot Designation M2 SSD
Characteristics 3.3V, PME, SMBus
Slot Number 1