HP Notebook 15-bs015nw - SSD and RAM upgrade

[Irene09]

Dear community/support,

I am writing this question on behalf of my mother. She has quite old computer which I want to upgrade for her.

Laptop details from the backplate:

HP Laptop 15-bs015nw

ProdID 1WA58EA

Windows 10 Home 64 bit

I was thinking about adding SSD and 4 GB of RAM.

As for SSD, I want to add it to the already installed 1TB HDD. I want to add about 256 GB of SSD, for system Win 10, and a couple of programs to browse the internet. I want to this computer has 256 GB SSD and 1 TB HDD.

Is it possible to add SSD without removing the old HDD?

What are the possibilities to add SSD? I mean SATA, PCIe, M.2, other?

Since the laptop has original Win10 installed from the beginning by the producer, is it possible to reinstall Win10 on SSD without any copyright infringement? The laptop has a recovery disc installed.
Moreover, I want to add 4GB of Ram. HP Support Assistant shows that the computer has installed 4GB Samsung 2133Mhz. Can I buy any stick of RAM 4GB Samsung 2133Mhz or I have to buy a specific model for best performance?
Thank you in advance and have a great 2021 year.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

Your notebook should have a M.2 slot that supports SATA M.2 SSD's, not NVMe.

You can install up to 2 x 8 GB of DDR4 memory.   DDR4-2400 would probably be easier to find than 2133 MHz memory but it will run at 2133 MHz.

Below is the link to the service manual, where you can find the memory upgrade info and supported drive types.

HP 15 Laptop PC (Intel)HP 15g Laptop PCHP 15q Laptop PC Maintenance and Service Guide

You will have to remove Windows from the 2.5" drive, or the notebook will always want to boot from that drive instead of the SSD.

Notebooks that come with dual drive configurations from HP, have no operating system on the 2.5" drive.

It is perfectly legal to reinstall W10 on the SSD.

If you want to try the HP cloud recovery tool on the SSD to reinstall W10, the drivers and the software that originally came with the notebook, you will need to temporarily disconnect the 2.5" drive, or the recovery will install on the 2.5" drive and not the SSD.

Here is an info link for how to use the cloud recovery tool.

Komputery konsumenckie HP - Korzystanie z narzędzia do odzyskiwania systemu HP Cloud Recovery Tool (...

If the cloud recovery tool - created recovery drive doesn't work, you can clean install W10 on the SSD by making bootable installation media using the media creation tool from the link below.

Download Windows 10 (microsoft.com)

After W10 has completed installing, you can install the drivers and available software from the notebook's support page.

Laptop HP – 15-bs000 Pobieranie oprogramowania i sterowników | Pomoc techniczna HP® dla klientów

[Irene09]

Dear Paul,

First of all, I would like to thank you very much for your comprehensive answer.  Thanks to you, I know what I should look for.

I checked Amazon and I think I found a suitable SSD.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-SATA-Internal-MZ-N6E250BW/dp/B07864V6CK

Is this SSD appropriate and will fit in the computer case?

Once again thank you in advance.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Yes, that one would be just fine.

This would be compatible memory for your mother's notebook...

8 GB:

Amazon.com: Crucial 8GB Single DDR4 2400 MT/S (PC4-19200) SR x8 SODIMM 260-Pin Memory - CT8G4SFS824A...

4 GB:

Amazon.com: Crucial RAM 4GB DDR4 2400 MHz CL17 Laptop Memory CT4G4SFS824A: Computers & Accessories

[Irene09]

Dear All,
I finally pulled myself together and I have finished upgrading my mother’s laptop. It was harder than I thought and that’s why I want to present my experience. I will write it in form of a list, where every point is a milestone with a detailed description. But before I start I would like to tell you what I have bought for an upgrade.
SSD – Samsung 860 EVO SSD 250GB M.2 SATA
RAM – used 4GB Samsung 2133Mhz. I have bought it for less than 15$.
1. Firstly I have done, is that I created Windows 10 installation media. I did this because I wanted to do a clean Windows 10 install on the new SSD. Paul_Tikkanen provided a suitable link in an earlier post. I used this tool to create installation media on a USB flash drive. You will need at least an 8GB USB flash drive for this.
2. Next step is opening the laptop case. To do this I followed instructions from a YouTube video (link below).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L5ZTSo-DtE&list=LL&index=3
This video will show you how to unscrew the screws and how to open the back case. I just followed the steps from the video.
3. My next step was to insert a RAM. This was quite easy. You may find a good explanation in the YouTube video linked above. I quickly found the right, open space for the second RAM.
4. Afterwards time has come to insert the SSD drive. Unfortunately, in the Service Guide linked by Paul_Tikkanen, there is information about the adapter bracket. I could not find such a thing on the motherboard so I searched through YT and I found a proper video (link below):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6od-sLj8jGs&t=297s
I have inserted SSD the same way as in the YT video.
5. After all hardware was installed I gently and carefully assembled the laptop to start the system. To do it, I followed the same steps as before but in reverse. I tried to put on the backplate in a way I could easily take it off in the future.
6. I launched the computer to see if I did not broke anything beyond repair. Fortunately, the old HDD started normally and I could log in to Windows 10. In Windows, I looked into "My computer" to check if I could see SSD. Sadly there was only an old HDD. So I looked into the internet to look for advice. I followed this instruction to install SSD in Win10.
https://www.dummies.com/computers/operating-systems/windows-10/how-to-install-a-second-internal-hard...
7. After that I initialized the new drive, I restarted the computer to enter the BIOS. In the BIOS I set to computer boot from USB diskette. Then I turned off the computer. I opened it and disconnected the old hard drive.
8. Then I plugged in the USB flash drive I prepared in the first step. I launched a computer to install Windows 10. From now on I just followed the steps on the screen and installed Windows 10.
9. After that I could normally log into new clean Windows 10. A couple of times I restarted the computer to check if everything is running smoothly.
10. In this step I opened the computer for the last time and reinstalled HDD. Here I would advise you to get into BIOS and set the first boot drive to OS boot manager > New SSD.
11. In the last step, I enjoyed the newly upgraded computer with 21 seconds of a start time for Windows 10.

I am also posting a picture of this computer where I marked important areas for my story.
From my point of view, this thread/issue is solved and it can be closed.
Once again I would like to thank Paul for his help.