upgrade SSD in Pavilion Gaming 15-ak102nl

[johnrdorazio]

My HP Pavilion Gaming notebook came with a 128GB SSD which the OS is installed on, plus a secondary 2TB HD. So there's plenty of room on the secondary hard drive whereas the main SSD is quite limited. As much as I've tried to install programs and save user folders (documents, images, etc) on the secondary hard drive, the main SSD is still filling up and reaching it's limit. 
So I've decided I need to upgrade it to at least 512GB. I can't figure out which SSD's are compatible with this motherboard. I've tried Samsung EVO 960 512GB and it wasn't compatible. I upgraded the BIOS and tried an Intel 600P 512GB and it wasn't compatible either.
I read somewhere that this notebook is not compatible with SSD's that use NVMe protocol. Some forums say that more recent versions of the BIOS are compatible with NVMe... In any case Samsung EVO 960 and Intel 600P are both NVMe type SSD's.

I read somewhere that it is only compatible with TLC type SSD's. Well the Intel 600P seems to have TLC architecture, but NVMe protocol. So what exactly am I looking for when it comes to compatibility? Does it have to be "SATA" type rather than "PCIe" type? Which SSD's can I buy knowing that they will be compatible and I won't have to send them back? I'm in Italy btw, so if there's a compatible SSD on Amazon Italy that's at least 512GB I would be grateful if anyone can point it out.

[visruth]

Hi,


Your laptop came with 2TB HDD alone, is this correct:
https://support.hp.com/ph-en/product/hp-pavilion-gaming-15-ak000-notebook/8610971/document/c04930257

Page 45: You need M.2 SATA-3 (NGFF) 2280, TLC� SSD.

Samsung M.2 SSD : works well in HP notebooks
http://www.samsung.com/us/computing/memory-storage/solid-state-drives/ssd-850-evo-m-2-500gb-mz-n5e50...

Manual: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c04823146

FRU remove/ replace: applies to your model https://h20574.www2.hp.com/results.htm?SID=8610971&MEID=0346E0DA-9973-4159-942C-C8CD8BBD3CD3


Regards

Visruth

[johnrdorazio]

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@visruth wrote:
Hi,


Your laptop came with 2TB HDD alone, is this correct:
https://support.hp.com/ph-en/product/hp-pavilion-gaming-15-ak000-notebook/8610971/document/c04930257
No, this is not correct. It came with both 128GB SSD and 2TB HDD. I did not order from the HP website, I bought in an electronics store.

Page 45: You need M.2 SATA-3 (NGFF) 2280, TLC� SSD.

On page 25 of the service manual (http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c04823146) it specifies M.2 TLC 2280 SSD. I would like to know which brand SSD's produce this kind of SSD which will be compatible with my notebook.

Samsung M.2 SSD : works well in HP notebooks
http://www.samsung.com/us/computing/memory-storage/solid-state-drives/ssd-850-evo-m-2-500gb-mz-n5e50...

I have tried Samsung M.2 960 EVO SSD and it is not compatible. Is this because NVMe SSD's are not compatible? I see that the 850 EVO is SATA, does this make it compatible?

Manual: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c04823146

FRU remove/ replace: applies to your model https://h20574.www2.hp.com/results.htm?SID=8610971&MEID=0346E0DA-9973-4159-942C-C8CD8BBD3CD3

Thank you for the information but I am not interested in servicing the notebook myself, since it still has a warranty I will let the maintenance store take care of it for me.

Regards

Visruth

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[visruth · Accepted solution]

"I have tried Samsung M.2 960 EVO SSD and it is not compatible. Is this because NVMe SSD's are not compatible? I see that the 850 EVO is SATA, does this make it compatible?"

Yes not compatible.

Yes M.2 SATA, Samsung I would bet it'll work.

[johnrdorazio]

Ok I will try the Samsung 850 Evo and if it works I will mark this as a solution. It will take a few weeks before I receive it and take it to the store for assistance...

[visruth]

You're welcome.

Sure I'll keep an eye over this thread.

[johnrdorazio]

Sorry so much time has passed, I had so much going on I wasn't able to get around to trying to install the Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD. I have finally done so, and bingo it works! I was able to have my main 128GB SSD cloned over to the 850 EVO 500GB SSD, and I had the partition enlarged to use all the available space on the 500GB SSD, I now have all my data and a functioning SSD as main drive with plenty of space so it won't get clogged up anymore. I still will continue to save my data and programs to the secondary 2TB drive, but at least I can be at rest as regards the main drive now.

[visruth]

That's great news!

Glad that everything is working now.