Question Connect an NVMe SSD to SATA - - - is that possible ?

[johnn1111]

Hi Thanks for reading.
My laptop is using a sata 2.5" 5200 rpm internal hard drive for the OS.
Is it possible to connect a faster NVMe SSD to the SATA slot in anyway to increase speed, I mean is there any kind of adapter available to connect the NVMe SSD to the SATA slot?

Or is it possible to connect an NVMe SSD to the laptop through the USB3 port and run the OS externally, would there be any speed improvement?

Many thanks

 

[Lutfij]

My laptop
What is the make and model of your laptop? If your laptop doesn't have an M.2 slot that can't take advantage of an NVME drive, you're relegated to SATA 6 speeds, regardless of what you throw at the laptop.

 

[USAFRet]

Hi Thanks for reading.
My laptop is using a sata 2.5" 5200 rpm internal hard drive for the OS. Is it possible to connect a faster nvme drive to the sata slot in anyway to increase speed, I mean is there any kind of adaptor available to connect the nvme hard drive to the sata slot.
Or is it possible to connect the nvme to the laptop through the usb3 port an run the OS externally, would there be any speed increases
Many thanks

You can't put an NVMe drive in there, but you CAN swap the HDD for a 2.5" SATA III SSD.

It will make a huge difference.

 

[dos_box]

SATA-SSD will indeed "make a huge difference". Not only is the transfer speed much faster than the 5200rpm HDD, but also the (lets call it) reaction time. Your HDD has to start spinning, the SSD is immediately ready to use.

About using an NVMe drive. You could maybe use it with an USB 3.1 or 3.2 Adapter and theoretically hit transfer rates, about double of that of your SATA-SSD. But tbh I never tested it and my best guess is it will if faster than the SATA-SSD probably only be marginably so. And I have my concerns that it's possible to boot from that, too.. . It might however be a good idea for Games or some Software To load faster as a secondary drive.
Provided your laptop has ports USB 3.1 gen 2 or higher?

But yea go for SATA-SSD imo. Way easier

 

[johnn1111]

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.
I already have a WD Black nvme drive and I've tried installing windows onto it, but the installation fails, seems they've put something into windows 10 to prevent installing onto external drives
So do you think i am stuck with using a sata ssd ?
The fastest one i can find is samsung 870 evo, what do you think of this one

 

[CountMike]

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.
I already have a WD Black nvme drive and I've tried installing windows onto it, but the installation fails, seems they've put something into windows 10 to prevent installing onto external drives
So do you think i am stuck with using a sata ssd ?
The fastest one i can find is samsung 870 evo, what do you think of this one

All modern SATA SSDs have almost identical speeds and fit in same place as 2.5" HDDs. Difference is negligible. If it's for OS, it's preferable to have built in RAM cache as it helps with small OS files. That one does have it.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I already have a WD Black nvme drive and I've tried installing windows onto it, but the installation fails, seems they've put something into windows 10 to prevent installing onto external drives

Will not work from external drive.

So do you think i am stuck with using a sata ssd ?

Yes. If your laptop supports SATA and doesn't support NVME, then obviously your only choice is SATA.

The fastest one i can find is samsung 870 evo, what do you think of this one

Samsung 860 evo,
Crucial MX500.

BTW - what model laptop is it?
Are you absolutely sure, it has no M.2/NVME slots on motherboard?

 

[Bob.B]

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.
I already have a WD Black nvme drive and I've tried installing windows onto it, but the installation fails, seems they've put something into windows 10 to prevent installing onto external drives
So do you think i am stuck with using a sata ssd ?
The fastest one i can find is samsung 870 evo, what do you think of this one

Perf wise most users would be hard pressed to tell the diff between a sata ssd and a nvme ssd.

 

[dos_box]

Perf wise most users would be hard pressed to tell the diff between a sata ssd and a nvme ssd.

Windows and Browsing you won't notice it much. In Gaming it is noticable though. But depends the game.

That said, the perceived difference from a 5200rpm HDD to a SATA-SSD is bigger than from a SATA-SSD to NVMe-SSD. The latter is not as obvious.

 

[BrickStation]

Depending on your laptop it could have an NVME bay tucked away somewhere unseen, my HP Prodesk Mini has one underneath the 2.5" cage.

If it only has SATA, then your best option would be a 2.5" SATA SSD drive. You probably won't see a difference in speed between the two drives anyway. In my experience, when I switched from a Crucial MX500 to a WD Black SN850X, I only noticed a slight improvement overall.

 

[johnn1111]

Will not work from external drive.

Yes. If your laptop supports SATA and doesn't support NVME, then obviously your only choice is SATA.

Samsung 860 evo,
Crucial MX500.

BTW - what model laptop is it?
Are you absolutely sure, it has no M.2/NVME slots on motherboard?

The laptop is hp elitebook 8570p - Thanks !

 

[johnn1111]

If the hard drive, sata ssd versus nvme, does not make much of a difference do you think more ram may help increase speed.
I've got the stock 8gb of HP ram installed which is pc3 1200S. Is there any merit to posh ram like corsair kingston etc, what are the rules for changing stock ram to posh ram - Thanks!

 

[SkyNetRising]

do you think more ram may help increase speed.

More ram doesn't increase speed.
It allows you to have more software running simultaneously, more tabs open in web browser, etc.

If your current workload requires more ram, then yes - more ram will be beneficial.

Check Task Manager - Performance/Memory section.
If committed memory value is below amount of physical ram, then you have enough ram.

 

[Moonstick2]

I already have a WD Black nvme drive and I've tried installing windows onto it, but the installation fails, seems they've put something into windows 10 to prevent installing onto external drives
So do you think i am stuck with using a sata ssd ?
The fastest one i can find is samsung 870 evo, what do you think of this one

If you've already got an NVMe drive, you could consider an NMVe/2.5 SATA adapter to save you buying a new SSD. Or did you mean one of those external 'Game Drives'?

 

[CountMike]

Depending on your laptop it could have an NVME bay tucked away somewhere unseen, my HP Prodesk Mini has one underneath the 2.5" cage.

If it only has SATA, then your best option would be a 2.5" SATA SSD drive. You probably won't see a difference in speed between the two drives anyway. In my experience, when I switched from a Crucial MX500 to a WD Black SN850X, I only noticed a slight improvement overall.

NVME he looked at connected thru a SATA adpter would work on SATA speeds.

 

[SkyNetRising]

NVME he looked at connected thru a SATA adpter would work on SATA speeds.

No.
There is no such adapter, that would allow connecting NVME drive to a sata port.

There are SATA M.2 adapters. But those support SATA M.2 drives only.
They do not support NVME drives.

 

[CountMike]

No.
There is no such adapter, that would allow connecting NVME drive to a sata port.

There are SATA M.2 adapters. But those support SATA M.2 drives only.
They do not support NVME drives.

https://www.amazon.com/Qiilu-22Pin-...&keywords=nvme+to+sata&qid=1717410448&sr=8-21