Upgrade

[freeindeed]

Hi, would it be possible to install NVMe M.2 SSD then clone the 1Tb drive to the SSD and use this as my boot drive.  Only noticed Windows boot option in Bios.

[banhien]

@freeindeed 

The following compatible product is a good choice and much easy for migration from HDD to SSD

   https://uk.crucial.com/gbr/en/hp-15-da0038na/CT14018203

But, please use the following steps

(a) Clone HDD to SSD,

(b) Remove HDD and ONLY use SSD for few days or few weeks (to be sure it is happy to run with SSD),

(c) Format old HDD and put it back to your machine.

Regards.

[Huffer]

Yes you can do this. Of course the M.2 SSD has to be large enough to hold everything that is on the 1 TB HDD or you can't clone it. You can't put 10 pounds of wool in a 5 pound sack, in other words. 

Here is the Service Manual:

Manual

PCIe/NVME 2280 form factor M.2 SSDs like the Samsung 970 Evo are supported.  Start on p. 39 to remove the rear cover and you see this:

M.2 slot circled in red

The BIOS is not going to show the M.2 as a boot option until one is there.

I like Macrium Reflect Free. Download it and use the app to make a bootable cloning usb disk and run your clone with the HDD and the M.2 in the system. Easiest will be going from a 1TB HDD to a 1 TB M.2, but a 512 M.2 can be made to work as long as the HDD has less than say about 400 gigs of data on it.

 Once the app says the clone is done, remove the HDD before first boot from the M.2 and it will work (or should). Make sure you open the laptop before spending money on an upgrade just to be sure the slot is there. We get reports every now and then that a slot shown by the Manual is absent from some specific model the Manual should cover. Once you have checked it out and booted it 2 or 3 times from the M.2 you can put the HDD back in.

Post back with any other questions and please accept as solution if its the info you needed. 

[freeindeed]

Thanks for your help and quick response, will take a look and let you know how I get on.

One more question to Huffer.  If I make a bootable usb clone with Macrium Reflect do I install ssd then boot from usb?

[Huffer]

Yes it makes no sense to speak of cloning unless the "source" and "target" drives are both in the system the cloning software is running on. Download Macrium Reflect Free and install it on the computer with just the hard drive in it:

https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

Launch the app from Windows 10. One of the optional things you can do with the app is to make a usb bootable disk. Do it. 

Then put the M.2 in the system and boot from the usb, which launches the cloning app (which is a Windows pre-boot environment app) and follow the prompts. I like it because it is very intuitive to use. 

Post back with any more questions of course. 

[freeindeed]

Thank you I will make sure to do that.  One more question sorry, will I need t prepare the ssd prior to cloning? 

[Huffer]

Macrium will let you prepare it within Macrium and will set it the same as the hard drive hence "clone". 

[freeindeed1]

Hi regarding message, "Then put the M.2 in the system and boot from the usb, which launches the cloning app (which is a Windows pre-boot environment app) and follow the prompts".  When attempting to do this using my usb drive it begins then stops iwth error message WIM file not found.  Any suggestions?

[Huffer]

Make the usb disk again. Also you may need to use an older Windows Preboot Environment version to get it to work right. There are several configuration options while you are making the usb disk from Macrium. 

About 5:15 into this video try an earlier PE version by clicking the Change PE version button

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=iaavGMjTfgM

[freeindeed1]

Thank you once again but still get the message Failed to get WinPE WIm: The WIM could not be mounted.