Replacing SK hynix BC501 HFM512GDJTNG-8310A with a faster and larger capacity.

[deckhanddave]

Hi all.

Every two or three windows updates and my bios starts telling me my hard drive is going to go KABLOOEY! very soon in the near futre, maybe this week or next year. Infact it has been doing this for over a year now and I've finally got fed up of it. I don't know if it's a real problem or a false one. BIOS says it's a gonna go, Drive tests say it's a ok! Anyway, I think I'm going to change it out for something that's faster and maybe has more memory than the 500GB one that is in. I'm totally behind on specs for these drives and would like to know what if any, improved drives would fit into my laptop. Also, would increasing the capacity to 1or possibly even 2 TB would be a problem? I know there can be problems with recognising larger capacity drives but I think it's not the problem it used to be. My example being my mobile phone. It says it can take a 512GB card but I popped a 1TB in and it didn't even sneeze at it. So, please, any advice would be much appreciated on what alternative drives I might be able to use and whether increasing the capacity from 512 to 1TB would be a problem.

Many thanks to all who read this and offer advice.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

You should be able to replace the 512 GB NVMe SSD with one having a greater storage capacity up to 4 TB.

That's what the Crucial memory/SSD report indicates:

HP Pavilion 15-cw1598sa | Memory RAM & SSD Upgrades | Crucial UK

Your notebook's NVMe SSD slot is PCIe Gen 3.0.

While a Gen 4.0 SSD will work fine, it will not run at its maximum advertised read/write speeds from the Gen 3.0 SSD sot.

This table shows the maximum transfer speeds each PCIe slot generation can provide.

PCIe Speeds and Limitations | Crucial.com

Below is the link to the service manual:

Maintenance and Service Guide HP Pavilion 15 Laptop PC

HP only offered NVMe SSDs up to 512 GB in storage capacity, but that is just what they offered, not the maximum capacity supported.

[deckhanddave]

Hi Paul.

Thanks for that advice. There was an unexpected bonus to it. I had some problems with the Crucial web site and found out that their Customer service is absolutely 1st class. That is no exageration and based on it, I will be purchasing Crucial. A quick example, I got cut off from my chat and the agent I was chatting with. I went back on their chat in a different window and mentioned about getting cut off and apologised if the agent thought I was being rude and cut him off. Low and behold, the next day I received an email from the agent I was chatting with saying he realised that it was a continuation of the problems I had been having. I was gobsmacked that someone took the time to look into who I had been chatting with and had told them what I had put in a second chat window. The guy also sent me links to pages advising how to change HD and my RAM. Also, any problems and to contact him through his email and he will endeavour to help. So again, thanks for your advice.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Yes, I too have always found that Crucial's products and customer service are excellent.

I have an old Crucial P5 NVMe SSD and several PCs with Crucial memory.

I once had one 16 GB memory chip go bad, and they replaced it for free within days.

All I had to do was to pay the return postage to ship the defective memory chip back to them.

Cheers,

Paul

[deckhanddave]

Hi again Paul.

I'm considering two Crucial SSD's for my laptop. Both are Gen 4 and you said that mine is Gen 3. The two I'm looking at are the Crucial T500 Gen4 NVMe SSD and the P310 2TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe 2280 M.2 SSD.  I can't see that great a difference in them, especially from my point of view fitting them into Gen 3 slots. Is it worth my time going up to 4 or even 5 for any reason? I can only see that it would mean they would be more able to be used elsewhere at a later date. From what I read on the link you sent, the Gen 4 would only work at 50% of its max possible speed and the Gen 5 at about 25% of its potential speed. So, is there any speed benefit to be had from stepping up or would I be just as well buying a Gen3? Any further advice will be greatly appreciated because I'm starting to get Crucial blind! So many Gen's, factors, speeds, types, numbers! 🤯🤯🥴 I'm sure you get my meaning. Thanks, Dave

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Dave:

Any drive that has a spec of Gen 4.0 or higher is going to max out at 4000/MBPS read and more realistically not more than 3500 MBPS, but the faster the Gen 4.0 read/write specs are, the more speed you may get from the Gen 3 slot up to 4000.

With that in mind buy a drive that costs the least amount of money for the performance it can provide.

Looking at your options, your looking at a £14 between the two drives.

I'd go with this one, unless you really don't mind spending  £14 more for the T500 for another 300 MBPS increase in a PC with a Gen 4 slot.

IMHO, that's not a whole lot of speed difference.

Crucial P310 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe Gen4 Internal Gaming SSD, Up to 7,100MB/s, Laptop & Desktop ...

And if you don't plan on moving the drive to a newer model PC, go with the P310.

Cheers,

Paul

[deckhanddave]

Hi Paul

Thanks for replying again. It's good to have a sounding board when you aren't sure of the ground your walking on. That last sentence of yours is the deal breaker for me. I was thinking that I will end up replacing my laptop and at that time I could remove the SSD and either fit it into the replacement (If it will fit) or use an enclosure to re-use it as an external drive. I know that getting a Gen5 would be a bit more future proof than a 4 but the price jumps a fair bit.  What are your thoughts on what I'm thinking regarding stepping up to give it more chance of being useful in the future when I change laptop? Again, any opinions and advice will be appreciated, including your thoughts on maybe going to Gen5?

Thanks as always, Dave.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Dave:

Sounds good to me.

There are PC's beginning to appear on the market that support PCIe Gen 5.0 NVMe SSD's, so if you want to spend the extra money for one of those, that's up to you.

In a couple of years, the prices on the Gen 5's should come down somewhat as they become more commonplace.

You can't even find a decent performing Gen 3 NVMe SSD for less than a Gen 4 one costs nowadays, so that's what happens as technology improves.

Another example: I bet you would pay considerably more for 2 x 4 GB of ancient DDR2-6400 memory than you would for 2 x 16 GB of DDR5-5600 memory.

You can put your NVMe older drive in a USB-C/USB3 NVMe enclosure and use it for a very fast portable storage device, which is a good idea as you suggested.

Buy what your heart tells you to buy and don't second-guess yourself.

Cheers,

Paul

[deckhanddave]

Hey Paul.

Sorry to bounce back to you again. I jst wanted to tell you, you were right as usual and I've settled on one of two.

The P310 Gen4 at £110 - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DC8RVRBZ?tag=track-ec-uk-362258-21&linkCode=osi&th=1&ascsubtag=bnSEP3c...

and

The P510 Gen5 at £153 - https://www.ebuyer.com/2524821-crucial-p510-2tb-m-2-internal-ssd-ct2000p510ssd8

The 5 Gen would be more age proof than the 4 as it's fairly new I think. If at a later date, I transfer it out to something else, then so long as it is Gen5, the increase in speed would be well worth the extra £43. If I don't go for the P510 I get the feeling I will regret not doing so a bit further along the line. Thanks for all the help and advice. You have been brilliant and helped me much more than you realise. I have tried ever so hard not to do this but I admit to wanting to ask,"Is there method in my madness or do you agree with my train of thought"? I would value your honest opinion on this but also accept that  it is my decision on which to pick and therefor my fault if I make the wrong choice. I feel like I am trying to ask "How long is a piece of string"? and apologise for pestering you but I am now at the P**s in the pot or get off stage. 😁I also promise not to keep coming back to you for more advice on this matter plus the cheques in the post 😁🤥 That;s testing your age out if you remember that being one of the gratest lies in the world. As always, thanks for any advice you might offer along with your opinion. Best wishes, Dave.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Dave:

If you are going to use the Gen 5.0 SSD in newer hardware in the future, I 100% agree with you if you have no problem spending the extra £43.

You may find that reading this article will help you justify your decision.

Using a Gen 5.0 SSD on a Gen 3.0 Motherboard

"However, a Gen 5.0 SSD can be a good option for futureproofing if you don’t want to upgrade other components."

Please post back and let us know how your notebook's SSD upgrade project went.

Best Regards,

Paul