Question Need Help Upgrading My Son's Gaming Laptop

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jobondur

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Jan 21, 2009
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We got my 10 year old a gaming laptop last Christmas and now need to upgrade it because the hard drive isn't sufficient. We got him a Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 Link Here with a 256 Gb hard drive. So now I have several questions on how best to upgrade this. Since the current hard drive is only 256 Gb, I think I want to upgrade/expand it vice getting an external.
  1. Does this laptop have room to add a secondary internal hard drive or do I have to swap out?
  2. Exactly what type of hard drive do I need to get?
  3. Any recommendations on what to get? It's cyber monday afterall. (I'm near a BB, but really no other big computer stores so likely something online).
Any help from the experts here is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
I recommend you watch this video all the way through, This laptop requires a bit of patience to open
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOIg03GjMCM

Good news, it appears you have an empty unused m.2 2280 slot available (That is the form factor for what was called a "Gum Stick" SSD, its a newer form factor that replaced 2.5" SSD)

As for SSD, I recommend you get a decent 1tb or 2tb drive, depending on your budget. I think they are dirt cheap, but I am still thinking with a memory that remembers paying $150 for 128GB SSD...
I would personally get Solidigm P41 plus 2tb for $83, but if that is overkill the 1tb is going for $50.
For install, simply add the drive, when you boot up all you should need to do is format and you can then install over on the 2nd drive. Probably best to clone over (I would recommend Macrium reflect)

Might be worth having a spudger on hand or some old credit cards or guitar picks as you pry open the bottom. You will also need multiple phillips bit sizes (recommend having 00,0, & 1) a kit like this might cover all bases for you.

Feel free to ask any questions, you can definitely do this upgrade.
 
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@cyrusfox Thanks for the quick reply. That video is perfect as it shows me exactly what I need to do. The one question I have is I've never heard of Solidigm, does that company have a good reputation for quality? The price is certainly nice at $83, but I'm willing to pay more for quality if that's the recommendation.

And I'm understanding that you would recommend leaving the current drive in, install the second drive in the expansion bay, clone OS and other files over to new drive, then format old drive. Correct?
 
jobondur said:
@cyrusfox Thanks for the quick reply. That video is perfect as it shows me exactly what I need to do. The one question I have is I've never heard of Solidigm, does that company have a good reputation for quality? The price is certainly nice at $83, but I'm willing to pay more for quality if that's the recommendation.

And I'm understanding that you would recommend leaving the current drive in, install the second drive in the expansion bay, clone OS and other files over to new drive, then format old drive. Correct?
Click to expand...
Solidigm is what is left of Intel SSD division (Sold to Hynix). They have the most advance QLC, I run multiple of their drives and have no qualms. The P41+ is basically the successor to the Intel 670P drive. at the 2tb mark you will not find a better drive at that price range. I tend to only buy from the NAND manufacturers themselves (Samsung, Micron, Kioxia, WD, Hynix, & Solidigm).

Yes I would leave the old drive in as a secondary backup(Clone, boot up on new, format old), you could pull it after cloning though and put in an external enclosure if you want a fast 256GB external drive, with the economics of flash though, 256gb m.2 are mostly e-waste, might as well get some use out of it. Drive will mostly be idle so will not be a big drain to run 2 m.2 drives.
 
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Perfect, sounds good to me. Last question before I order. I've seen some comments saying that my laptop will only hold 1TB and others that say it will hold 2TB. I'd prefer to go with 2TB if possible. How do I confirm that it will work with 2TB?

And thanks again.
 
jobondur said:
Perfect, sounds good to me. Last question before I order. I've seen some comments saying that my laptop will only hold 1TB and others that say it will hold 2TB. I'd prefer to go with 2TB if possible. How do I confirm that it will work with 2TB?

And thanks again.
Click to expand...
What you are likely seeing is what it was spec'd with from the manufacturer(They never natively configured it with a drive of that capacity).
Your windows laptop is not limited to a set Storage size like the xbox one is(512/1tb/2tb). You could put an 8tb drive in there if you wanted and it would all be accessible.

I'd also go with 2tb ssd even though it is overkill, also if you haven't upgraded the memory, I would throw in another 8gb of ddr5 like this stick. Lastly it would be best to upgrade the bios before proceeding
 
Last edited:
jobondur said:
We got my 10 year old a gaming laptop last Christmas and now need to upgrade it because the hard drive isn't sufficient. We got him a Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 Link Here with a 256 Gb hard drive. So now I have several questions on how best to upgrade this. Since the current hard drive is only 256 Gb, I think I want to upgrade/expand it vice getting an external.
  1. Does this laptop have room to add a secondary internal hard drive or do I have to swap out?
  2. Exactly what type of hard drive do I need to get?
  3. Any recommendations on what to get? It's cyber monday afterall. (I'm near a BB, but really no other big computer stores so likely something online).
Any help from the experts here is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Click to expand...
You might want to open the pc and look at what is installed it looks like there are 2 m.2 slots but they are different sizes so depending on what is being used now can change the upgrade path.
 
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