Installing additional hard drive / upgrading existing hard drive in my laptop

[Bellboy163]

I recently bought a HP 15.6" bc250na laptop. Storage wise it already comes with a 128gb SSD and a 1TB HDD. I have been trying to find the details of what storage options can be installed / upgraded in this laptop but am struggling to decipher the technical guide. Therefore please could you tell me:

• Does this have any spare slots for another SSD? (the technical manual suggests it has a spare m.2 SSD slot on it, but not certain it's not simply referring to the slot for the existing SSD!)
• If it does, what type of slot is it and what SSD types does it support?
• What type of SSD is the 128gb SSD that came with the laptop? What does the slot that this is in support?
• What type of connector does the 1tb HDD use? If (I assume) SATA - could this be replaced with a SATA SSD?
• Finally, am I allowed to carry out any or all of these works myself without invalidating the warranty?!

I'm also wondering if there is any way I can upgrade the ram myself, and if so can this be done without invalidating the warranty? What RAM slots does my laptop have?

Many thanks!

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

You have perhaps already seen it but here is the Service Manual:

Manual

There is not a great image of the whole motherboard all at one time, but if you look on page 45 at the top you can see the hard drive in the upper right and the battery below it and then to the left of the battery is the M.2 slot. You can just see the slot and the top of the M.2 gumstick disk. 

These are all the slots: one for an M.2 and a place for a 2.5 inch SATA hard drive or SSD 7mm or 9.5mm thick. 

The 128 gig M.2 you have is the SATA variety and has 3 prongs. 

Two types, fit in same slot. You can use either type.

SATA is on the left and PCIe/NVME on the right. You want a PCIe/NVME disk, they are about 3 times faster than a SATA M.2. I have 3 HP laptops with PCIe/NVME 512 gig drives as the boot drive and am very happy with them. Instant on, ultra fast. 

If I were you I would put a 512 gig PCIe/NVME disk in the M.2 slot and just leave the 1 TB hard drive. 

The HP Parts Store has the 512 gig PCIe/NVME disk in stock for $106 which is a super deal. Grab it up while you can as they have raised prices on many other M.2 disks. 

https://parts.hp.com/hpparts/Search_Results.aspx?mscssid=3868EBA142E9455ABC2C0DEFF14D6F86&SearchIn=P...

You can do this upgrade and a memory upgrade to 16 gigs DDR4-2133 memory (2 x 8 gig). You have 8 gigs (2 x 4) so you would need to buy 2 new 8 gig modules. I would do the M.2 if you can only do one upgrade. 8 gigs is plenty for most people.  This will  not trash the warranty as long as you do not damage anything and it is medium difficult at worst. Just remove the rear cover which is explained well in the Manual. Post back with questions. 

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

[Bellboy163]

That's great, thanks for your reply! So to summarise what you said, to make sure I understand:

• I have two storage slots - an M.2 SSD Slot and a 2.5" HDD / SSD slot. Both are currently being used by the 128gb SSD and the 1TB HDD I currently have, so no spare slots.
• The M.2 slot supports both SATA and PCIe/NVMe so I could fit in a PCIe/NVMe SSD if I so desire. Have I understood this correctly? Other reading i have done suggests it's unusual for an m.2 slot to support both?
• The HDD slot could also be used for a 2.5" SATA SSD if I so choose.
• One more question - I read that you can get difference sizes of m.2 SSDs? If so, is mine restricted in any way in terms of size that will fit?

The terminology around SSDs is pretty confusing! The thing that throws me (and I think this is right) is that there is a physical connector for 2.5" drives which people often refer to as a SATA connection - but I assume actually just refers to the interface "language" the connection uses, rather than the physical connector itself. Then m.2 slots can use either SATA or PCIe as the interface language, but m.2 is the physical connector.

Sadly I live in the UK so can't get access to the $106 512gb PCIe/NVMe drive. Can't even see that price on the parts store. It's a lot more expensive for one over here! I was hoping to have a spare slot so I could install a second SSD for commonly used programmes / games and leave my 128gb SSD purely for windows and other system essentials. I'll see how I get on and look to replace the 128gb when it becomes more necessary, in that case.

Thanks a lot again for your help!

[Huffer]

There is a lot of confusion and misinformation out there. You have got it mostly right. The size of M.2 you need is called 2280 (22mm wide 80 mm long). And despite what you read it is not unusual for an M.2 slot to accept both SATA and PCIe. In fact, I have seen many that are exclusively SATA, but so far every one I have dealt with if it takes PCIe it will also take SATA. 

The only laptops that have more than a 2.5 inch and M.2 slot would be big mobile workstation machines. Your configuration allowing 2 disks at the same time is about as good as it gets for a consumer laptop 15 inch or smaller.  

[Bellboy163]

Thanks again, that's all very helpful!