Installing NVME drive on HP 17-cn0053cl

[kgbax]

My HP 17-cn0053cl laptop is not old, but it was shipped with a hard drive rather than a SSD drive, so boot time and updates are SLOW.   Updates can take hours, and boot time is 2-3 minutes.    I've read where these computers do not recognize a NVME drive when installed, so I was wondering if I could use an USB adapter and move my current Windows 11 operating system and image my whole hard drive onto a new SSD drive and then insert it into the computer.   Would the BIOS then  recognize the new NVME drive?    Do I have to do something else to get the drivers for the NVME drive onto the system?   

Any help would be appreciated!!

Thanks.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

What would you like to do?

You have 3 options:

1. You can do what you mentioned about a USB adapter, but you will need cloning software to migrate the installation.

Some NVMe SSD's such as Samsung and Crucial come with free cloning software.

Others do not, and you would have to find cloning software to do the transfer.

You would need a USB 3/USB-C to NVMe SSD enclosure...something like this:

Amazon.com: SSK Aluminum M.2 NVME SATA SSD Enclosure Adapter, USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) to NVME PCI-E ...

Now, what I don't know is that since SATA drives and NVMe drives use different storage controllers, will Windows boot up from the clone?  It probably will, but I cannot 100% guarantee it.

2. You can use the HP cloud recovery tool to create a bootable USB recovery drive that will install Windows, the drivers and the software that originally came with your notebook on the NVMe SSD.  The factory image should include the Intel storage controller drivers needed for Windows to find the drive on PC's with the Intel 11th gen and newer core processors.

Back up your personal files onto a portable hard drive before using this option.

Here is an info link for how to use the utility.  You will need a 32 GB USB flash drive.

HP Consumer PCs - Using the HP Cloud Recovery Tool in Windows 11 and 10 | HP® Support

You can download the software from the Microsoft Store:

HP Cloud Recovery Tool - Free download and install on Windows | Microsoft Store

I recommend you make the recovery drive now if you want to go this route.

You will have to reinstall any programs and personal files you installed since you have purchased the PC.

3. Clean install Windows--either W10 or W11.

Back up your personal files onto a portable hard drive before using this option.

You will have to reinstall any programs and personal files you installed since you have purchased the PC.

Make a bootable USB installation flash drive with either version media creation tool from the links below:

Download Windows 10

Download Windows 11

When you boot from the installation media and proceed a few screens into the process, you will get to a screen that asks, 'Where do you want to install Windows.'  At that point, you will probably be greeted with the message that no drives can be found.

You now load the Intel storage controller drivers that I zipped up and attached below as follows:

Copy all of the files in both folders in the attached file to a USB flash drive.

Have the flash drive and your Windows installation media plugged into USB ports.

Boot from the W11 installation flash drive.

When you get to the screen where no drives can be found, click on the Load driver option, browse to the flash drive with the storage controller drivers on it.

If you check the box, it will only include the compatible driver.

Click Next, and W10/W11 should install.

After Windows has completed installing, you can install the drivers and available software from your notebook's suport page.

HP Laptop 17-cn0053cl (316H8UA) Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Support

One other tidbit of information...if you plan on retaining the hard drive, the notebook will probably not boot from the NVMe SSD unless you clean the disk of Windows and use it for storage only.

Notebooks that come with dual drive configurations have no operating system on the hard drive and it can only be used for storage.

If you plan on keeping the hard drive installed, temporarily disconnect it after you are done cloning the disk or using any of the other methods to install Windows and run the notebook off the NVMe SSD and confirm that it works as expected.

Then you can reconnect the hard drive and see what happens.

[kgbax]

Thank you for your very detailed solutions to this installation issue.   I had chosen the crucial drive and the USB to NVME adapter that you had linked from Amazon.... looked like a good unit.     I have Casper and Samsungs migration magician , and I could produce a bit by bit copy of my current bootable HD and make the same image on the SSD drive.   Presumably, it would be bootable IF the laptop recognizes the drive.   As I recall, the two drives have to be the same size, so a 1tb SSD is what I was looking at. 

   I've gone to the HP support site for this 17-cn0053cl model and applied the most recent patches for the Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver 18.08.0.1004 Rev.A, which I hope is the driver for the NVME m.2 drives.   If that is installed, and copied onto the new SSD drive...... do you think the laptop will recognize the drive and see it once It's installed internally and no longer as an USB attachment?

Going through a clean install of win11 isn't my idea of a fun afternoon, but it could be done.

Again, thanks for your suggestions and any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome  

If you clone the drive, it will clone the boot files, and the drive should boot up as long as Windows finds the IRST drivers that are already installed.

My concern is the SATA drive uses a different drive controller than a NVMe SSD does, which is why I'm pretty sure it will work, but not 100% sure.

You should only need to load the IRST driver during a clean install of Windows. 

[kgbax]

One more question...... which I think you've addressed.   If I leave the HD in the computer you said that it cannot be seen as a bootable drive.   What happens if both are left in the laptop --- do you get some type of error?

I gather the BIOS cannot just force the SSD drive to be the "Boot drive"?     So the only solution is to disconnect the HD or reformat it?     Sure would be nice if the OS allowed both drives to be bootable and selectable from BIOS settings.

Thanks.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

If you leave the hard drive in the PC, the PC will not boot from the NVMe SSD unless you remove Windows from the drive.

It doesn't matter what device you set to boot from first.  The Windows boot manager will have the PC always boot from the SATA drive first.

On several model notebooks, the NVMe SSD won't even show up in the BIOS as a bootable device, but if the NVMe SSD has windows on it, the notebook will boot from the drive as long as the SATA drive doesn't have an operating system on it.

So, if you want to retain the 2.5" drive, remove Windows from it and use the drive for storage only.