Smart hard disk error 301

[Mtowens86]

I just had my hard drive to fail. I have been able to backup all my files safely. I backed up 45GB information so I wouldn't need anything too big to replace it. I was noticing that you could "possibly" upgrade the HDD to an SSD. What is the best way to find out if this is possible and would I have to go with OEM hardware?

[EddyK]

Hello Mtowens86,

There isn't too much of a 2.5" SSD compatibility issue with most of HP laptops. It's usually the M.2 options that have issues.

You can refer to Crucial's page on this laptop (Crucial ascertains 100% compatibility) for SSD options or the Samsung 850 EVO which is considered one of the best-valued consumer SSDs on the market which has really, really good compatibility with HP laptops.

Steps to replacement are located on pages 59-61 of your computer's Maintenance and Service Guide.

Hope this helps,

Eddy

Hit the Accept as Solution if I solved your problem.
Hit the thumbs up to show appreciation!

[Mtowens86]

I've got the Crucial BX300 120GB on it's way from Amazon. Once I get this and install, how do I get my files and OS on the new SSD? Will everything I need be on the files I backed up?

[EddyK]

Hello Mtowens86,

So it's just personal files?

Do you have any recovery disks you made from the computer while it was still alive? I'm thinking not.

Anyhow, you can install Windows 10 for free using another computer and a USB drive.

Start reading the instructions from section "How to Clean Install Windows 10" on this page: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-do-clean-installation-windows-10

Please follow the steps after inserting the SSD inside.

Things to keep in mind:

• DO NOT tick Use the recommended options for this PC when creating the install media
• Select 64bit
• To boot from the USB on the computer, repeatedly press F9 upon startup to access the boot options. Select the USB Flash Drive
• If the Windows installation ever asks for a product key, select I don't have a product key to automatically bypass and activate Windows 10. Windows 10 activation will occur once connected to the Internet.
• Let me know if you have any further questions.

Hope this helps,

Eddy

Hit the Accept as Solution if I solved your problem.
Hit the thumbs up to show appreciation!

[Mtowens86]

I have the SSD successfully installed. I turn on the computer have a black screen. I have Windows 10 on a flash drive but may not be the right one. I downloaded the windows 10 tool and had it set up for installing this on flash drive for another computer. Where did go wrong?

[EddyK]

Hello Mtowens86,

So did you plug in the USB into one of your computer's USB ports and repeatedly press F9 upon startup? You can then select the USB drive from here.

As soon as you press the power button, you have to tap away at the F9 key.

You may need to disable Secure Boot in BIOS using the F10 key.

Let me know how it all goes.

Kind regards,

Eddy

[Mtowens86]

OS is now on my laptop. However, now when my computer shuts screen off, the screen brightness is extremely low when I wake it up. I reboot the computer and it is fine. It has done this to me several times. What do you think the problem could be?

[EddyK]

Hello Mtowens86,

Sorry about the late reply.

Please check that all updates have been made through HP Support Assistant.

In case you don't already have it, here is the download page for HP Support Assistant. 

Let me know how that goes.

Best regards,

Eddy

Hit the Accept as Solution if I solved your problem.
Hit the thumbs up to show appreciation!

[Mtowens86 · Accepted solution]

I apologise for responding so late. Everything is working great now. The newest update for AMD display make the mouse glitch when moving around on the screen. I rolled back the driver and now works fine. As for the screen Brightness,. The monitor driver somehow got disabled and one I enabled it, it works. I also manually checked for each driver update and found updates available that did not show up on HP support assistant. . I did not realize just how much of a difference (speed) an SSD would make. It is acceptionaly fast. Thanks for all your help