Installing an mSATA SSD to an HP Envy 15t

xKyuubi · Oct 26, 2014

So, a year ago, I purchased an HP Envy Touchsmart 15t-j100. In the options, I decided against purchasing the 24gb mSATA Acceleration cache and chose the 750gb 5400RPM HDD.

I know that my laptop has a mSATA slot because when I opened up the cover, there was an empty slot for it.

Problem: I now want to install a mSATA SSD for accelerating my 5400RPM HDD. Is it possible to purchase an aftermarket mSATA and install it? This laptop came preloaded with Intel Rapid Storage Technology already. Also, if I could install one, how would I do so? And what would a recommended size for the mSATA SSD be for acceleration? And, I did some research and this laptop is compatible with a 50mm mSATA SSD, can anyone confirm this?

Thanks!

Darkbreeze · Oct 26, 2014

50mm should fit. I'd recommend using something like the one below. I'd use the SSD for the boot drive and the 750gb drive for storage. This would require reinstalling Windows however but would greatly increase performance over only using the SSD for cache. There is likely a recovery partition on the HDD that can be used for installing windows. If you only plan to use it for cache it's probably not worth the investment.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Storage: Crucial M500 240GB mSATA Solid State Drive ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $114.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-26 03:39 EDT-0400

xKyuubi · Oct 26, 2014

Darkbreeze :

I was thinking about using something smaller, like a 32gb. To my knowledge, HP Bios's usually don't allow using an mSATA as the main boot drive. I researched a bit about using an mSATA SSD for caching and its much better than a plain mechanical drive. I would still like to know if I can start caching my HDD simply by putting a mSATA SSD and running Intels rapid storage technology?

Darkbreeze · Oct 26, 2014

I've never heard, and am about 99% sure that you can use an mSATA drive for booting the OS you just need to install a separate boot loader.

While double checking the specs for the physical dimensions of your mSATA compatibility I came across about five or six other threads that clearly stated that the OP in those threads had mSATA drives as boot drives with either regular HDD or hybrid drives as storage. I myself have an HP laptop with the OS installed on an mSATA drive with a secondary HDD although my model is not the same as yours.

Intel rapid storage technology isn't some magic program for running only mSATA or SSD drives. It's used to run the controller regardless of whether you have one or not. It's not specific to that hardware. You would need it regardless that you only had a normal HDD installed.

Of course you can use it for cache, and it will somewhat improve speeds, but honestly, it's a waste of your money. The money your going to spend would be much better spent either installing a larger 120GB or more mSATA drive as the boot drive and using your current HDD as storage, or just ditching your current hard drive altogether and installing a regular SATA SSD in place of the hard drive. Those are worth doing. The other way really isn't.

Can you do it? Yes. Is it going to speed up your performance? Yes, but not much and only in situations where the system even has a need to access the cache. Going the other way will offer performance advantages in almost all situations. Reading from disk, writing to disk and seeking data on the disk which likely is the most time consuming task that will still be present when using your current hard disk, regardless that you have another disk installed for cache.

What you do is up to you, but with the current prices being so low now on larger mSATA drives and standard SSDs in general, it seems foolish to go that route.

Personally, I'd probably opt for removing the current drive and just using a standard SSD.

xKyuubi · Oct 26, 2014

Darkbreeze :

I've never heard, and am about 99% sure that you can use an mSATA drive for booting the OS you just need to install a separate boot loader.

While double checking the specs for the physical dimensions of your mSATA compatibility I came across about five or six other threads that clearly stated that the OP in those threads had mSATA drives as boot drives with either regular HDD or hybrid drives as storage. I myself have an HP laptop with the OS installed on an mSATA drive with a secondary HDD although my model is not the same as yours.

Intel rapid storage technology isn't some magic program for running only mSATA or SSD drives. It's used to run the controller regardless of whether you have one or not. It's not specific to that hardware. You would need it regardless that you only had a normal HDD installed.

Of course you can use it for cache, and it will somewhat improve speeds, but honestly, it's a waste of your money. The money your going to spend would be much better spent either installing a larger 120GB or more mSATA drive as the boot drive and using your current HDD as storage, or just ditching your current hard drive altogether and installing a regular SATA SSD in place of the hard drive. Those are worth doing. The other way really isn't.

Can you do it? Yes. Is it going to speed up your performance? Yes, but not much and only in situations where the system even has a need to access the cache. Going the other way will offer performance advantages in almost all situations. Reading from disk, writing to disk and seeking data on the disk which likely is the most time consuming task that will still be present when using your current hard disk, regardless that you have another disk installed for cache.

What you do is up to you, but with the current prices being so low now on larger mSATA drives and standard SSDs in general, it seems foolish to go that route.

Personally, I'd probably opt for removing the current drive and just using a standard SSD.

Thanks. You cleared up a lot. I might consider not upgrading and saving up for a better laptop. Then consider upgrading that instead.

Darkbreeze · Oct 26, 2014

That might not be a bad idea, however, if you spend your money on a standard SSD which will definitely speed things up on your current laptop, you can always use it with your new laptop either as the boot drive or with a cheap enclosure as an external USB drive for storage. Either way, you don't waste any of you investment by getting one now. Or, if your new laptop has a HDD instead of an SSD you can swap them out and use the HDD as an external drive. Either way, good luck to you.

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Installing an mSATA SSD to an HP Envy 15t

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