m.2 SSD Upgrade

[pcpunk]

I would like to buy an m.2 SATA SSD for my HP ENVY - 17-u275cl

My first question is, will I be able to boot from it?  I did some research and it appears I SHOULD be able to boot from it, but most the writers of those posts were not clear on what they did.  I think I have more experience than they did and it won't be much of an issue Initiating/Formatting the drive and installing to it unless there are special considerations.  

My other question is how fast is the m.2 drive in that spare socket?  It seems I've seen people that have had bad luck with speed on the second drive on laptops, but I could be wrong as they are not the same model as I have.   Maybe they were SATA-II I don't know.  Or x1 Sockets and it is painfully difficult to know which socket the m.2 is using, x1, x4, x16.

I also cannot find my motherboard Specs!  Here is the MB Model as seen by Speccy and the HP Part n.

HP 8389 U3E1
924007-601

HP Says these drives will work, but I see many on the web that the drives won't even show up.  I also remember folks reporting some drives don't work with HP.

512-GB, M2, SATA-3 solid-state drive supporting TLC 

256-GB, M2, SATA-3 solid-state drive supporting TLC

Another question, do they need to be 512 or 256, or can they just be 250, or 500?  Weird stuff.  I think this is just old documentation and that's why they are saying "256" and "512" right, or is there some reason to have drives with those numbers?

I think an m.2 SATA that is TLC should work right?  This is what I'm looking at now for a drive.  This or maybe the Crucial of the same type.

Western Digital 250GB WD Blue 3D NAND Internal PC SSD - SATA III 6 Gb/s, M.2 2280, Up to 550 MB/s - ...

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

If you look at chapter 3, pp 15-16 of the service manual, I don't believe there is a M.2 slot in your notebook.

Models that came with 2.5" drives use different motherboards than the models that came with M.2 drives.

So, if you want to install a SSD, you will need to replace the 2.5" drive with a 2.5" SSD.

You will get the same performance since the M.2 slot support was only SATA anyway.

[pcpunk]

O-Geese, how stupid am I!

I did look at that page a few times and really could not tell that there is no m.2 drive available.  Is there any other things that would indicate that there is/isn't an m.2 socket?  Would it show as m.2 in Speccy or just PCIe, or another similar program?

This was all an experiment really, just wanted to see if I could install the drive and Windows 10 to it and have two drives in this Laptop.  Or at least use it for storage, Cache Drive...or something just to learn more about m.2 stuff.

I guess this is why we don't see it on the Specification Page?

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05806272

Thanks, pc

[pcpunk]

Clearly, I just thought that there was an extra Slot for a Second Drive as I've see many with the same setup, and one with the exact same model as this?  Found it!

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/SSD-M-2-ON-HP-ENVY-17-u273cl/t...

[pcpunk]

Not getting Notifications for this site AGAIN also!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're sure right!

The reason the NVMe drive didn't work in that other model like yours is the slot only supports SATA M.2 drives.

So, I would go for a WD Blue SATA M.2 drive of the capacity you want, and you should be good to go.

[pcpunk]

So there is no way to see the specs on my MB?

Do you know which PCIe Lane the drives are using?  There are like Four x1 slots I believe, and one x4.  A couple of the x1 slots are being used and one x4.  There are two x1 not being used I believe.  And would you know what Gen PCIe Slots those are, must be at least 2.0 I would assume, but maybe not, maybe 1.0 or even 3.0?  

[Paul_Tikkanen]

The service manual clearly states the only M.2 drives that are supported are SATA.

Solid-state drive Support for next generation form factor (NGFF), M.2 solid-state
drive

Support for the following solid-state drives: 
● 512-MB, M.2, SATA solid-state drive supporting triple level cell (TLC)

● 256-MB, M.2, SATA solid-state drive supporting TLC

That is why the NVMe drive didn't show up in the other guy's 17-u273cl.  Not supported.

I have not seen one HP notebook yet where complete specs are listed for the motherboard.

Whatever exists is listed in chapter 1 of the service manual.

The WD Blue M.2 SATA SSD provides the best read/write performance for the price.

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-NAND-500GB-SSD-WDS500G2B0B/dp/B073SBX6TY/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&hvadid=7765...

[pcpunk]

Yes, I've looked at all of the manual at nauseum.  Just trying to learn about the speeds capable and that is determined by the Generation of the PCIe Slot I believe.  If x1-Gen1, speeds will not be good as that is only 250MB/s , if x1-Gen2 then theoretical speeds will be 500MB/s.  I could just as easily toss in a 2.5 drive but wanted to learn more about m.2 stuff.  In fact I will toss in a 2.5 also asap because the drive that is in there now is on it's way out.  This will more than likely be a Seagate SSD, as they show good specs and I don't have one of those yet.  

Thanks for your help as usual, good to have your wealth of experience at our disposal!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Please reply back and let us know how your notebook's drive upgrade project went.