Upgrading Laptop SSD to NVMe from SATA III

[seq1]

I have an Asus Vivobook S15 S510UN which already has a 128GB SATA III SSD. I am planning to upgrade it to 512GB Samsung 960 Evo which is NVMe SSD.

 

The connector inside looks to support both NVMe as well as SATA III but I am not sure. Please help me to know if it is compatible. I have tried searching on Google but couln't find anything.

[Oshino Shinobu]

It's often fairly difficult to tell what M.2 type a laptop supports. Manufacturers are generally pretty bad at documenting it. 

 

Different versions of the same laptop can often support different types. I can't find any version of the S510UN with an NVMe SSD, so I would say it only supports SATA M.2 drives. 

 

Best way to find out is likely to phone up Asus, given them the serial number and ask if it supports M-Key NVMe drives. 

[seq1]

3 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

It's often fairly difficult to tell what M.2 type a laptop supports. Manufacturers are generally pretty bad at documenting it. 

 

Different versions of the same laptop can often support different types. I can't find any version of the S510UN with an NVMe SSD, so I would say it only supports SATA M.2 drives. 

 

Best way to find out is likely to phone up Asus, given them the serial number and ask if it supports M-Key NVMe drives. 

Tried that but they themselves are not sure. They are asking me to take it to a service center.

Edited June 2, 2018 by seq1

[JoostinOnline]

37 minutes ago, seq1 said:

I have an Asus Vivobook S15 S510UN which already has a 128GB SATA III SSD. I am planning to upgrade it to 512GB Samsung 960 Evo which is NVMe SSD.

 

The connector inside looks to support both NVMe as well as SATA III but I am not sure. Please help me to know if it is compatible. I have tried searching on Google but couln't find anything.

If it's got one notch it will support both. If it's got two then it will only support SATA.

[seq1]

The slot has only one notch but the current SSD that is installed has 2 notches

[JoostinOnline]

26 minutes ago, seq1 said:

The slot has only one notch but the current SSD that is installed has 2 notches

Then either will work. If you can save some money I'd get a SATA one instead of PCIe (commonly referred to as NVMe). As long as you get a quality one (basically any Samsung one) it will perform pretty much identical, except with large files. If you regularly read/write gigabytes of data, then you'll want a PCIe one.

[seq1]

Actually the price difference is about 30% but the read/write speed is much better. That's re reason I am planning to go for the one with NVMe. I mostly work on apps for Android and iOS. I guess the NVMe one will help in creating app builds faster.

Edited June 2, 2018 by seq1

[JoostinOnline]

18 minutes ago, seq1 said:

Actually the price difference is about 30% but the read/write speed is much better. That's re reason I am planning to go for the one with NVMe. I mostly work on apps for Android and iOS. I guess the NVMe one will help in creating app builds faster.

It probably won't. What matters most is the random speeds, not sequential speeds. Take a look at some benchmarks in reviews. You'll see that other than the sequential speeds, all the quality SATA/PCIe drives are quite similar. You  want a drive with 20MB/s 4k read speeds at minimum. Anything above 30 is very good quality.  On another note, please quote or tag me when responding.

 

PS: Ignore the reviews with random 4k read speeds that are in the hundreds, they've got RAPID mode enabled which causes their RAM is being benchmarked, instead of the SSD.

 

[seq1]

2 hours ago, JoostinOnline said:

It probably won't. What matters most is the random speeds, not sequential speeds. Take a look at some benchmarks in reviews. You'll see that other than the sequential speeds, all the quality SATA/PCIe drives are quite similar. You  want a drive with 20MB/s 4k read speeds at minimum. Anything above 30 is very good quality.  On another note, please quote or tag me when responding.

 

PS: Ignore the reviews with random 4k read speeds that are in the hundreds, they've got RAPID mode enabled which causes their RAM is being benchmarked, instead of the SSD.

 

Thanks a lot Joostin. This is the first time I am using this site and it has been amazing. Really prompt reply by the community.

 

I have placed an order for Samsung 960 Evo Series - 500GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V6E500BW). But based on your suggestion, I will rethink my decision and cancel the order if required.

 

Really thanks.

[seq1]

Something important I have noticed now. It is that the SSD has to be inserted upside down that means the notch which I have in the SSD slot is for B key. Based on what I have read, if the slot has a notch for B key then it supports only SATA III. There is no hope for NVMe to work.

 

I have cancelled my order now and will place an order for SATA III SSD.

 

Thanks everyone for all the help.

[JoostinOnline]

4 hours ago, seq1 said:

Something important I have noticed now. It is that the SSD has to be inserted upside down that means the notch which I have in the SSD slot is for B key. Based on what I have read, if the slot has a notch for B key then it supports only SATA III. There is no hope for NVMe to work.

 

I have cancelled my order now and will place an order for SATA III SSD.

 

Thanks everyone for all the help.

Wow, I'm glad you found that. I didn't know B key was ever used for SSD's.