ENVY 15t-j000 mSATA SSD + HDD fresh install, with mSATA as boot drive

I was doing a lot of research, and ALMOST returned the laptop because I couldn't figure out a GOOD way to run a 256G mSATA SSD as the boot drive, plus keep the 1TB drive as a separate data drive. I could get it to work if I didn't have an HDD in there at all, or if I had the boot sector on the HDD. Neither solution was acceptable. I want to be able to yank that 1TB HDD at a moment's notice and have the system not be affected. I finally figured it out, and I thought if I was struggling with it, maybe someone else is too. Here's what I did. Note, my easy way here involves wiping ALL data from both drives... If you don't want to do this, you could always use a partition utility to manually delete just the boot partition off the HDD, and disable the "ACTIVE" flag.

- Create a bootable USB key with your Win 8 OS on it (you can download an ISO directly from Microsoft, and the license key is embedded in the BIOS). This MUST be FAT32! UFEI will not recognize an NTFS USB boot drive. Not going to walk through the steps here, but google "bootable usb windows 8 fat32 diskpart" and you'll get a step by step tutorial. Easy.
- Download the Intel Rapid Storage RAID drivers directly from intel, and extract them to the root of the USB key. Alternatively, you could download the drivers from the HP site and extract just the drivers, but I think it's easier to go straight to Intel.
- Obvious step here, put your mSATA drive in the mSATA slot.
- In the BIOS, disable secure boot, and leave legacy mode DISABLED.
- Boot off the USB key by pressing ESC as the system powers on and choosing the appropriate boot device from the boot order menu
- When the Windows installer can't find any drives, choose "Load Driver", and point to the root of your USB key. The Intel drivers should show up in a dialog. Choose the driver, then windows should find both of your drives.
- You need to delete ALL partitions from both drives. This ensures the boot information is gone from the HDD.
- Once both drives are empty with 100% unallocated space, choose the mSATA drive as your install drive, and just let Windows do its thing.
- Once installed, you should see both drives in Explorer right away, without loading the Intel RST package.

I've done this twice now, once on the 24G cache SSD as a test (not recommended, not enough space to really run the OS without stripping it down), and with my 256G Plextor M5M. I have also tested by removing the 1TB HDD after installation, and windows booted up just fine. I put it back in, and it was there again (although I had to reboot once). So the drives are totally separate as they should be, and I'm booting 100% off the SSD.

Hope this helps someone!

Also, I'm totally winging this at 4:44 in the morning while at work, so please forgive any errors...

 

wew... how do you put the mSATA? wen i see the videos of opend up envy 15 i dont see mSATA slot. do u have to open up the whole bottom part?

 

Don't know about the older ones, but for the newest model, the 15t-jXXX, you open up the bottom panel (one screw), and it's right there. Super easy...

 

hey can you tell me how u did the downloading win8 iso file and instal? where and how did u download win8 and how did u use the embedded bios key?

im planning to instal win8 on msata also,

i was thinking backing up the original win8 on usb thru back up, and using that to install on msata.

 

Yesterday I bought a HP ENVY TouchSmart 15-j008ss and I'd like to know if it has a ssd slot, I've never seen a real ssd. I've taken a picture of it. Could you tell me If I can add a SSD in my laptop?

Thanks!!!!

 

thanks a lot for this. I plan on doing exactly what you did, with the same mSATA.

 

a little question:

I've heard people mentioning in various threads that they had to change the SSD to AHCI? I don't actually know what this means but did you have to do this when doing a clean install or is it something that happens automatically?

 

Every drive controller has two or three modes:

- Legacy (not usually even there anymore - you don't want it)
- AHCI (best mode for single drives)
- RAID (needed for striping or mirroring - if you wanted to combine your mSATA and HD into a single logical disk)

AHCI is usually the default for single drives so it's not a change you'd have to make unless your controller is set to RAID (which it shouldn't be without good reason). If you think you might have a RAID setup for any reason, don't mess with the setting unless you know what you're doing as deactivating RAID in the BIOS when you do actually have RAID will probably render your data unusable. But if you're formatting everything anyway, go nuts.

 

I bought this laptop a few weeks ago, I should have waited for the labor day sale. I only have the 24 GB mSATA SSD Cache. Can I boot from that, too?

 

I have a quick question.

Have you run benchmarks on the Plextor SSD? I'm interested in sequential real world read and write speeds, not in advertised ones.

I ordered the non-touch-screen version of this laptop during the labor day sale and will not take delivery of it for another week or so, and I will install an mSata SSD as soon as it arrives. (wanted to non-touchsmart because is almost a full pound lighter).

I will be using the laptop to collect data from cameras that produced a TON of data so I need the SSD to at least be close to the 430MB/s listed spec.

Its between this mSata drive or the Intel 525 Series one (which Tom's Hardware gave a glowing review to) but the Plextor is a good $80 cheaper (and is a 256GB Vs 240 GB for intel)

 

I just CrystalDiskMark'd all my three drives and here are the results...

This is the stock Toshiba 1TB 5400rpm HDD



Here is what I replaced it with, a Hitachi 1TB 7200RPM HDD



And finally, my 256GB Plextor mSATA SSD that I am now using for Windows 8 boot drive (Windows 7 was a bust)...

 

Thank you very much. How are you liking the Plextor mSATA? (I guess this goes for the originator of the thread too)

I know it may be silly to ask, but does it leave you wanting? The last thing I want is to buy this and then have some form of buyer's remorse and keep wishing I'd bought a different one.

Thanks in advance and have a great day

 

Another question...

Can you get a second 256 GB SSD and configure them in RAID 0? Does this laptop allow for that? I ask because that could be something I can do and then buy one of those cases that turns SATA3 Hard Drives into external/portable USB3.0 HD and keep the 1TB hard drive as a media device.

 

The only want I have is for it to be bigger. The speed is great and you really notice it over the stock HDD and even over the 7200RPM HDD that I had swapped it for.

I would have to say that this would be a big ol' YES. When you add a second drive you get a post screen for he Intel Rapid Storage Raid and you have the option for a RAID build.I think that may be from the driver install in the instructions listed in the first post.

 

Thank you very much

 

Finally took delivery of my HP Envy 15 and the plextor msata drive. Love it but have a couple of questions..

First after Installing Windows 8.1 (got an early final release copy because I'm a graduate student) and installing a few drivers, Chrome, and Visual Studio Ultimate (Again got it free through Dreamspark) my available space went down to about 182 GB.

Is that normal? Seemed like an excessive use of space.

Also I had to install Windows about 4 times before I could see the 1TB Hard Drive on the laptop. Though, I realize that was entirely my fault because after deleting all partitions in the drives I forgot to create a partition on the HD. (This is what happens when you try to install Windows at 2AM with a few beers running through the veins.

I had issues with Windows freezing and crashing hard after installing a particular Intel Driver listed under the list of drivers for this PC on the HP website.

So I have a couple of missing drivers and have a few questions about anyone who might have them.

Under Other Devices on the Device Manager I have 4 devices for which no drivers are listed (and I forgot to make an inventory of drivers before doing the fresh Windows install).

1) PCI SImple Communications Controller
2) Unknown Device and under properties it says ACPI\HPQ6001
3) Unknown Device and under properties it says ACPI\HPQ6001
4) Unknown Device and under properties it says ACPI\INT33A0

Anyone knows what these are?

 

Solved all the drivers but still have a question about whether or not the space usage seemed to be a bit much.

Again I just did a fresh Windows 8.1 Install on the SSD, installed Chrome, a Secure Downloader from Microsoft, and Visual Studio Ultimate and my available space went from 238GB (the formated disks space) to 180GB.

Is that usage normal?

 

hello,

a little question, anyone knows if this will work in a Hp Envy 15-j007ss ?
I think i have a free msata slot, but i'm not sure.
I have asked to the technical service, but i think they have no idea.

Thanks in advance

 

Just looking at the HP website alone it looks like they are identical. Turn the lappy over, open the bay door underneath, see if you have the open mSATA slot (it's just below the HDD slot). If it's there it should work.

 

I have opened it and i saw a slot that seems to be mSATA,but there is no reference or inscription on it, must it have one?

Two days ago i asked in a computer store and the man said me that i have to be sure because that port can be a miniPCI slot. I have been searching on google and the two ports are identically, is this true?

Thanks for your response.

 

If it looks like the slot that is in the picture on the first page then that is the right one. Mine does not have any indicator what the slot is for. If you download the service manual you will see that its the same one listed on there.

 

Yes, it's the same slot.

Thank you very much. You are better than than the technical support

 

Wow! I can't thank you enough for the information that you just shared with us. I've been spending days Googling about mssd/msata and at some point I got a bit discouraged, but your post here answered almost all my questions.
I however have some few remaining questions....

1. You did manage to install windows8 on the mssd. is it possible to partition the mssd and then use the remaining partition as the hdd cache? For instance. .. ín your case. .. You partition the 240g mssd into a 200gb hdd and use the remaining ~40g as cache. is it possible to raid this with the slow 5400rpm hdd?

2. From the experience you've gathered, do you think that the mssd will be overburdened if windows is installed on it? I've heard people complaining that the mssd gets very hot and some people reported that their mssds crashed.

3. I know intel's mssds are a bit pricey compared with mssds from other manufactures, but which manufacturer would you personally recommend?

Thanks again for this post.

 

1) I can't see how the cache partition on the mSSD would help since Win 8 on the mSSD is pretty fast all by itself. I think the SSD cache is better when used with a HDD as the OS hard drive.

2) I have not had any issue with the OS on the mSSD. Mine is not any hotter that it was before I installed the mSSD....and I upgraded the HDD to a 7200RPM which should be warmer when its spinning.

3) I got the Plextor since it got great reviews from numerous sources and it came with a mounting screw (Yeah, seems petty but if you don't have one it will be a pain trying to find one).

 

Thanks for that.
allow me to bug you with just one more question.

Does the new hp envy 15t-jxxx come with the mssd slot empty if you didn't customise it to come with the 24gb mssd? For some reason. ... I'd want to go straight to a 128gb rather than spend ~30 bucks on the 24gb mssd.
So, will the slot come empty or will they fix a wlan card in there? I'm asking this because my friend's laptop (hp 4530s) has a wlan card on the pci slot that is supposed to accommodate the mssd. I certainly wouldn't like to sacrifice Wi-Fi.

Thanks in advance.

 

The slot is empty if you did not order the 24GB cache mSSD. Nothing else is configured on that slot.

 

So in conclusion, if your envy only has 5400 rpm Hard Drive (not hybrid), you can put in an mSSD and use it for windows booting (etc), the hard drive can still be kept to store your data. Am I correct? Also, can any of you do a How-to video or post a link to a similar video? That would really be appreciated!

 

Yes, but you have to follow all the steps in the first post. If you fail to do that then it will not boot into the mSSD. All of the Windows 8 partitions need to deleted from the HDD or the BIOS will try to boot from the HDD since there is no option to pick which drive to boot from. Once you have followed all the steps on the first post you will have a mSSD with Windows 8 and a clean empty HDD that you can use for storage.

I have yet to see a video of this anywhere and I am not going to make one since the steps in the first post are so clear and easy to follow.

 

Wow thanks! I know it was posted on the first page. I'm just too lazy of a pig to read. . Also, if I don't want or have enough cash to upgrade to an SSD, what are other options for a faster hard drive than the 5400 rpm (non-hybrid)? Thanks. :thumbsup:

 

I upgraded my 5400RPM stock HDD with a Hitachi 7200RPM 1TB drive. It is a bit faster (about 20%-30% according to my benchmarks) that I posted here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...h-install-msata-boot-drive-2.html#post9366000

It was $79 when I bought it but I have seen it on sale lately for $60-70.

 

From what I'm reading, you're better off going to at least 256gb

 

128GB will be OK if he does not add to many apps and he keeps using his HDD for file storage. On my 256GB I have several Adobe apps and I am still well below 60GB used.

 

Hi guys, a few last things. If I only use the mSSD for booting, is 32Gb enough? If so, can I use this one Amazon.com: Crucial m4 32GB mSATA Internal Solid State Drive CT032M4SSD3: Computers & Accessories? On the other note, so we have 5400 rpm, 7200 rpm and what else after that? 9000 rpm?
Thank you very much every one!

 

You can but I would NOT recommend it unless you symlink all your user files and some apps to your HDD. 32GB is about the minimum for Windows 8. Don't be cheap... get as big as you can. You will never regret having too much space but you will hate your lappy when you run out of space.

There are no 2.5" drives that are faster than 7200RPM...for that you can get 2.5" SSD drives that will be much faster and a lot cheaper than trying to get 10,000kRPM drives (if they even existed).

 

First of all, thanks for spending time answering questions form us idiots. Since it's not cutthroat expensive, I'll get at least the 128Gd mSSD and use my lame 1T 5400 rpm for other stuff then. Thanks again pal!

 

I don't know which configuration you chose, but I bet you must have picked the GT 740m graphics card. I know the windows 8 experience index isn't one of the best benchmark applications out there, but could you possibly take a screen shot of your windows8/7 experience index? Plus your current computer configuration after the upgrades.
Whether you write down the experience index values or the screenshot, it's fine by me.

Thank you very much. This has been a very helpful post. I really appreciate it.

 

I believe the index numbers are something like this: 7.9, 7.9, 5.9, 6.6 (if you have 8Gb of ram, this will be lower), 5.9 for 4700MQ, 16Gb ram, 5400rpm, 740M graphics card . Mine hasn't arrived yet but you can look up some reviews on youtube.

 

Here's mine...



i7 4700, 16GB RAM, 740M GPU, 1080p screen, 256GB mSSD + 1TB 7200RPM HDD.

 

OMG that's awesome score. I think the score on graphics is for the 4600 not the 740M. Is that right?

 

I don't know. There is no way for me to know if WEI is using the 4600 or the 740M. As a matter of fact, I can't tell which GPU MPC-HC is using either. I know there is a way to see it but I just can't remember it right now. But since all my Blu-ray rips play perfectly I haven't been forced to look.

 

So the more I read about mSSD vs HDD, the more i am drawn into replacing my hard drive. But i have some silly questions:

1. If you order the one with 24Gb of mSSD from HP, is that where win 8.1 is installed?
2. Let's say if you have both mSSD and HDD, how does the lap know it has to install new apps in mSSD but not HDD?
3. Instructions on the first page said to wipe out everything on HDD before installing windows on the mSSD, when do i do this? Do i just format the disc or what?

Thank you very much for any input! Cheers

 

1) No. the 24GB mSSD is only for cache. Cannot be used for Windows 8 since its too small.

2) If you have both then Windows will install apps in whatever drive is your boot drive unless you symlinked to another location (not recommended with apps but OK with user folder and files)

3) when you boot from the USB stick with the Windows 8 installation it will give you the option to format both drives....just like the instructions says it does.

 

Brilliant. Thanks for you answers.

 

Thanks for the post. Just ran through the process with a new 15t-j000 (16GB Ram, 256GB Plextor M5M and the stock 1TB disk). It all worked beautifully. I initially used the latest Intel Rapid Storage driver from the Intel website and it puked. I just grabbed the drivers from the HP support site and they worked perfectly. You can extract the drivers from HP's .exe file with 7zip.

I was a little leery about using 16GB of ram with an SSD since HP doesn't allow you to order 16GB of ram with their 24GB SSD - but it work just fine.

Tasty.

 

Hi, I did all the steps you said, but after successfully installing windows 8 on my 128Gb Plextor M5M mSATA SSD windows won't boot anymore.
It only boots when I physically remove the HDD, when I leave the HDD in it says: "No bootable device - insert boot disk and press any key".
So my pc is still pointing at the HDD which is now empty and doesn't see the win8 SSD...
Any help? :\

 

That usually means that you did not delete all the partitions on the HDD before you installed Win8. You need to make sure that ALL partitions are deleted from both drives before you installed. Boot with the USB stick again and see if there is any partitions left on the HDD. I bet there is still one.

 

Nope, I deleted them all before installing...
Also, I can only boot from my SSD when Legacy mode is enabled.

 

Did you disable Secure Boot AND Legacy when you installed?

I am still betting there is a partition on the HDD. There are a total of four when it comes with Win8. A format alone will not delete all four. You need to manually delete them all.

Can you install the HDD on another PC and see if there is any leftovers?

 

I'll try again tomorrow with 0 partitions on the HDD, I thought I deleted them all, but you make me doubting now .

EDIT: I remeber windows setup saying Partition 0 was my 1TB 5400RMP and partition 1 my 128GB SSD.
I've put the HDD in my desktop and it was completely empty.

 

Then something must have happened with the install that messed it up. Since the Envy does NOT have a BIOS option to pick which drive to boot from the HDD has to be completely clean.

Before you re-install try this... remove the HDD, try booting from the mSSD alone and if will not boot them you may have an issue with the mSSD. If it boots with the mSSD alone then take the HDD and put it back on your PC and reformat it on the PC using Computer Management-->Disk Management since that way you can see if there are any hidden partitions.