Upgrade with a NVMe SSD

[ricyb777]

Over time, my laptop has become quite slow and i just want to boost up its speed.

So, i was wondering if i can install a NVMe SSD on i? Currently it has 750 Gb HD and it has 6 Gb RAM.
If not, what are my other options to speed it up?

Thanks & Regards,

Ricky

[visruth · Accepted solution]

Ricky,


This is a much old machine to have M.2 SSD slot.

You can upgrade HDD to 2.5 inch SATA SSD. Samsung 850 Evo is good.

Manual: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c03099531


Cloning OS and system partitions from HDD to SSD before upgrade will save you time. I use macrium reflect free software for that.

Before cloning, I would perform extensive hard drive test and if tests passed, will proceed with checking for system file integrity using SFC scannow, then after wards do disk cleanup:
https://support.hp.com/in-en/document/c03467259

https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/818-disk-cleanup-open-use.html

[ricyb777]

Thanks for the information, i almost bought the NVMe SSD  before i thought if its feasible or not.
But NVMe are way faster then the SATA SSD's. Too bad.

Will upgrade the RAM as well towards 16 GB, then should be quick enough!

Thanks once again

[visruth]

Sure, you're very welcome!

[mdklassen]

> Over time, my laptop has become quite slow, and i just want to boost up its speed.

How much "time"?  Years?

Perhaps, all you need to do is to backup your personal files & E-mail & bookmarks, take an inventory of your currently-installed programs, and reinstall Windows, and reinstall some of those programs.

Or, run "Disk Cleanup", to remove left-over files.

Or, check that "Disk Defragmenter" is running on a schedule (once a week on Wednesday?).

Installing onto a new "in-warranty" disk-drive is a good idea, to replace your "out-of-warranty-since-2016" antique disk-drive.

How much RAM is currently being used?  If it's less than 4GB, then upgrading to 16GB is a waste of money.

[ricyb777]

I bought the Laptop in Jan 2013, over 5 years.

It has 6 Gb Ram installed, its enough to browse internet but some programs that i use just make it look like a tortoise. i dont do games; its engineering programs.

It takes 5 minutes just to boot up, i guess SSD is a must.
I have reinstalled windows from scratch; formating the hd in Jan 2018; nothing changed. Try to keep the boot to minimum.

At my office i got a NMVe SSD; the computer boots up in 5 seconds or literally something like that. Too bad, i cant have it on this one.

Thanks for the input.

Cheers

[mdklassen]

>  I bought the Laptop in Jan 2013, over 5 years.

The warranty for the disk-drive was one, maybe two, years.

So, "proactively" replacing the disk-drive will help the performance.

Note that a replacement hard-drive should be 7200 RPM -- it will be 33% faster than the original one.

A SSD is advertised as "15 times faster than a 5400 RPM drive".

This speed-up is in optimal conditions, i.e., if your motherboard supports 6Gb/second "SATA III" operation.

> It has 6 Gb Ram installed, it's enough to browse internet

4GB is enough for such usage, if that's all that you do.

Use the "Windows Task Manager" to measure the amount of "used" RAM.

> Some programs that i use just make it look like a tortoise. i don't do games; it's engineering programs.

Some of those programs do not take advantage of your "Quad-Core" capability.  Sigh.

Your computer: HP Pavilion dv6-6c60br Entertainment Notebook PC Product Specifications

Product Name - dv6-6c60br
Product Number - A7K87LA
Microprocessor - 2.4 GHz/1.5 GHz VISION A6 Technology from AMD with AMD Quad-Core A6-3420M Accelerated Processor
Memory - 6GB DDR3 SDRAM (2DIMM - one 2GB, one 4GB)
Memory Max - Maximum supported = 16GB
Video Graphics - AMD Radeon HD 7690M Graphics with 1024MB GDDR5
Video Memory  - Up to 4085MB total graphics memory
Hard Drive - 750GB 5400RPM hard drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection 

Note that "booting" Windows can use just one of the 4 processors.

Upgrading to 12GB (one 4GB, one 8GB) will assign up to 4GB to "total graphics memory", leaving 2GB for Windows itself, plus 6GB for running your programs.  It's doubtful that upgrading from 12GB to 16GB will have any effect.

Not all anti-virus products take the same amount of processor resources.  What anti-virus software are you using?

> It takes 5 minutes just to boot up, i guess SSD is a must.

It is a "want", maybe not a "need".  A 7200 RPM disk-drive will be noticeably faster than your 5400 RPM unit.

[ricyb777]

Thank you for the information.

But you dont have to preach me about want and need. Its not like i am drooling over SSD's.

Its about practicality 1Tb 2,5 HDD will cost aroun 60 Euros (the 7200 rpm one, costlier if i chose 10000 rpm one and so on) and for the same price i can get 240 GB SSD.

As you said, performance is way better for a SSD compared with an SSD with the addition of better life of SSD over mechanical HDD.

Its not about want or need, its about practicality (i have a 8 TB NAS system for storage along with 3Tb WD mycloud system).

My RAM gets clocked up, even after "the engineering programs" used the quad-core capability to its max. In my desktop, with 8 core processors and 32 Gb memory, i get both at over 90 % usage easily.

I have a work desktop with 64 GB Ram of which i have been using atleast 75 % on regurlar basis and offcourse on multi-core processors.

Please ask the details before you start preaching.
I just wanted to know if my laptop (motherboard) has the possibility of installing M2 SSD, the latest one which are pci-e based in comparison to the older version which is sata based. That is it.
If i am going to spend money, i better use the "economically" feasible latest technology.

But still thank you for the information; it wasnt all useless!!
Cheers mate