HP 17-X106ur Laptop m.2 sata or NVMe ssd compability and installing help

[RomaLaptop]

Hey,

I have laptop and I am considering a upgrade to ssd to boot windows from to get the speed benefits. Also to leave the HDD for a storage use if perhaps it.

current hardware is;

HP 17-X106ur

Intel core-i5 7200U

AMD Radeon R5 M430

500GB HDD SATA

So i read on some threads here on HP forums, that laptops running 7th gen intel processors have a m.2 slot. I bought the following: Solid-state drive holder 858260-001 and Solid-state drive board 856614-001. Now and I wonder if my laptop supports the SATA or NVMe versions of the m.2 ssd. I want to clone windows on the SSD to get faster boot time and run things faster all around.

So my main concern is if i should buy the SATA or NVMe of the m.2 SSD and if i can boot the windows from it.

[Huffer]

There is no general rule such as HP laptops running 7th gen Intel processors have an M.2 slot. The devil is in the details and each specific model has its own design. So on the 17-x100 series:

Service Manual

There is in fact no M.2 slot. It is possible to install a SATA M.2 SSD into an adapter board and holder and you have already purchased one each of those, apparently. I wish you would have checked here first. You can use those parts to install a SATA (not NVME) M.2 SSD in lieu of the hard drive, not in addition to. It would have been easier and cheaper to just get a 2.5 inch SATA SSD. You would have needed no adapter pieces and a 2.5 inch SATA SSD performs the same as a M.2 SATA SSD. 

Your only way to have both an SSD and hard drive is to install the hard drive into an optical caddy. The money you spent on the SSD adapter pieces could have been spent on an optical drive caddy for the hard drive. 

Now that you have the adapter piece you can install something like this into it (see p. 52 of the Manual):

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-500GB-Internal-MZ-N6E500BW-Renewed/dp/B07Q3H8RSQ/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=...

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

[RomaLaptop]

Well, Thank you for clearing that up.

Please let me know your best advice (characteristics, brand, model) - 2.5 inch SATA SSD and optical bay hard drive caddy.

Also I wanted to upgrade RAM to maximum memory for each slot. Please .. send to me your best advice (characteristics, brand, model). Thank you 

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

I already sent you a link for my go-to 2.5 inch SATA SSD. Optical drive HDD caddies are made by many manufacturers and frankly I do not use them so don't really have a favorite. If you look at the SSD I linked on amazon.com you can also just search for "optical hdd caddy for laptop" and get many options. It uses the 9.5 mm thickness. 

It uses DDR4-2400 SO-DIMM memory modules: the Manual says 2 x 8 is the maximum but in fact it is 2 x 16 gigs = 32 gigs total and I would just get the memory from crucial.com:

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-16GBx2-PC4-19200-SODIMM-260-Pin/dp/B019FRCV9G/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=DDR...

This site speaks of upgrading Mac computers but this memory will work on your PC. 

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

[RomaLaptop]

Thank you for your answer.

please I would like to ask about RAM one more time

Does my laptop will work with standard DDR4 -2400 SO-DIMM (19200) or DDR4-2133 SO-DIMM (17000)? 

Or will work with both standard for 16GB each slot ?

thank you

[Huffer]

7th gen models use DDR4-2400 which bridges to 2133 speed. You will find 2400 more widely available and it can even be cheaper than 2133 because there is more of it in the supply pipeline.