Does the HP 15-DA0053WM have an available M.2 slot or is it possible to upgrade to an SSD?

[ParaDiiigm]

Im just wondering if the laptop is available for an M.2 or possible to switch the hdd to an SSD

[Huffer]

Specs show your laptop came with a 1 TB 5400 rpm hard drive plus a 16 gig Intel Optane PCIe/NVME module so that means there is an M.2 slot and it will accept a PCIe/NVME 2280 form factor M.2 SSD. You have to be a bit careful uninstalling the Optane module or you will render the computer unbootable but it is possible to shift over to an NVME M.2 bootdisk. A good choice is the Samsung Evo 970 NVME M.2. If you open the back of the laptop you see this with the M.2 slot circled in red:

M.2 slot circled in red

The 16 gb Optane module is in the M.2 slot right now. 

Service Manual

Start on p. 38 for "how to"

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

[ParaDiiigm]

Thank you , Mr. Huffer I appreciate the help. 

One more question, for the optane drive, how am i going to remove it exactly? Is the booting system on the optane drive? What would be the process for me to move the M.2 into the optanes position? 

[Huffer]

The Optane module holds some of the files needed to boot the computer. Its tied to the main hard drive so that they share files. Its how the Optane speeds up the main hard drive. Here is a tutorial on how to enable Optane; just reverse it. Open the Intel Rapid Storage app and set the Optane tab to disable. 

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05591811

After you do that reboot 2 or 3 times just to clear any caches and it should move all the needed boot files to the hard drive. After that you can remove the Optane module and replace it with an NVME M.2 SSD. 

[ParaDiiigm]

Does the optane help much with booting or running programs much? Would it really be worth going through the hastle just to install a M.2?

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

Yes I have experimented with all these setups and to quantify: A mechanical hard drive will attain read speeds of about 150 mbps; a SATA SSD about 550; an Optane accelerated hard drive around 800-1000 and a full-on NVME M.2 as much as 3200. 

An Optane accelerated hard drive is pretty darn fast to work with but a full-on M.2 NVME bootdisk is crazy jaw-dropping fast. 

Please accept as solution if this is the info you needed.