what SSDs are combatable with my device

[The_Lion_King]

Hi everyone

so my laptop has an 256GB ssd and an 1TB hdd, the ssd is almost completely full and i want to replace it with a 1TB ssd.

but i'm not sure if the ssd i plan to buy is combatable or not.

the ssd is the PNY M.2 CS2230 NVMe Solid State Drive

i also have some questions

• what other ssds are combatable with my device?

• the drive i'm planning to replace is the c drive which has windows installed on it (the device came with it installed) and i was wondering if i needed to write  down the activation key or a product key to activate it later
• also there's a lot of bloatware and Uninstallation leftovers in the drive so can i transfer windows only or do i have to clone the whole thing
• lastly would doing this affect the hdd in anyway and do i need  to backup the data on it before starting? 

[erico]

Unfortunately, PNY M.2 CS2230 NVMe is not enough to identify the drive. 

Your laptop is compatible with two types of M.2 SSD products. 2280 is the dimension specification. 80mm x 22mm x 2.38mm

1) SATA-3, 2280

2) PCIe NVME 2280

" i was wondering if i needed to write  down the activation key or a product key to activate it later" 

That is not necessary. Microsoft has the MAC address of your laptop match with the MAC address of your laptop on the Microsoft Windows Licensing servers.  After you install Windows and go online, the operating system will automatically activate itself. 

"

• also there's a lot of bloatware and Uninstallation leftovers in the drive so can i transfer windows only or do i have to clone the whole thing" Clone the whole drive
• "lastly would doing this affect the hdd in anyway and do i need  to backup the data on it before starting? " Cloning will not affect the original hard drive at all. Everything on it will remain intact.  

[The_Lion_King]

thank you so much for the answers!

what other information do you need to  to identify the drive?

the discerption from the listing just says this

● Interface: PCIe Gen3 x4

● Read speed: up to 3300MB/s

● Writing speed: up to 2600MB/s

[erico]

There should be a label on the SSD that shows the part number and model name.

Based on the description, it is compatible, however it is the 2280 format.

[The_Lion_King]

what about the 2280 format? you said it would fit

[erico]

Yes, the 2280 footprint will fit.

The 2230 version is a bit short, at 50mm less, but will also fit in the SSD slot.

[The_Lion_King]

thank you so much for all your help I really appreciate it

I hope you don't mind but I have one more question, I've been doing some research the last couple of days and I'm a bit confused about something

the ssd currently in my laptop and is a WDC PC SN530 SDBPNPZ-256G-1006

and according to the documentation from the company website 

https://www.westerndigital.com/en-ap/products/internal-drives/pc-sn530-ssd?sku=SDBPNPZ-256G

 the dimensions (L x W x H) are 80mm x 22mm x 2.38mm

and from this documentation 

https://www.pny.com/file%20library/company/support/product%20brochures/solid%20state%20drives/pny-ss...

the PNY M.2 CS2230 NVMe has these Dimensions (L x W x H) 22 x 80 x 4 mm (Max)

the pny is a bit thicker and length and width are switched so how would it fit?

[erico]

Up to 4mm is fine. It is likely to be closer to actually be closer to 3.6mm.

The card will fit.

[The_Lion_King]

got it, thank you for all your help