[SOLVED] HP Pavillion 15-cs3073cl NVMe SSD upgrade / boot drive

[dikshant05]

Hi, I am planning on buying a 256GB or a 512GB NVMe SSD to add to my laptop along with the only 1TB HDD it has currently.
My laptop currently starts up very slow and can be frustratingly unresponsive at times as the OS/boot drive is an old SATA 1TB HDD.
Question 1: I am wondering if I can make the NVMe SSD be my OS/boot drive and use my original 1TB HDD for mass-storage purposes and how to do this.
Question 2: It isn't a big deal if I have to wipe my current 1TB HDD to do that but I was wondering if I can still do that without wiping my HDD. (If it makes the process easier by wiping the HDD please let me know that too).
All help is greatly appreciated, thank you!

 

[USAFRet]

How much space is consumed on your current HDD?

 

[dikshant05]

How much space is consumed on your current HDD?

I have 230GB used out of the available 930GB.

 

[USAFRet]

I have 230GB used out of the available 930GB.

Assuming that laptop has an applicable port for an NVMe drive, relatively easy.

Otherwise, replace the current 2.5" HDD with a 2.5" SSD.

Still a HUGE improvement.


Either way, we can walk through the clone or clean install process.

A clean install on the new drive WILL work.
A clone from old to new will probably work.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

wondering if I can make the NVMe SSD be my OS/boot drive and use my original 1TB HDD for mass-storage purposes

yes, you can.

isn't a big deal if I have to wipe my current 1TB HDD to do that but I was wondering if I can still do that without wiping my HDD.

it is easier just wiping the drive.
you can go through and backup all of your personal files and just re-add them to the new setup later.
i wouldn't leave the OS and all of the system partitions on the drive. i would definitely format the drive before using it as storage.

i would add the M.2 & disconnect the HDD,
do a fresh OS install on the M.2,
then re-connect the HDD and set it up for storage use.

 

[dikshant05]

Assuming that laptop has an applicable port for an NVMe drive, relatively easy.

Otherwise, replace the current 2.5" HDD with a 2.5" SSD.

Still a HUGE improvement.


Either way, we can walk through the clone or clean install process.

A clean install on the new drive WILL work.
A clone from old to new will probably work.

I know the laptop has an applicable port for an NVMe drive.
I am thinking that I will be doing a clean install on the NVMe drive so if you can walk me through that it will be greatly appreciated!

 

[dikshant05]

yes, you can.
it is easier just wiping the drive.
you can go through and backup all of your personal files and just re-add them to the new setup later.
i wouldn't leave the OS and all of the system partitions on the drive. i would definitely format the drive before using it as storage.

i would add the M.2 & disconnect the HDD,
do a fresh OS install on the M.2,
then re-connect the HDD and set it up for storage use.

I don't know how to do a fresh install on the M.2, I think I will be able to disconnect and re-connect the HDD but is setting it up for storage another process or is it similar to plug n play (as in I just reconnect the drive and I will be done)?

 

[USAFRet]

I know the laptop has an applicable port for an NVMe drive.
I am thinking that I will be doing a clean install on the NVMe drive so if you can walk me through that it will be greatly appreciated!

Just like this:

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

Physically disconnect the HDD before you start the install.

 

[dikshant05]

Just like this:

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

Physically disconnect the HDD before you start the install.

Thank you! I had a few more questions, what happens to the Windows that was on my original HDD? Is it removed after I install Windows on the NVMe drive? And if not, is that an issue and how would I have my laptop make sure that it uses the NVMe to boot up and not the HDD?

 

[USAFRet]

Thank you! I had a few more questions, what happens to the Windows that was on my original HDD? Is it removed after I install Windows on the NVMe drive? And if not, is that an issue and how would I have my laptop make sure that it uses the NVMe to boot up and not the HDD?

It is NOT automatically removed.
You need to do that. Preferably, you wipe the entire drive, all partitions.

After the new install on the SSD, verify the boot order in the BIOS.
Later, reconnect the HDD, and delete ALL existing partitions.

Reformat, and use as desired.

 

[dikshant05]

It is NOT automatically removed.
You need to do that. Preferably, you wipe the entire drive, all partitions.

After the new install on the SSD, verify the boot order in the BIOS.
Later, reconnect the HDD, and delete ALL existing partitions.

Reformat, and use as desired.

Thank you! This cleared all my questions!

 

[dikshant05]

It is NOT automatically removed.
You need to do that. Preferably, you wipe the entire drive, all partitions.

After the new install on the SSD, verify the boot order in the BIOS.
Later, reconnect the HDD, and delete ALL existing partitions.

Reformat, and use as desired.

wait, how do I delete all the partitions of the HDD nad reformat it?

 

[USAFRet]

wait, how do I delete all the partitions of the HDD nad reformat it?

Disk Management.


Or, commandline, diskpart function, and the clean command.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/format-hard-drive-command-prompt,37632.html

Drive no longer accessible? Use DiskPart to fix it on Windows 10.

This guide will show you how to use DiskPart with Command Prompt to clean and properly format a drive to fix file corruption and other logical issues on Windows 10.

www.windowscentral.com

After, you can go into Disk Management - Initialize, format, New Simple Volume.

 

[dikshant05]

Disk Management.


Or, commandline, diskpart function, and the clean command.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/format-hard-drive-command-prompt,37632.html

Drive no longer accessible? Use DiskPart to fix it on Windows 10.

This guide will show you how to use DiskPart with Command Prompt to clean and properly format a drive to fix file corruption and other logical issues on Windows 10.

www.windowscentral.com

After, you can go into Disk Management - Initialize, format, New Simple Volume.

thank you!