The laptops with a HDD + mSATA slot typically could use both at the same time (not always true for M.2). So the ideal setup will be to add a mSATA SSD, and clone the HDD over to it. Use the mSATA SSD as your boot drive, the HDD as a data drive for extra storage. (The only exception I've run across is certain HP models which couldn't be configured to boot off the mSATA drive; it would only boot off the HDD.)
mSATA was superceded by M.2, so you may be able to find a used mSATA SSD for cheap on eBay or Craigslist. If you were in Southern California, I have an old 128GB mSATA SSD I can't get rid of because newer laptops don't use them anymore.
Edit: Also be aware that the mSATA slot and the older mini-PCIe slot used for WiFi cards
look exactly the same. Manufacturers were cheap and reused the mini-PCIe slot hardware to create mSATA. They just ran SATA connections to it instead of PCIe. If for some reason you don't have a WiFi card, or you've got one of those laptops which can take a cellular network card (which also used mini-PCIe), then it may not be clear which slot is the mSATA slot. Typically the mSATA SSD card is bigger than WiFi and cellular cards, so the space above the slot will be bigger.
superninja12 :
best is to take it to a store , because you are moving your os , and the laptop will shut down and not reboot, you will need a desktop for this(that fits msata)
You just need to plug the mSATA drive in and boot the laptop off a CD or USB drive with cloning software on it. Acronis (pay) or MiniTools Partition Manager (free, bootable version) will do it. Probably other free tools out there too, I just haven't used them. MiniTools should be able to do it without creating an external boot version if you've got an HP laptop and are only copying the OS partition to the mSATA drive.
Getting Windows to boot off the proper drive after you clone it can be a pain though. Go into the BIOS and configure the mSATA drive as the boot drive (hopefully your laptop has that setting). Try removing the HDD and see if it'll boot off the (cloned) mSATA drive. If it does, create a new file/folder in the middle of the desktop and name it "THIS IS THE mSATA DRIVE", so you'll know which drive the computer booted from. Then put the HDD back in and confirm the laptop is still booting off the mSATA drive. If it does, then you're done and can wipe and reformat the HDD.
If it doesn't boot off the mSATA drive (with no HDD installed), try booting from Windows install media and running a repair. That'll usually fix it. Newer UEFI BIOSes will also require you to add the Windows partition on the mSATA drive to its list of boot partitions if you have Secure Boot enabled.
If it boots off the mSATA drive, but boots off the HDD when you put it back, then make sure you've set the mSATA drive to be the first boot drive in the BIOS. The HP laptops I mentioned didn't have this option, so I had to configure them so the HDD was the boot drive, but the OS partition it booted from was on the mSATA drive. Unfortunately Win 8/10 was really finicky about this type of setup. About once or twice a year I'd get a call from people whose laptops I set up this way saying that it wasn't booting. I'd have to run a Windows repair to "remind" it that the OS partition was on the mSATA drive.
If all this sounds like too much headache, then either take superninja12's suggestion and take it to a store and have them set it up for you. Or just get a SATA SSD (and a cheap external USB enclosure), clone the HDD to the SATA SSD, and simply swap the SATA SSD in for the HDD - ignore the mSATA slot. The downside of this approach is the SSD will be your only storage, so you may have to live with a tiny amount of SSD space, or pay a lot for a big SSD.
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