HP Notebook 15-bs192od Adding an SSD, SATA-style, M.2 SATA, but not M.2 NVME

[MesaGuy]

I have posted this "question", to provide an answer to it, since the forum is now locking old posts, so it is not possible to just update my old (unanswered) comment to a 6 month old post.  (Since now I have the answer).

Adding SSD's to the HP 15-bs192od, particularly in the M.2 connector.

In short, the M.2 connector on this laptop, that is BUILT IN ON THE MOTHERBOARD (not the optional M.2 mounting assembly that can be mounted in the HDD area and allow an M.2 drive there), IS THERE, and supports unfortunately, only mSATA.  It does not support NVME, in spite of it being keyed for the optional x4 PCIE NVME, this model does not support the NVME option(s).

For the M.2 motherboard mSATA type SSD, it is a M.2 2280 (22mm x 80mm) SATA style connector ONLY!  (NO NVME, none.)

For the main drive bay, you can just buy a SATA style (2.5 inch disk SATA style) SSD (that looks like a 2.5 inch HDD drive, common in stores or online) and just plug it in.   If you only want or need one drive, this is the easiest way to go for sure, and there is little to no reason to use the M.2 connector in this case in terms of "ease".  (Because to install a mSATA 2280 into the motherboard's M.2 connector, you must temporarily remove the two ribbon cables that cross over its footprint (releasing them by flipping up the plastic lock bars), install the M.2 mSATA, and then put the ribbon cables back in.   Because these ribbon cables cross directly over the mSATA footprint, I also would NOT recommend using any "high performance" mSATA in this platform, because a high performance unit's flash memory chips will get hot, and these ribbon cables will be lying right on those chips!   So, would only recommend a "base" tier mSATA type, like a WD-Blue-mSATA style SSD for this mSATA connector location.  (Use any SSD brand you want, I just am referencing an example of a "base" performance level mSATA SSD in M.2 form factor.   If you search on that particular WD-Blue, on a comparison site, you can see what "other" flash devices are out there in that "base" performance level.    These base units while a "little bit" slower than the fancier ones, are much less expensive, and critically important, they also happen to run much cooler (so they will not melt the ribbon cables that will be lying on them.) 

In summary:   On HP 15-bs192od

1. Use the HDD drive bay for a SATA 2.5inch form factor SSD, that's the easiest (and supported by HP).

2. You can, optionally, use the ON-Motherboard M.2 2280 mount footprint and connector that cross "under" the two ribbon cables that go to the drive bay (but are otherwise uninvolved with the drive bay, other than potentially melting its ribbon cables).    If you use this connector, then you need a mSATA M.2 2280 style drive.

3. NVME is NOT supported on this M.2 connector (too bad, for you and me (I have one)).

Reasons to use the M.2 2280 mSATA M.2 connector:

a. You already have a M.2 2280 mSATA SSD M2 style blade card SSD "sitting around", or you already bought one.

b. You want to put in TWO (2) SSD drives in your system.  In this case, you can buy a M2 2280 mSATA style M2 SSD (mSATA, not NVME) , and also buy a 2.5" SATA style SSD to put in the drive bay.    If you will be using two drives, the BIOS can select either one of them as the boot drive, so you can put the OS on either one.   However, for most people cloning from the old HDD SATA to the 2.5 inch SATA will be the easiest, because the form factor will be the easiest to hook up to some "other" desktop system's SATA connectors in order to run cloning software to transfer you OS over.   You can do that as well with the M2 mSATA that would go in the laptop motherboard, but to do so, your desktop "cloning" system would also have to have an M2 slot that supports mSATA.  (That is an excercise in itself to determine, unless you already know, so I recommend just putting the OS on the 2.5" disk form factor SATA SSD.)    Then use the M.2 mSATA SSD as a "data" drive.

c.  You might be more motivated to use the mSATA SSD as the OS boot device, if for some reason you already had one, and it was a small one (like a 128 or 256GB model, neither of which I recommend).   128 is too small, 256 is OK for OS only, but if you plan to put a LOT of applications on, then even that can get tight with Windows 10.   LInux should have no problem with the smaller size.

So, I recommend, just buying the "boring" and "best pricing" 2.5" SATA hard disk form factor SSD for this platform.  But you can buy a M.2 mSATA style SSD and successfully install in in the M.2 2280 connector and footprint.  I do not recommend a high performance mSATA (hard to find anyway, most high performance are NVME these days) M2 SSD for this platform, as it would probably melt the ribbon cables that directly cross over the footprint.

HP does not even acknowledge in its manual that the HP 15-bs192od even has an M2 connector on the motherboard.  (For reason I think more to do with incompetence.  But perhaps (happy thoughts here), they were trying to look out for customers because of the undesirable ribbon cable routing on this model, and they decided to not support it (or admit its existence) at all on this model, because of the problematic situation with the possibility of melting the cross over ribbon cables and the damage (or even fire hazard) that such melting and overheating of plastic could entail.   HP, not sure if you are heros or heals here, but you really should acknowledge the existence of the M.2 connector on this model, and then say what it can do (mSATA only), and the speak to whether or not it is officially supported by HP or not.  (Seems like not, but hard to be sure, since you don't even admit it exists.)

But, you know, people have eyes, and they can spot a M2 connector when they see one.

On this platform the M2 connector is about the middle of the motherboard, on the bottom access side (like the HDD bay).  the footprint extends under the two cross-over ribbon cables (one for SATA, the other either also SATA, or perhaps mousepad).  The mount screw is lined up with the middle of the M2 connector, and is near the edge of the motherboard, on the mousepad and HDD bay side of the motherboard, crammed in amoung other components.   Using the footprint means you must remove the two ribbon cables, install you M.2 SSD, and the put the ribbon cables back.  Because of height limits, the M2 mSATA SSD CANNOT have a heat sync, and I recommend a "lowest performance" tier SSD (still much faster than HDD) because of lowest heat output, since the ribbon cables will be in direct contact with the flash and controller chips on the mSATA M2 SSD.

Best of luck.