M.2 SATA 3 SSD compatible with Hp probook 440 g3

[Umer Javed]

Hi, guys

Well I am stuck with a mechanical hard drive in my HP probook 440 g3 DDR4 variant and I wish to add a SSD to extract a little more time out of this old machine. I came to know that this model laptop has a m.2 sata 3 port. I want to keep the mech drive and add a m.2 sata drive to enhance speed without reducing storage space. However I am not sure which brand or type of SSD will be compatible with this device. If anyone can identify any such SSD which is readily available. I am looking to buy hikvision E100N SSD.can anyone tell me if it is compatible?? Plus can anybody tell me how to reset bios password as I forgot mine. CMOS battery removal doesn't work.

[Umer Javed]

1 minute ago, Benji said:

Yeah, once you forgot the BIOS password you can forget about ever accessing it again IIRC. It's a ProBook aimed at professional users/companies where HP cannot afford security flaws like easily by-passable BIOS passwords.

Also, SATA SSDs are generally compatible, there is nothing that can make them not compatible. Just buy something like a Samsung 860 Evo M.2 or sth like this.

How to check if a m.2 SSD is compatible with my laptop?

[Umer Javed]

2 minutes ago, Benji said:

A SATA SSD cannot be incompatible, so you can use whichever one you like... Usually when something is incompatible, it is RAM, MXM modules or CPUs on some devices which has options to change these (if a motherboard manufacturer even decides to include a Whitelist). But I never heard that about storage devices.

I am asking because I have read in forums that certain m.2 ssd are not compatible.

[Umer Javed]

4 minutes ago, Benji said:

That is something else. In these cases, people don't know that their slot only supports M.2 NVMe drives and they installed an M.2 SATA drive. While they are mechanically compatible, they will not work. I looked up a picture of your laptops motherboard and the M.2 tooth is aligned for a SATA SSD, and HP also explicitly specifies M.2 SATA. So an NVMe SSD would not work in your case, but a SATA one would.

Could you link a thread so I can check that out?

Do I need to change anything in bios to ensure m.2 drive as boot drive? As I want to use mech drive as well

[Umer Javed]

11 minutes ago, Benji said:

That is something else. In these cases, people don't know that their slot only supports M.2 NVMe drives and they installed an M.2 SATA drive. While they are mechanically compatible, they will not work. I looked up a picture of your laptops motherboard and the M.2 tooth is aligned for a SATA SSD, and HP also explicitly specifies M.2 SATA. So an NVMe SSD would not work in your case, but a SATA one would.

Could you link a thread so I can check that out?

There is another issue where if I use m.2 ssd while there is a mech sata drive installed it will not boot from m.2. here is a link to a thread where this issue is discussed

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebooks-Archive-Read-Only/SATA-2-5-SSD-with-M-2-SSD-on-HP-ProBook-440-G3/td-p/5825155

[Umer Javed]

I have windows 10 installed

[Umer Javed]

On 5/29/2020 at 4:55 PM, Benji said:

Well, that just seems to be the case because that person didn't install Windows on the M.2 SSD. Also, you can forget about permanently changing the boot order anyway since you don't have access to the BIOS. So you are most likely stuck with the HDD/its corresponsing SATA port anyway.

What if I only use m.2 sata drive then?

[Umer Javed]

Which is better m.2 sata or 2.5 in sata drive?

[Umer Javed]

5 minutes ago, Benji said:

That should work as it will automatically choose any other device that may be bootable. For example, if you have no drives installed and plug in a Windows setup stick, it will boot off the Windows setup stick because it can boot off that.

Which is better m.2 or 2.5in?

[Umer Javed]

1 minute ago, Benji said:

It doesn't make a difference in terms of performance whatsoever as both are SATA3. The larger capacity though is available in 2.5" form factor (4TB on the Samsung 860 Evo and 860 QVO, out of which I would recommend the Evo), the largest M.2 SATA SSD holds 2TB. Otherwise there is no difference.

I am going for m.2

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076Y63MRH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_b2-1EbPP5VWZN

[Umer Javed]

2 minutes ago, Benji said:

That seems to be a DRAM-less SSD, so I wouldn't really go for it.

How to check that ssd is DRAM less?

[Umer Javed]

3 minutes ago, Benji said:

By seeing images of the SSD itself or looking at the manufacturers webpage (as it is a feature that is commonly advertised). The chips on the bottom below the cover are the NAND chips and the square one on the top is the controller, but DRAM has a similar (slightly slimmer) form like the NAND chips, and that chip is absent. Since the SSD stores its data differently than an HDD it needs to know where it stored what on the SSD (called "mapping table"). With increasing storage capacity the mapping table increases in size. It usually stores that table in the SSDs DRAM for fast access. When it doesn't have DRAM, it needs to manually look up where what is. And that can take its sweet time, so during larger data transfers, the speed breaks in dramatically.

But, honestly, if you don't use the SSD excessively and copy large files all the time, you should still be fine.

Wow. You really know your tech. Thanks