[SOLVED] upgrading builtin 512gb M2 nvme to intel 2tb m2 nvme ssd in asus g531gt laptop ,need help

[eagle911]

hi everyone, i bought a new asus rog strix g g531gt laptop both for gaming and office purposes. but by just installing 3 or 4 games the free space is now low. laptop has a builtin 512gb m2 nvme.

i want to upgrade to a 2tb ssd. There is a additional sata ssd slot which i thought of purchasing 2tb sata ssd. then i checked prices to see it costs 20000 for 2tb sata ssd and 21700 for 2tb intel 660p m2 nvme . so with prices like this there isnt much difference between a normal sata ssd drive and m2 nvme drive.

So i thot of buying intel 660p 2tb m2 nvme as even if its qlc and may b less performance, it wil b anyway higher than a normal sata ssd. what confuses me and need help is about the installation of new m2 ssd . i want to clone all builtin drives to new m2 ssd. how can i do this with a single m2 slot in laptop? i dont have m2 slots equipped desktop.

my plan is i have a PNY sata ssd(240gb) which i can connect to laptop. and then clone builtin micron 2200v 512gb(146gb filled)m2 to sata ssd first, then put new intel 660p m2 and then clone again from sata ssd to new m2.

Now my doubt is which cloning software i have to use? and can i clone being booted up in source drive to do cloning? and is 2tb intel 660p m2 nvme is supported in my laptop?
another doubt is if i successfully cloned every partition including the recovery partition, will the factory reset work? i dont want full reinstallation as the system is completely updated with everything including purchased games and all. so iam hoping cloning to work best.

iam waiting for answers bcos i just want to order that 2tb m2 nvme from amazon. i checked other ssd prices and found that with qlc there is not much price difference between normal sata ssd and m2 nvme.

 

[Lutfij]

This site is based in USA. It'd help me and the community learn where you're located and if the amount you've mentioned per SSD is absurdity or fact. For all intents and purposes if the laptop has two M/2 slots, leave the original SSD alone and add the larger SSD to act as the game/storage drive. FYI, NVMe SSD's heat up more than a SATA based SSD so if the laptop has thermal limitations, you should be looking at SATA based SSD's and not worry about the prices alone.

With that being said, clean install the OS and not clone the drives. It only makes things easier when you clean install.

Also make sure that your laptop is on the latest BIOS update prior to the upgrade/reinstall.

 

[USAFRet]

Image, not a clone, to some other drive.

Assuming you have another drive with sufficient free space to hold the entirety of your current m.2 drive:

1. Download and install Macrium Reflect
2. Run that, and create a Rescue CD or USB (you'll use this later). "Other Tasks"
3. In the Macrium client, create an Image to some other drive. External USB HDD, maybe. Select all partitions. This results in a file of xxxx.mrimage
4. When done, power OFF.
5. Swap the 2 drives
6. Boot up from the Rescue USB you created earlier.
7. Recover, and tell it where the Image is that you created in step 3, and which drive to apply it to...the new m.2
8. Go, and wait until it finishes.
9. That's all...this should work.

Or, just do a clean install on the new drive.

 

[eagle911]

This site is based in USA. It'd help me and the community learn where you're located and if the amount you've mentioned per SSD is absurdity or fact. For all intents and purposes if the laptop has two M/2 slots, leave the original SSD alone and add the larger SSD to act as the game/storage drive. FYI, NVMe SSD's heat up more than a SATA based SSD so if the laptop has thermal limitations, you should be looking at SATA based SSD's and not worry about the prices alone.

With that being said, clean install the OS and not clone the drives. It only makes things easier when you clean install.

Also make sure that your laptop is on the latest BIOS update prior to the upgrade/reinstall.

iam located in india and the amount mentioned are INR currency . the prices are from amazon. right now the price of that 660p intel m2 nvme ssd rose to 25000(347usd). and normal sata ssd which crucial mx500 2tb price is at 19890(277usd).

my laptop has only one m2 slot and has built in micron 2200v 512gb m2 nvme ssd with builtin win10 home all asus stuff and i installed some softwares and games too from steam. thats why i dont want a reinstall and opt for cloning into new m2 ssd. laptop updated to latest bios available .

oh ok nvme ssd heats up more than normal sata.hmm i didnt know about that.. i might be going to new zealand next year wer the ambient temp will be around 15-20C so i guess it will b fine i think. Right now 30C room temp and when gaming cpu temp goes 75C and m2 i think around 55-60C not sure though. iam comparing mx500 sata ssd 2tb also . wished that intel 660p cud work. Now with the prices going up for that intel 660p iam rethinking my options.

 

[eagle911]

Image, not a clone, to some other drive.

Assuming you have another drive with sufficient free space to hold the entirety of your current m.2 drive:

1. Download and install Macrium Reflect
2. Run that, and create a Rescue CD or USB (you'll use this later). "Other Tasks"
3. In the Macrium client, create an Image to some other drive. External USB HDD, maybe. Select all partitions. This results in a file of xxxx.mrimage
4. When done, power OFF.
5. Swap the 2 drives
6. Boot up from the Rescue USB you created earlier.
7. Recover, and tell it where the Image is that you created in step 3, and which drive to apply it to...the new m.2
8. Go, and wait until it finishes.
9. That's all...this should work.

Or, just do a clean install on the new drive.

eh ya i have a 240gb pny sata ssd. its filled up but i can try format it and use it for the image u said. so install macrium reflect ,create image on sata ssd, then shut down and boot from rescue disk in usb and do the restore process into new m2. ok macrium reflect...thanks

i have three partitions in m2 which is efi kind of partition, OS partition and recovery drive. so i need to select whole disk when i create image right. After restoring the image to new m2 do u think the recovery partion works? not that important just asking. Anyway lets see.

yes ok i will follow these steps when i buy m2 ssd. my only doubt left is will intel 660p will be detected in bios.. may b it will.

 

[eagle911]

@Lutfij and @USAFRet

Thanks for the reply. i have been enquiring about this in a lot of places and nobody gave a clear answer and thats why i decided to post in US forum. Regional support is huge mess and waste of time.

so like u said iam reviewing the choices between normal sata ssd and m2 nvme ssd. preference for m2 is because of its more read and write speeds than sata ssd even though not much difference in real world behavior between game or software loading speeds. still i think more r/w speeds helps faster installation and file extraction speeds.

Thanks again. i wil let u know when i make a decision and buy one. doing lot of researches for each ssd product.

 

[eagle911]

@USAFRet

Sir, u saved the day. i did it... all the steps like u mentioned. i bought intel 660p from 3rd party site at inr 17200(240 usd) and used my pny to save the image created ,then restored to new intel m2. voila!! it worked and laptop booted like nothing happened. phew! Thank you so much..

i spent a month before to find a proper solution and enquired the whole city leading shops and written same query in a dozen forums including asus rog official forums and none replied or helped.

so Thanks a lot again. ..i have now total available 1.84tb size. Didnt partition. its single drive. so far all working perfect. cheers!!

 

[USAFRet]

Glad it works for you!