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

It boots with the mSSD alone. Now the HDD is in my desktop and in Disk Management it says 1TB unallocated, so that means no partitions right?

 

Thank you very much, it works now! Guess you were right with the HDD not being completely empty last time Thanks!!

 

I am stuck so I checked my BIOS... I did notice that my secure boot is disabled. Don't remember why I left it disabled but that may be a reason if you enabled it again.

BTW, both my Legacy and Secure boot are DISABLED.

If that does not work you want to try to reinstall Win8 just to see if maybe there was a problem during installation.

 

Oh good. I typed my last post before I read that you got it working. That HDD partition thing is the killer for a lot of people.

 

I deleted all partitions. I installed clean windows 8. Every time when HP envy starts I see "intel rapid storage technology" windows . I haven't RAID disc. Can I switch RAID to AHCI? Bios hasn't this option. How can I change it?

 

I am not sure why you are getting that. There is no AHCI option in the BIOS.

 

Hello again, I still have some questions. After win8 was sucessfully installed I updated to win8.1 through the msstore app. Everything went fine but when i rebooted my pc I was stuck at the login screen where everytime I entered my password and pressed enter, everything freezes. Idk what the problem is or if it is related to the msata ssd boot drive. Also if I would like to reinstall win8 from USB, do I have to completely wipe my HDD again?

 

I have no idea as I checked the HP website and it said that the Envy 15t had NOT been tested with Win 8.1. I am sure that has to do with some drivers but I did not take a chance... and now with your experience I am going to wait.

 

Where can I get an ISO for Windows 8.1 so I can do a clean install? AFAIK, you can only get an ISO from Microsoft with an upgrade key. And then it installs with that upgrade key, rather than with the key thats embedded in UEFI, right?

 

Well my 8.1 upgrade came through HP update a few days ago...I'm not sure whether HP did something special there to modify it but 8.1 is working fine

 

Hello, I was able to delete the RAID off my computer and boot off the msata without any problems what-so-ever until they released that F.35 BIOS update. Now it still comes back and says No Boot Device Found and to install the OS. Also, I have noticed when I was able to boot it up finally while the hdd was pulled out, if you use F2 to go into the Diagnostics and the exit and boot it comes back with a can't boot. Anyone else having this issue after flashing to the latest BIOS F.35?

 

I am not sure what BIOS I have but this might help you. I would have to install the OS on the mSATA and then boot into Windows and go through the initial setup. After that I would turn off the computer, and put in the HDD. Then I would have to turn on the computer and it would boot into the OS. From there you will want to install the HP Rapid Storage drivers found on the HP site and not the ones directly from Intel. Install the drivers, reboot and then it will boot off the mSATA and the HDD will then show up in Windows. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks! Everything was working fine with the way I had it setup until I flashed to the F.35 bios then I got no boot device found install OS. Very mad so I tried to re-flash the bios "knowing what a bad idea that was" and bricked it lol so gotta ship it in to HP for a new motherboard ugh.

While it was working, I made sure both drives were set to Non-Raid, then deleted everything so both hard drives where blank, install OS on msata and still after the first reboot it said that same annoying error no boot until I pulled the hdd out. I don't know what but something in that new bios has messed everything up.

I also had the HP Drivers from there website already installed but that didn't seem to help, seemed like if I did a reboot it was ok, but when I used F2 for Diagnostics or F10 for Bios it went back to the same error but will try this again once I get my pc back.

 

Same story here, it never booted from the Crucial M500 240GB msata while the HDD (all partitions deleted) was in the machine. So I tried flashing the older BIOS and bricked it as well...taking it to HP tomorrow to reload things.
Before I installed the msata, I had problems creating the recovery disks onto a Sandisk 64GB USB 3.0 drive, the recovery manager just said there's an error please try again. Ended up just installing a fresh Win8 on the msata, but it'll be a hassle to reload all the HP utils...I might try and ask HP to help me load the system onto the msata outright...will see if they entertain my request.

Why is it so hard to find a decent laptop that lets you (easily) use msata as a boot drive and the HDD as storage? Sigh...

 

I just did this on the j100, which comes with F.35. Installed only worked when I pulled the hard drive, then plugged it back in. Unfortunately, as noted by others, as soon as you boot to bios, it bring up the error again. Any thoughts?

 

Sorry to hear that, you can keep your msata if you want and buy a case for it like I did when I used an asus laptop that didn't support msata and have it as your main boot but other than that have to use an older bios from hp to make our setup work. What do you mean take it to HP? I have in-home service with accidental damage protection but there making me ship it in ugh. Box not coming until Wed this is taking forever. Is there a place we can take it too? Also, if anyone has a machine like this, if you can give us the (Current, New, Previous) file bios from those folders I can unbrick my laptop myself instead of shipping it in.

 

You can pull the HDD, boot into the OS and then shut down the computer. From there put the HDD back in and boot into the OS. If the OS does not recognize the drive then reinstall the Rapid Storage Drives from HP here and reboot. Once the OS comes back up you should be able to see the drive.

I have only done this on Windows 8 so I do not know how it will go on 8.1. Good luck.

 

Dibe, do you still have your HP_TOOLS partition on the HDD still to where you can give me the current/new/previous bios files? If not, do you think you can download the F.35 bios and say yes to all and create a usb tool for the recovery and provide me with those files? I hate having in-home warranty but for a motherboard have to ship it in for a few weeks ugh seems unfair. If you could help with this I'd appreciate it!

HP F.35 (mine) - HP Notebook System BIOS Update (Intel Processors) - HP ENVY 17-j029nr Quad Edition Notebook PC | HP® Support

P.S. The BIOS is the same for all Envy 15/17 Haswell models...

HP F.35 (yours) - http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-124848-1&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&os=4158&product=5388046&sw_lang=

 

Here are the files you requested. It renamed the USB stick HP_TOOLS and it placed the Hewlett-Packer folder on the root of the drive. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks dibe! I put it on a Flash Drive and after I used the Windows+B and powered it up this time instead of flashing 2 times on the caps lock, it does not flash at all so that's different. It still does not read from the flash drive either to re-write or do whatever it is suppose to do. Tried using the UEFI Diagnostics USB from HP and putting the files into the right folders but nothing seems to work. Wonder if I'm missing something hmm, anyways thanks for your help but guess will ship it in tomorrow when I get my box.

 

I had no issues upgrading my BIOS to F.35 after installing fresh Windows 8.1 x64 on mSata with HDD inside. I chose not to create the 8GB recovery partition for BIOS (which was recommended by the setup).

On the other hand, I actually followed step by step on how TS did the installation but always had the no boot device error with the hdd in, eventhough I deleted all partitions on my hdd and ssd. After trying and researching for a few hours, I realised that you actually can't boot with an empty hdd. The hdd has to be formatted. In this instance, I deleted all partitions using the tool provided during Windows setup (Must select custom during installation), and used the same tool to format the hdd (it should create 4 partitions), while left the ssd unformatted, unallocated, and chose it as install path.

BTW if you install using Windows 8.1 installation disc, you don't have to load the Intel RAID drivers manually, they are automatically configured.

 

Sounds like it could work by tricking the bios I will try this once I get my laptop back from HP lol. Thanks for the info much appreciated!

 

That's very interesting...will try it when I get my laptop back from HP if they aren't able to help me load the OS onto the msata directly. Was going to get the Envy 14 for my wife and do the same msata+HDD setup, but right now I'm holding back until I can get it all set up properly on my Envy 15 first.

Where did you get the Win 8.1 ISO? And can you install it on a blank drive instead of upgrading from 8.0?
I only managed to find a clean 8.0 ISO online and copied it onto a FAT32 USB drive to do the install.

BTW did anyone have problems creating a recovery USB stick? It required 24GB and I only had a 64GB Sandisk Extreme USB 3.0 drive but it just wouldn't work. I checked the USB drive and there were no problems, the HP recovery manager tool would format the stick and then say there's an error and ask me to retry. I was hoping to use the recovery tool to reload the full HP setup onto the msata.

@v-4abrew - I'm currently in Hong Kong and they have a local service center with 3-5 biz day turnaround which is quite convenient!

 

Starting on 11/15/13 you can buy the (DVD - Media Only) from Newegg for only $15.00.

Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 8.1 Back-up Media - (Media Only)

Otherwise, I got mine from Microsoft Directly by doing a simple trick which you can read below...

How to download the official Microsoft Windows 8.1 ISO | How To - CNET


The only thing is you can't use your Windows 8 key for the "Installation" part, but you can use it to Activate once you have it installed. So use this key for installation read link below.

Windows 8.1 RTM Downloads Leaked « My Digital Life


Hope that helps!

 

Hi all,
Question might be too easy for you pros.
Looks like after this new BIOS update everything is getting more complicated.
I ordered my laptop on Monday and I believe it's going to arrive with the new BIOS. It's a 4900, 8g RAM and 1tb nonhybrid HDD. I am going to add an extra 8g RAM and also a 256 ssd. I am not that familiar with these tasks nor have the time to go through the web and find the best footsteps to use the mssd as the primary boot drive, allocate a part of it as cache for the HDD, format both drives, modify the boot sequence and make usb, iso and install a fresh windows, drivers and everything.
Here's the question,
if 256g is enough for me (for now), wouldn't it be easier to just change the current 1tb with a 2.5" ssd (Samsung evo or something else) and just clone the current one with the windows 8.1 with the new ssd and sell the 1tb HDD(or keep it as external storage)? I'd still have that extra unused mssd slot which I'd be able to use later if I need more space and it'll get cheaper I believe in the upcoming months.
Thanks.
Abe

 

Thanks v-4abrew. I tried the Windows 8 upgrade tool trick to download the ISO but it wouldn't accept OEM keys, only retail keys. Will go the BT route as the alternative...
HP called me earlier today and funny enough they said they've been putting msata slots in their laptops for a few years now but I'm the first customer (in Hong Kong) to ask them to use it as a boot drive. Anway they're getting me a new Envy 15 (since it's probably cheaper to ship my old one back to the factory to refurbish) and will try to install the OS onto the msata SSD for me. I'll report back if they're successful or not, but if not, I'll try formatting the HDD in the Windows setup trick.

@Abe - cloning the HDD onto a regular SATA SSD should not result in the problem that we're running into. I would suggest doing a fresh install, but if you want to clone it you'll need to make sure the SSD is aligned properly, here's a guide to do so:
How To Migrate Windows 7 to a Solid State Drive
If budget isn't a major issue, I would suggest getting a larger SSD since SSDs work much better if they're 80% or less full. The new Crucial m500 series has a very good dollar per GB ratio that you may want to consider, you can check out the review at anandtech. AnandTech | The Crucial/Micron M500 Review (960GB, 480GB, 240GB, 120GB)

 

Ricemanhk I found something that "I Hope" will help you activating windows with an ISO IMAGE/OEM KEY. I found someone's post/comment regarding this issue and you can read what he said below...................


I found a fix for the OEM key problem.
The installer lets you download an ISO but you can also create a USB stick installer.
If you have either you can do a clean install of 8.1, next comes the problem.

After you boot from your burned ISO or USB stick the clean install refuses to start if you don`t enter a 8.1 key, which like me you don`t have because we bought 8.0 OEM keys to avoid this EXACT issue am I right ?

Anyway, the fix is here but I`ll summarize: Installing Windows 8.1 (or 8) without a product key · Medo's Home Page

8.1 does not allow you to do a clean install with a 8.0 key, but you CAN activate 8.1 with a 8.0 key once you are past that hurdle, crazy right ?
I recommend making a USB stick installer, then go to the sources folder, in there create a .txt file with notepad with the contents:

[EditionID]
Professional
[Channel]
Retail
[VL]
0

This is assuming you use the pro edition like me.
Next save that file as ei.cfg in the sources folder, this makes the installer skip the key check !
You can install 8.1 without a key and when you are done it asks you to remove the USB stick, it reboots, and starts the OOBE (out of box experience).

This asks you for a key again but this time it DOES accept your 8.0 OEM key and activates windows without any issue.
When you finally get a desktop you can check the system window, it will tell you Windows is activated.

The final problem is that this gave me a non-functional 300MB recovery partition created by the installation process, that still did not allow me to use refresh/reset, still missing files.

The USB stick installer you create however does allow you to refresh/reset when plugged in, but this does not restore your recovery partition, but you can use the feature.

 

Thanks ricemanhk,
Even if I get a 240 ssd I believe I would never go over 160g but thanks for the advice, I will consider a higher cap. Ssd for sure. Who knows, with Black Friday in three weeks I might be able to get a good deal on a 500g ssd.
So what you're saying is that I CAN replace the current 1tb with a 2.5" ssd, clone or fresh install the win8.1 and save the unused mssd slot for the future, right?
with the fresh install I'm concerned about the drivers?.Are they easily available? Was it a good experience getting the drivers from hp support. Are they any good? I guess I read some posts about problems with fingerprint scanner, is the problem solved?
Since your suggestion was fresh install, what are the downsides of cloning in your opinion, why you prefer the fresh install?
Thanks again
Abe

 

The msata slot should work fine if you keep using the main SATA SSD as your boot drive, although I haven't actually tested this before (since my goal was to use the msata SSD as my boot drive and HDD as storage)
But since msata SSDs are smaller, they will always have lower maximum capacity than a regular SATA SSD e.g. the Crucial m500 series can fit max 480GB onto the msata version but 960GB onto the regular SATA version

Drivers were pretty easy to download from HP's website. I didn't test the fingerprint scanner feature though (either on the factory setup or after I installed the msata) so I can't say whether it'll work. But I do remember seeing the driver for the scanner on HP's site.

Fresh install - SSD will be aligned properly, and you'll be free of bloatware (although it wasn't too bad in my case). Downside: you'll need to get all the drivers and install everything on your own.
Clone - everything should be like factory setup. Downside: you need to make sure it's aligned properly, and that Win 8 recognizes it as an SSD or it won't run TRIM and will have too many unnecessary IO operations. It's also unclear whether the HP recovery function or Win 8 refresh/reset will work after cloning to a smaller SSD.

 

I always do a fresh install of Windows and I never once had a problem getting the Fingerprint Scanner to work. You just download the Driver and then the HP Simplepass software and that's it.

As far as a 500GB SSD, go on ebay and get the new 500GB Samsung Evo for only $339 w/Free Shipping.

Samsung 840 EVO Series 500GB 2 5 inch SATA3 SATA 6 0 GB s Solid State Drive | eBay

Good Luck!

 

Hey, thanks for putting all this info together. I have a fresh 15t shipping out in about a week, with the empty msata. I picked up a plextor 128gb off newegg about a week ago now, (i've been using an old 160gig hdd for boot on my old laptop, so wasn't overly concerned with the extra cost for space in the 256.)

Just waiting to slap it all together.

I beleive its shipping with 8.1.. will I be able to do this with that link above ((How to download the official Microsoft Windows 8.1 ISO | How To - CNET)), or do I need to go back and get a 8.0 iso? If so where can I nab that?

Lastly, how big of a usb drive do I need, didn't really think that threw and I think I only have a 8 or 16gb offhand.

I don't think I would run into any other problems based on what I read, but I imagine I want to stay away from flashing bios if possible.

Thanks, any input is appreciated.

 

I'm planning to get a ENVY 15t and do the same suggested here. One question, is this mSATA SSD recommended: Amazon.com: MyDigitalSSD 50mm Bullet Proof 4 BP4 50mm mSATA Solid State Drive SSD SATA III 6G (240GB)(256GB): Computers & Accessories Is the cheapest 250GB I've found and it does have good comments at Amazon, but I'm not completely sure

 

Hello all,
I followed this guide and everything worked fine until I had to update my BIOS.
Now the mSSD only boots when the HDD is removed... Any help?

EDIT: Nvm, fixed it. I pulled out the HDD and booted from my mSSD. Then I shut down my PC and plugged in my HDD. Then I booted and it booted to the mSSD but the HDD was not recognized by windows. So I reinstalled the RST drivers from the HP website and rebooted after installation. Now everything works normal again and I'm running latest BIOS version.

 

Since I'm returning my Envy j100, I don't really have need for the mSATA drive I bought. If anyone wants to buy it for me, I'd be happy to sell it to them for the price I bought it for ($69.99). It's a Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD3 mSATA 128GB. PM me if you are interested. It was a great deal, so I'm happy to pass it along. If not, I'll just return it.

 

zwolf4444, is it compatible? Did you have the change to test it? Although I'd prefer a 256GB, the $69.99 sounds attractive. Did you get it used?

 

It is compatible, I tested it, I used it, it works perfectly. Just don't need it now that I'm sending it back (I don't feel like giving HP a free mSATA drive).

ETA: I bought it manufacturer refurbished from Newegg. Seems to be working perfectly to me.

 

Our SSD is of the highest quality, sips battery power compared to other mSATA SSD and it is just as fast as all of them at a great price. 256GB BP4 would work great for you. Let me know how it goes.

MyDigitalSSD

 

I have had this in my Envy for the past two or so weeks. I have been happy over all with it. This is my first SSD let alone mSATA SSD so I don't have anything to compare it to but have been pleased with the performance.

 

Well I see HP has finally "PULLED" the BIOS F.35 so hope when I get my laptop tomorrow it does not have that on it and they fix the problem so it doesn't mess up our msata configuration or brick our systems again.

 

My 15t-j100 arrives wednesday, and my plextor chip has been chilling on my desk for about a week now. Hoping it will be painless install when I work on it based on following the guide here.

Hopefully the bios wont pose a problem.

Still have one question though, if it ships with 8.1, what is the best way to get/make a jumpdrive with the ISO?

 

I am in the same boat pretty much, got the plextor m5m 256gb and 16gb of memory waiting to plop in my 14t-k100 that should show up any day with luck.

I have read on other laptop forums that you pretty much have to get the scratch-install media, but HP could be different. A lot of people have had to resort to torrenting it rather than buying media from MS (15$).

 

It's very difficult and annoying. The easiest way, sadly, is meeting Mr. Tor Rent on the corner. Walk from P to P, you can't miss him. The install will still go through with your legal, licensed key that's embedded in the BIOS.

 

Got my laptop back from HP, they gave me a new one and it's on BIOS F.24
- put in my msata SSD (crucial m500 240GB)
- ran Win 8 install off USB drive with Intel RST drivers
- deleted all partitions on HDD, then created "New" volume, formatted the primary partition
- installed Win 8 onto msata unallocated space

Everything's working now! Boots off the msata, HDD is seen as drive D that's fully empty. Fresh boot takes about 10 seconds, full restart takes around 20 seconds. This is my first PC with an SSD as boot drive and I have to say the speeds are quite awesome!

Installed all the HP drivers and windows updates, updating to 8.1 now...

 

I suppose something like Win81AIO-10in1-x64-en-US-Oct2013 from TPB will work acceptably (not that I enjoy trusting it, at least it says retail haha). I wish newegg has the backup media ready to go, but still says not available.

 

fellow users, I posted this as a new thread but haven't received any replies. I guess you're all owners here, let me know if you have the same issue:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...phone-volume-not-adjusting-automatically.html

When I have my laptop speakers on at 80% volume, I'd like it to automatically go down to say 30% when I plug in my headphones i.e. volume profiles are attached to the speaker and headphones separately. When I unplug my headphones, the speaker volume should go back to 80% (or whatever I set it at).

This used to be the case on my old laptop running Windows 7, but I can't figure out how to change this on the Envy 15t. I'm also not sure if it's an HP driver issue or a Windows 8.1 setting. It seems to be due to the fact that there is only 1 playback device "Speakers / HP" and not separate "Speakers" and "Headphones" as it was on my old laptop.

Anyone else have this problem?

 

Nice! When I got my laptop back it had F.35 on it and now I see its been pulled from the HP Website hmm. Anyways, this time I installed Windows on the SSD, and deleted everything except the Recovery Partition off the HDD, and everything works as it should no issues anymore for now.

 

Laptop delayed. According to HP CSR they recently had a problem with paperwork importing custom laptops from China.

I was expecting a 10% discount or something (they value express shipping at $39), but all they would offer is $25. First time I have been disappointed by their customer service. She basically told me that since I received such a large discount at purchase, my expectations were too high. Since when does upfront discount account for negligent shipping?

 

Hi everyone! I bought an envy 15-j022el on monday, and before buying a near-200€ ssd i wanted to have the laptop here so i could be 1000% sure it had the msata slot... it's there, super-easy acccessible, and yesterday i got a plextor m5m 256 gb... i wanted to dual boot win 7 (from the ssd) and win 8.1 from the hdd, i'm having some troubles at first i plugged in the ssd and windows wouldn't even start... last night i managed to install a win 7 on the ssd (phisically detaching the hdd, it looked like there was no other way around) but that's not what i wanted... this morning i reset the bios defaults (on a side note, i think i never saw a bios with fewer options ) just set the usb 3.0 bios setting to auto (it's enabled by default) and re-enabled intel virtualization... after a safe mode the old os finally booted ok and recognized the ssd. i'll try to do what i wanted by following some bits of the guid posted by bwillet and some other bits from this one:
Unable to install Win7 on ENVY 15t-j000 - HP Support Forum - 2830637
and this one
http://www.pagestart.com/win8dbwin701181301.html

has anyone else tried to load win 7 on these laptops? i read about some driver issues (expected as much... ) and i'm still torn between keeping 8.1 (and cloning the old drive onto the ssd) and dual-booting 7 (ssd)and 8.1(hdd)... 8.1 is better than 8 but has its own driver issues (no bluetooth, 2 devices still unknown in the device manager despite having every piece of windows upgrade installed and every driver from hp installed... oh, and i had to try at least 4 times the upgrade from win 8, and it worked only by turning off wifi at first reboot) and i still like 7 better... i don't want to install all the things i need just to mow everything away because the os is unstable/lacking drivers i need... any suggestions?

 

Got it all set up and rolling. Had to fight a bit with drivers, since HP doesn't recognize any for windows 8.1 yet.

After formating the 1TB HDD on another machine it booted fine with it empty. After removing it and copying around 200gb of files for use and putting it back in had some issues with permissions and ownership that was new to me, probably due to new windows 8 functionality.. after toying around with it for a bit and restarted it booted back up and said please install OS.

Not sure if I corrupted the data hdd somehow, or created a new problem somewhere. Removed HDD again and it boots form msata fine alone, so running checkdisk and what not on the 1TB HDD to see if I can clean it up in another machine again and get it back in there booting properly.

 

Well I have the 1 TB HDD back in, and it seems like if I go to bios, even if I change nothing, when I reboot it stops loading windows from the msata. I can reboot twenty times from the msata, but if I load up bios, it goes back to please install OS until I shut down and remove the 1TB HDD, reboot from msata alone, then shut down and replace the HDD.

Crazy huh? Anyone else having this issue? it looks like it has the f.35 in there.