What type of SSD is compatible with Envy X360 model 15t-aq200

[tobinkit]

I just bought this laptop and tried to replace the hard drive with a Transcend SSD370 256GB. The laptop says no drive found when booted up. The drive works great when used over USB in an external enclosure. It also works in another desktop. What type of SSD is compatible so I can upgrade? I looked through the forums and people have helped each other with this same question for different models. Thank you to anyone who answers forum questions, you are the real heroes. 

[Huffer]

This SSD upgrade thing is far from a plug and play operation. There are just all kinds of unanticipated issues placing specific hardware in specific machines. HP only guarantees that the parts it lists in the manual will work. Getting other hardware to work is a bit hit and miss which sounds harsh but if you have tried to upgrade very many laptop to SSD eventually you run into issues. 

I have no idea why this particular Transcend SSD is not working in this laptop. You chose a 2.5 inch SATA SSD and theoretically it should work. I note the Service manual:

Manual

HP does not sell this model with a 2.5 inch SATA SSDs. The configurations are for mechanical or hard drives or hybrid drives and then M.2 SATA or PCIe/NVME M.2 disks. 

Your laptop has a slot for an M.2 disk and it will accept a PCIe/NVME type M.2 which is the Holy Grail of storage. A SATA SSD is 4 or 5 times as fast as a mechanical drive and then a PCIe/NVME M.2 disk is 4 or 5 times faster than that. 

See page 36 of the Manual. You can see the M.2 disk right above the battery to the right of the hard drive bay. If it were my laptop I would keep the original mechanical hard drive and install a PCIe/NVME M.2 disk to run the OS from. 

HP offers this M.2 disk with the laptop:

256-MB, M.2 2280, PCIe, NVMe solid-state drive for use only on computer models with model number 15- aq2XX 933705-004

HP charges $256 for it:

https://parts.hp.com/hpparts/Search_Results.aspx?mscssid=0DF9DD2374A4419DB061042C760FD8D3&SearchIn=P...

You can get a 512 gig drive of the same kind for about the same:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-PM961-Polaris-512GB-MZVLW512HMJP-00000/dp/B06XJ95YVR/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UT...

Or you can try another 2.5 inch SATA SSD. The Samsung Evo 850 will probably work for you:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E500B-AM/dp/B00OBRE5UE/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronic...

Post back with any more questions. 

[tobinkit · Accepted solution]

Here is an update. I have installed a Samsung  960 EVO  with success.  I used the samsung migration software to clone the drive with success. I changed the boot order in system settings (hit esc while powering on).  Then I assigned the old drive a new letter in Windows Disk Management. Boot times are now 3 seconds.

In conclusion: This model does not recognize 2.5" SSD so you need to get NVME m.2 type. Hope this helps someone else.

[Jippa]

This was great information.  The manual specs 128mb for the m.2 ssd when keeping the 2nd drive in dual storage.  Did you go to 250 or 500 with the EVO without issue?

[tobinkit]

I installed the 250 without issue.

[Jkutyna]

So this is an old thread and was mostly answered, but I just bought this laptop with the expectation that I would buy the SSD aftermarket along with the OS and install myself.  No biggie right?  My worry is that there is an arbitrary NVME m.2 size limit to the SSD primary.   Sure it was posted that 250 and 500 size SSD's from Samsung worked earlier in the year doing this, but I was going to go with either 1tb or 2tb.   As I just ordered the laptop and it won't be here for a couple weeks, i have no manual or detailed information on what the platform can handle other than a limitation of 16gb of main memory.    I am of course expecting to buy my Windows OS installation as well as my SSD now, so they will be here when the laptop arrives as well.  Makes sense yes?  But I have no way to confirm that this laptop doesn't have some arbitrary limitation on the m.2 SSD size such as only goes up to 500gb or such.   Stock from HP, they will only offer a 256gb SSD in the m.2 slot, so I worry that I would buy the 1 or 2 tb version only to find out after the fact that the laptop has platform limitations.

TLDR:  Is there an upper limitation on the capacity of the m.2 SSD for this laptop because 500gb is insufficient for the enterprise work that I will have required of it.

[Huffer]

You can be assured there is no capacity limitation. However, there are sometimes overall compatibility limits. In other words if you select a brand and type of NVME M.2 that happens to be incompatible, then no size will work. The system will reject a 128 or a 2 TB. If you get a compatible model, then capacity is not an issue: a 128 gig  or 2 TB will work fine. 

You do not tell us the laptop model but if it is a 7th or 8th gen Intel Core system, we are seeing very few compatibility issues with M.2 disks and I am recommending Samsung Evo 970 with almost no issues. 

[Jkutyna]

Hi and sorry.  It was the HP ENVY x360 - 15 TZ with the Ryzen 7 APU driving it.    The options were 1tb hdd, 256gb ssd, or 1tb hdd AND 256gb ssd.    So sorry but 256gb ssd was too small so I just went with the basic 1 tb hdd with the intention that I'd add a proper SSD to install the OS onto myself.   And yes I was going to go with the 970 most likely if I could as thats whats driving the 2 ryzen workstations I have as well and I never seem to have any issue with their SSDs.   I just take things with a grain of salt is all as to how memory is so restrictive and despite my APU supporting 32 or 64 gb of memory, these laptops only support up to 16gb, so perhaps the m.2 slots were similarly limited by some artificial construct based on the mainboard.   Only helps to be cautious and find out before you buy.

[Jkutyna]

Sooooooo... there's no m.2 slot on this laptop that i can find...   got it tonight.  Model 15z-cp000       Unless I literally have to gut the ENTIRE inside of this thing and remove the mainboard as the only possible option i see at this point is that they put the memory and the m.2 port on TOP of the mainboard...      The service manual really doesn't give any pictures of where it might be, it merely states remove battery, remove SSD.   It says the same thing for memory.    There's no m.2 or memory lurking under that battery....

[Huffer]

There is an L-shaped metal shield just above the hard drive slot. Remove it and the RAM and SSD are under it.