Instaling a m.2 SSD and cloning HD to Boot

[Zitovsky]

I have a HP Pavilion 15-bc002np laptop with a 1TB HD and a free m.2 ssd slot. I'm planing to install a 256GB SSD  on the M.2 slot and make it bootable by cloning the HD to it.

The Laptop is from 2016 and as a I7 6700HQ CPU.

1-  Can I install a M.2 2280 256GB TLV NVMe SSD in the slot  and will it work?

2 - Can I then clone the HD to the SSD and make it bootable, so it would be the main drive and use the HD for data?

Thanks

[Huffer]

I'm confused. Specs on your model say it comes from the factory with a 256 gig M.2 disk?

https://support.hp.com/za-en/product/hp-pavilion-15-bc000-notebook-pc-series/10862166/document/c0519...

Where did the 1 TB drive come from?

Yes you can clone but only if the 1 TB drive has less than about say 220 gigs of stuff on it otherwise the 256 gig M.2 will be too small.

Here's the Service Manual:

Manual

See page 35 for a goo image of the whole system. Hard drive is in the upper right corner and the M.2 is to the left of the battery.

If this is "the Answer" please click "Accept as Solution" to help others find it.

[Zitovsky · Accepted solution]

Regarding the specs, in some countries it's sold with the 1TB HD instead of the SSD to be more affordable.

I have less than 200GB in the HD so cloning will do. Hope I can make it boot from  the SSD. I think changing BIOS settings will do.

Thanks for the link to  the Manual.

[Huffer]

Yes do the clone and then remove the hard drive before trying to boot to the M.2 SSD. Enter BIOS esc + F10 and set boot order to make the M.2 the top of the list. You can also remove the hard drive and clone from the hard drive connected with an external usb adapter. The issue you run into sometimes in cloning a 1 TB down to a 256 gig is the system partitions, which hold the actual boot files. If possible you should do a manual clone and copy them as the same size and only shrink the C:\ partition.

Possibly easier than cloning is to get an external drive and make a Windows backup with a system image....this will include all programs and files....then boot the system from a Windows disk and use advanced installation options "install from system image" to install onto the M.2. It gives essentially the same end result as a clone but installs new boot partitions so it is more certain to work.

[Zitovsky]

Thanks for the advice.

So I bought a 256GB PCIE M.2 2280 WD Black NVMe for 100 bucks, plug it in the the M.2 free slot. Cloned the HD to the SSD using Acronis Software witch I was able to install  after it detected the SSD. Cloning was simple and easy with the default values for cloning system  with OS.

Shut down the computer and removed the HD. There was no need to change BIOS settings, left it in "OS Boot Manager", and it boot from the SSD.

Formated my HD on a Sata free bay from my desktop, and plug it bak to the Laptop.

Everything is working just fine and a lot faster.

The only issue was that the automatic clone process shrunk the partition that was used by "D:RECOVERY" to 4GB and it was always  telling it was getting out of space. Downloaded a partition utility and relocated more space for that drive and problem solved.

[oic120]

Hi, I was looking to do the same with my HP Probook. Unfortunately, I could not muster up the courage to mess with my system as I can not risk loosing everything. But then came your post which shows that it is fairly possible to install an M2 SSD on a machine and clone Hard Drive. Now comes the tricky part, the system reserved partition, which you said will be shrinked. So, can you please explain how you managed to extend your reserved partition with a 3rd party software?

[Zitovsky]

Hi,

Installed "MiniTool Partition Wizard Free" that is  very simple partition manager to use.

Using the resize option I squizzed the main partition and with the space available I extended the reserved partition.

In the software they even have links to videos to explain the feature you are about to do. Like this one.

https://www.partitionwizard.com/help/resize-partition.html?from-free102020