Hp Envy 17.3" memory and SSD upgrades

[RiFi]

Test!

Hi, Visruth --- I posted several questions (in one post) re upgrading an Hp Envy 17-ae108ca configured with 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB HDD to a SSD but don't see it anywhere? I'm positive that I received a notification indicating that it was successfully posted so I'm not sure what happened. Do comments have to go through a moderator here which might be causing a delay? I just signed up and don't know how things work yet. Did you receive my questions? They were posted in reply to your comment about the unit having 2 RAM bays each being able to hold a max of 8 GB  of RAM and a separate slot for the M.2 SSD.

Thanks, 

RiFi

[ramuntcho]

 Hi M.Provost,

Having read carefully the link you posted:

Maintenence & Service guide on page 2

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c05635976

I want to make sure, before removing the back pannel of my laptop, that I can add a SSD drive and keep the 1To drive already installed. I want to copy Windows 10 and all applications on the SSD and use the 1To for storage. 

I have a new Samsung 860 EVO 500 GB sata ssd. As I read the dual storage configuration, it looks like I can't use a SSD higher than 128 GB sata SSD or 256 GB PCIe NVMe SSD in conjunction with the 1To. Am I right?

So If I want a dual ssd configuration I need to exchange my sata ssd 500 GB for a 128GB sata ssd or exchange the sata 500 GB for a 256 GB PCIe NVMe ssd. These being the only two acceptable configurations for this particular laptop: HP ENVY ae108ca.  

Thanks for your help!

Raymond

[Samurai7388]

Erico,

 I realize this is an old thread and appreciate your answer, but I am only semi-knowledgeable on these things and would appreciate some clarification.  One point from the original poster that was not addressed in your reply was booting from the SSD.

For some reason, in Canada HP sells this computer (ENVY 17-ae108ca) with no options but, in the US, the same computer is sold with options, and 1 of those options is a 1TB SSD.  You correctly pointed out that there is support for an M.2/NVMe interface.

I cloned the 1TB SATA HDD that came with this computer onto a 1TB NVMe SSD but, when I removed the SATA HDD and installed the NVMe SSD, the computer would not boot.  I believe it said there was a checksum error.  So, being only semi-knowledgeable and not knowing what else to do, I simply returned the computer back to its original state and rebooted to still have a checksum error, but this time I noticed an option to hit Enter to restore the original checksum.  I hit Enter and the computer is working again, but just with the original HDD.

Then I wondered if there could be a BIOS selection to determine which drive interface to load the OS (boot) from.  I powered up the computer, entered the BIOS and navigated to the OS boot Manager item.  When I hit Enter on that item, a small window popped up stating “Windows Boot Manager (HGST HTS721010A9E630)”, which is the original SATA HDD.

Does that mean the BIOS only 'knows' how to boot from the original drive in the SATA drive interface, or is that something that should change dynamically if the BIOS detects no SATA drive but does detect an M.2/NVMe drive?

Any info or assistance would be greatly appreciated, as I need to find a way to get this computer to boot and to load and work with large apps and data quickly.  Thank you.