Upgrading a notebook Hard drive.

[verma1891]

I recently purchased a new laptop HP Pavilion 15 bc406tx (Product no. 4WC97PA#ACJ). Spec sheet here- https/support.hp.com/in-en/document/c06074517

It comes with a 5400 RPM 1 TB convenctional hard drive. I want to upgrade the boot drive by installing a new M.2 SSD in addition to the 1 TB hard drive.

HP chat support was not much helpful since it confirmed that my laptop has a M.2 slot but he couldn't verify the type of interface and the chat got disconnected.

I have few questions regarding HDD upgrade-

1. Whether this laptop has a M.2 slot?

2. If yes, what kind of M.2 SSD will work on the slot? By kind I mean Sata 3 or PCIE interface. Since Sata 3 speeds are enough for me, I would like to know whether this M.2 SSD - https/www.amazon.in/Samsung-860-EVO-Internal-MZ-N6E250BW/dp/B07864V6CK?tag=googinhydr18418-21&tag=googinkenshoo-21&ascsubtag=e187756b-aa4b-430e-9726-78c48fa7f3f2 will work on my laptop or will I have to buy the costlier PCIE M.2 like this one- https/www.amazon.in/Samsung-970-Evo-Internal-MZ-V7E250BW/dp/B07BN5FJZQ/ref=pd_sbs_147_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07BN5FJZQ&pd_rd_r=44883448-a2d9-11e8-94e1-21efc9a4b04b&pd_rd_w=GFuVO&pd_rd_wg=YFkBd&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=A1VBAL9TL5WCBF&pf_rd_p=d37c8f72-5db7-4817-888d-abb9c00ab564&pf_rd_r=5ARFDBJ8QTMF8EE9QHZR&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=5ARFDBJ8QTMF8EE9QHZR

 

[ElectrO_90]

The first one will be fast enough.
It should work, it's just a matter of Length.

If HP have said you have one, then it's just a matter of what you do next.
If the HD isn't full you can clone it across to the new SSD, or you will have to do a complete new install.

 

[verma1891]

Does SATA 3 work with PCIE M.2?

 

[USAFRet]

I have few questions regarding HDD upgrade-

1. Whether this laptop has a M.2 slot?

2. If yes, what kind of M.2 SSD will work on the slot? By kind I mean Sata 3 or PCIE interface. Since Sata 3 speeds are enough for me, I would like to know whether this M.2 SSD - https/www.amazon.in/Samsung-860-EVO-Internal-MZ-N6E250BW/dp/B07864V6CK?tag=googinhydr18418-21&tag=googinkenshoo-21&ascsubtag=e187756b-aa4b-430e-9726-78c48fa7f3f2 will work on my laptop or will I have to buy the costlier PCIE M.2 like this one- https/www.amazon.in/Samsung-250GB-Internal-Solid-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01M211K53?tag=googinhydr18418-21&tag=googinkenshoo-21&ascsubtag=e187756b-aa4b-430e-9726-78c48fa7f3f2

You need to absolutely verify what type of drive it will take. SATA or NVMe.
An m.2 slot can be one or the other, or sometimes either.

But if it can only take an NVMe drive, a SATA m.2 drive will not work.

 

[verma1891]

I have few questions regarding HDD upgrade-

1. Whether this laptop has a M.2 slot?

2. If yes, what kind of M.2 SSD will work on the slot? By kind I mean Sata 3 or PCIE interface. Since Sata 3 speeds are enough for me, I would like to know whether this M.2 SSD - https/www.amazon.in/Samsung-860-EVO-Internal-MZ-N6E250BW/dp/B07864V6CK?tag=googinhydr18418-21&tag=googinkenshoo-21&ascsubtag=e187756b-aa4b-430e-9726-78c48fa7f3f2 will work on my laptop or will I have to buy the costlier PCIE M.2 like this one- https/www.amazon.in/Samsung-250GB-Internal-Solid-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01M211K53?tag=googinhydr18418-21&tag=googinkenshoo-21&ascsubtag=e187756b-aa4b-430e-9726-78c48fa7f3f2

You need to absolutely verify what type of drive it will take. SATA or NVMe.
An m.2 slot can be one or the other, or sometimes either.

But if it can only take an NVMe drive, a SATA m.2 drive will not work.

I am trying to get in touch with HP. Their tech support sound like absolute noobie. Their tech support is not confirming the type of interface and is repeatedly saying to bring the laptop to the service station which is too far away from my present location.

 

[USAFRet]

I am trying to get in touch with HP. Their tech support sound like absolute noobie.

Be firm. If necessary, ask to talk to a supervisor.

 

[verma1891]

HP chat support has been astonishingly unhelpful in solving this simple query related to HDD upgrade. This is very basic information that should be provided even without asking for upgrade purposes. Yet HP support will make you go round and round but not answer your simple question. Very poor support from HP. You cannot even tell what kind of SSD will my laptop support? Pathetic. Good hardware backed by such poor tech support.

Anyway to all those searching the answer to the same question, HP Pavilion bc-406tx supports M.2 Sata SSD. I have installed Samsung 860 Evo M.2 Sata SSD 250 GB- https/www.amazon.in/Samsung-860-EVO-Internal-MZ-N6E250BW/dp/B07864V6CK?tag=googinhydr18418-21&tag=...



After putting the drive in slot and cloning, great HP BIOS will not recognise the drive as boot device and you either have to somehow format the windows partition on your original HDD or disconnect it physically in order for it to recognise the SSD boot. It wont boot from SSD unless you wipe the windows partition from the original HDD. I followed the following steps-

0. Backup your data in case you do anything wrong.

1. Install SSD in M.2 Slot. Turn on the laptop and see in the device manager that the disk is recognised. It will not show in My PC until it is initiated from the Disk Manager. No need to initiate as of now. Just make sure that it is recognised in the device manager.

2. Clone your OS to SSD using Macrium free.

3. Restart. The laptop will boot from HDD and not SSD. The SSD wil not be an option to boot from in the BIOS.

Now you need to either physically disconnect the HDD in order to boot from SSD or somehow wipe the OS partition from the original HDD. Wiping is difficult because your laptop is running on that partition and cannot wipe itself. To do this, boot from SSD using these steps- (Thanks and kudos to Element2r and Thingkerer )

4. Restart and go into bios options. Turn off safe boot and turn on legacy support. (Undo these changes after the whole process is completed)

5. Go to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > Advanced Start Up > Restart Now > Choose Device (HD's might not be labeled, it will be the second option under the main one preselected) > Select the SSD and Start up off SSD > Wipe and format your original HD (Might have to use a third party as Disk Management may not allow a total wipe) > Restart Computer.

REMEMBER NOT TO FORMAT YOUR RECOVERY PARTITION. YOU MAY WANT TO KEEP YOUR RECOVERY PARTITION ON HDD EVEN AFTER CLONING FOR WARRANTY/BACKUP/RECOVERY PURPOSES.

6. If the recovery partitions are showing in the My PC folder and it is annoying you, you can remove the recovery partitions drive letters using command prompt. To use recovery partition in future, you will have to assign a letter to it using elevated command prompt.

Hope it helps.