Upgrading SSD

[LiamA]

I am wanting to upgrade my M2 SSD and am looking at getting a Seagate Firecuda 510 1TB SSD. I am at my wit's end trying to work out whether or not this SSD is compatible with my motherboard (HP 81AA) and if the connections match up. Could anyone advise me please?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

According to chapter 1 of the service manual, your notebook supports NVMe M.2 SSD's, which the Seagate Firecuda 510 1TB SSD is.

HP Envy x360 m6 Convertible PC (model numbers m6 through ar0XX) Maintenance and Service Guide

What is the model of the 128 GB SSD you have installed now?

You can find that info under the disk drives device manager category.

Google the drive part number and confirm that it is NVMe.

[LiamA]

Hi Paul,

I believe I have a SanDisk SD8SNAT-128gb-1006. I don't understand the different 'key' connectors (B/M,B&M) etc., how to distinguish them and if they are all interchangeable/compatible. Should it matter for this?

Thanks again,

Liam

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

You're very welcome Liam.

According to the Sandisk drive part number you posted, that is a SATA SSD.

Sandisk SD8SNAT-128G - 128GB M.2 2280 SATA III NGFF Solid State SSD (cpumedics.com)

You can tell not only by the description, but by the two notches cut into the contacts.

If you look at the Firecuda SSD that is NVMe, and you can tell that by the one notch cut into the contacts.

Re-reading the service manual, it indicates that only notebooks with the A9-9410 processors support NVMe drives.

So the NVMe Firecuda drive will not work in your notebook, since the specs indicate that it has the A12.

That makes no sense to me, but it is what it is.

I would recommend you buy this SATA drive to upgrade to.  It has the best performance for the price, IMHO.

WD Blue 3D NAND Internal SSD M.2 SATA - 1 TB, Blue - High Performance: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Acc...

[LiamA]

Ah that's a shame. Thank you for your help and your recommendation though.

Liam

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, Liam.

I would not be surprised if the 1 TB WD drive is a bit faster than the OEM Sandisk SSD HP installed.

I have not found a SATA SSD with faster read/write specs than that one.

Paul