looking for a good value m.2 2280

[jagsta21]

i just purchased a ASUS ROG GL752VW-DH71 and im looking for a good value m.2 ssd to run windows 10 and maybe a game or two. i am also curious if there is any way to just move windows over from my hdd without reinstalling windows or moving all of my installed steam games

 

[geofelt]

How much of your hard drive is currently used?

The simple thing to do would be to buy a Samsung 850 evo ssd of sufficient capacity and use Samsung's ssd migration tool to clone to the ssd.
You would need an inexpensive usb to sata adapter cable to do the cloning.
When you are done, replace the hard drive with the ssd.
Keep the hard drive as a backup.

 

[jaguarskx]

You would need an inexpensive usb to sata adapter cable to do the cloning.
When you are done, replace the hard drive with the ssd.
Keep the hard drive as a backup.

A USB to SATA cable is not necessary.

The OP is looking to buy a M.2 SSD. It goes into the M.2 slot which means it will not be replacing the laptop's HDD.

OP, I suppose it depends on the capacity of the M.2 SSD you want to buy. 250GB versions are typically less than $100 while a 500GB version should be less than $175.

*** EDIT ***

Here's an Amazon link for the Samsung EVO 850. You have the option for 120GB (I would not bother), 250GB and 500GB versions. As far as I am aware, there are no M.2 1TB SSDs; not enough space for the RAM chips on a 22mm x 80mm board.

http/www.amazon.com/Samsung-850-EVO-3-5-Inch-MZ-N5E500BW/dp/B00TGIW1XG/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1455816942&sr=1-2&keywords=m.2+ssd+500gb

 

[jagsta21]

You would need an inexpensive usb to sata adapter cable to do the cloning.
When you are done, replace the hard drive with the ssd.
Keep the hard drive as a backup.

A USB to SATA cable is not necessary.

The OP is looking to buy a M.2 SSD. It goes into the M.2 slot which means it will not be replacing the laptop's HDD.

OP, I suppose it depends on the capacity of the M.2 SSD you want to buy. 250GB versions are typically less than $100 while a 500GB version should be less than $175.

*** EDIT ***

Here's an Amazon link for the Samsung EVO 850. You have the option for 120GB (I would not bother), 250GB and 500GB versions. As far as I am aware, there are no M.2 1TB SSDs; not enough space for the RAM chips on a 22mm x 80mm board.

http/www.amazon.com/Samsung-850-EVO-3-5-Inch-MZ-N5E500BW/dp/B00TGIW1XG/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1455816942&sr=1-2&keywords=m.2+ssd+500gb

okay! yeah 250gb is what i was thinking that is a 2280 though right? it says on the bottom of the laptop it only supports 2280 m.2. and how would i go about moving windows over?

 

[geofelt]

This link shows the Samsung 240gb m.2 as 80mm long.
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2W03H16472

That is what the 80 in 2280 means; similarly, the width is 22mm.

Yes, I think you can clone to the m.2 installed in the m.2 slot.
But, if you have windows 10 installed, you may not be able to boot from it because of the secure boot restrictions.
It will not let you boot from a device other than the one which installed windows 10 for security reasons.

I had a terrible time with a similar Lenovo Y700 laptop with a m.2 slot trying to set up a dual boot situation.
Between windows 10 trying to protect you and the limited options in the bios, it was a pain.
I could not get into the bios unless I held down shift when I powered off. Without that bit of arcane procedure, I could not get the boot menu to change to the M.2 ssd.
I was successful in cloning the hard drive to a ssd and simply replacing it.

If you only need one drive, and a ssd will do it, I think you will have fewer problems with a straight swap.

If you need the hard drive for aux storage, I think you may have to consider a clean install on the m.2 drive.

 

[jaguarskx]

The M.2 SSD should come with Samsung Magician which is used for cloning purposes.

As for booting the laptop from the SSD drive... that depends on your laptop's BIOS. Hopefully, there is an option to boot from the M.2 slot. Unfortunately, I do not have a laptop with a M.2 slot so I have never done this before.

After cloning, I recommend you remove the hard drive and boot the laptop. If it boots up fine, then I would reinstall the HDD and boot up again. At that point I would format the OS partition on the HDD so that Win 10 will only exist on the SSD.

Note: If the amount of data on your current C: drive (on the HDD) is greater than the capacity of the M.2 SSD you wish to buy, then you need to delete some files / uninstall programs. Otherwise you will need to buy a larger capacity SSD.