HP and SSD Replacement Issue

I recently bought a new HP Spectre x360 2:1, with Tiger Lake 11th gen processor. I tried to replace the stock SSD with a 2TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus SSD and then a 1TB Western Digital Black series SSD and both times the computers BIOS would not detect the SSD. CMD diskpart also failed to register the SSD. The system only detects the USB drive with the Windows installation.

Has anyone here ever replaced the SSD on this laptop model? Is there something I need to do in order to get it to see the SSD?

I suspect that HP has locked down the M.2 port in such a way that the end user has to go through HP in order to upgrade the SSD. Is this possible? Is there a workaround?

Thanks for any help.

 

Hello Haust,

I'm surprised that someone else, more knowledgeable than me, hasn't yet replied to you.
I think the problem may be that the new SSD has not been "initialized".

I usually do this in Windows, it will require an SSD enclosure.
This one is cheap: https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Tool-free-Enclosure-Optimized-EC-UASP/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=PPYQLJDMZVTC&dchild=1&keywords=ssd+enclosure+usb+3.0&qid=1620424207&sprefix=ssd+enclo,aps,207&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExOUxEV1FZTjNENk03JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMzI3NTQ0MzA1VkJFMlJXRUgyQiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwOTIzMjk5MUZIUEdGOE1IWTNWQyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
It will also come in handy for clone backups to a second SSD.

Here is some research I did on your issue, and how to initialize a SSD in Windows:
https://www.google.com/search?q=how...j69i57j0l7.16590j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
https://www.bing.com/search?q=help in disk management windows 10 site:microsoft.com&form=B00032&ocid=SettingsHAQ-BingIA&mkt=en-US
help in disk management windows 10 site:microsoft.com - Bing

To use Disk Management; open "Settings" and type "Disk Management" into the search at the top.

If you want to keep your existing Windows installation, you can get disk clone software.
Then, when you install the new SSD into your laptop, it will be ready to boot up.
It will also be an exact clone of your current drive, just bigger and faster.
You can now store your old drive as a clone backup, until it gets too small.
Data on all drives grow to give an excuse to get a bigger drive.


I sure hope this helps you, because it's everything I know.

 

I did a dell write up on a tiger lake system upgrades.

Dont know much about the HP laptops, other than they did not meet my requirements for the price.

To get a 980 Pro to work or an 970 Evo, you need to disable secure boot, disable SATA. Boot to bios again and see what UEFI shows as storage. It should post UEFI information on boot storage.

If you see your storage, you can boot to Windows install DVD to partition the drive and install. I found the Samsung NVME does better with 8K format, which requires manually reformating the system partition with an 8K size, before installing windows. You cant restore an original backup image over it without it changing the partition back to 4k.

My modded HP ELITE 8570p does not have NVME support in the biosk but UEFI does allow boot driver installed devices. Just have to download Samsung drivers for evo and place them on usb for windows installation.

 

@jnichols2 I did initialize the SSDs and formatted them to NTFS under GPT before I installed them into the laptop. I inserted the thumbdrive with Windows installation and tried to install windows. Neither drive showed up. I search for them in the BIOS and diskpart and neither of them were detected. I tried to load the drivers for the Samsung SSD and that didn't work either.

I even tried cloning the SSD that came with the computer onto the Samsung drive and that too did not work. The system just will not recognize another SSD other then the stock one. I wish I knew how to fix this.

Thanks for the help though.

 

@Not-meee I searched every nook and cranny of the BIOS and I could not find any setting that gave me any options to disable secure boot or anything about SATA. It's like the BIOS was very limited on options. I tried to load the Samsung NvME drivers via USB drive, but the Windows installation didn't detect them and did nothing.

Thanks for the help.

 

Haust,

I hope someone comes along with an answer.

I have basically the same system as you. It's one generation back, Ice Lake.
I made the mistake of getting the SSD with Optane.
It is faster copying less than 32GB of files. But as the file group gets bigger, it gets slower.
I eventually plan to replace it with a a 2TB Samsung 970 Evo.
If there is a system/HP issue, I'd like to see how to work around it.
So, none of the research I did should go to waste.

I really thought a cloned SSD would work.
Maybe someone has a motherboard manual, or knows some secrets.