SSD Compatible With My Laptop?

[DishonestDave]

Distinguished peers,

I want to upgrade my main laptop hard drive to a 2TB SSD:

http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/product/consumer/850evo.html

The laptop currently has two hard drives. One is in the laptop, below the touchpad and the other is in the CD drive bay.

Could anyone tell me if this drive will be compatible?

The details of my motherboard are:

SMBIOS 2.7 present.
79 structures occupying 3169 bytes.
Table at 0x000EB070.

Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 24 bytes
BIOS Information
Vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
Version: 4.6.4
Release Date: 02/15/2011
Address: 0xF0000
Runtime Size: 64 kB
ROM Size: 2048 kB
Characteristics:
PCI is supported
BIOS is upgradeable
BIOS shadowing is allowed
Boot from CD is supported
Selectable boot is supported
BIOS ROM is socketed
EDD is supported
5.25"/1.2 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
3.5"/720 kB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
3.5"/2.88 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
Print screen service is supported (int 5h)
8042 keyboard services are supported (int 9h)
Serial services are supported (int 14h)
Printer services are supported (int 17h)
ACPI is supported
USB legacy is supported
BIOS boot specification is supported
Targeted content distribution is supported
UEFI is supported
BIOS Revision: 4.6

Handle 0x0001, DMI type 1, 27 bytes
System Information
Manufacturer: CLEVO
Product Name: P150HMx
Version: Not Applicable
Serial Number: Not Applicable
UUID: BAF59000-5D71-0000-0000-000000000000
Wake-up Type: Power Switch
SKU Number: Not Applicable
Family: Not Applicable

Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 15 bytes
Base Board Information
Manufacturer: CLEVO
Product Name: P150HMx
Version: Not Applicable
Serial Number: Not Applicable
Asset Tag: Not Applicable
Features:
Board is a hosting board

List of PCI devices:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200/2nd Generation Core Processor Family PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b5)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev b5)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev b5)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev b5)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 05)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM65 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF104M [GeForce GTX 485M] (rev a1)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GF104 High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)
02:00.0 USB controller: NEC Corporation uPD720200 USB 3.0 Host Controller (rev 04)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: JMicron Technology Corp. JMC250 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 05)
03:00.1 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. SD/MMC Host Controller (rev 90)
03:00.2 SD Host controller: JMicron Technology Corp. Standard SD Host Controller (rev 90)
03:00.3 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. MS Host Controller (rev 90)
04:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter (rev 01)
05:00.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): JMicron Technology Corp. IEEE 1394 Host Controller (rev 30)

 

[Paul Pitchford]

The maximum hard disk size is actually limited by the file system which is used by your laptop's operating system rather than the motherboard.

64-bit operating systems such as Windows 7 and 10 x64 by default have a max hard disk size of 2TB which of course will be OK for you in this instance. If you buy a drive larger then you have to configure the drive to use a GPT (GUID Partition Table) partition.

Therefore the drive will be "compatible".

So your only other real consideration is how many drives your laptop will accommodate. It most likely only has 2 drive controllers (I can't find specific information about your board) so you'll most likely have to replace a drive that is already present in your laptop.

Hope that helps.

 

[Jim2k]

As above. It will be compatible but you'll need to replace existing drive. I'd recommend replacing the drive that has your Windows install on to get the most benefit. You can use something like Macrium Reflect to clone your existing drive to the new and then sit back and enjoy windows booting in 5 seconds!

 

[DishonestDave]

OK. I have ordered the drive, a 2TB SSD (Samsung EVO 850) and I tried to install Linux, but it told me the hard drive was 120GB.

I looked in the BIOS and it also says its a 120GB drive.

I tried moving the new hard drive to the other controller (CD bay) and it still says 120GB.

Any ideas?

 

[Jim2k]

Id check to see if there is a BIOS update available for your motherboard as first port of call.

 

[Faevilangel]

OK. I have ordered the drive, a 2TB SSD (Samsung EVO 850) and I tried to install Linux, but it told me the hard drive was 120GB.

I looked in the BIOS and it also says its a 120GB drive.

I tried moving the new hard drive to the other controller (CD bay) and it still says 120GB.

Any ideas?

are you sure it's a legit drive? where did you purchase from?

 

[DishonestDave]

are you sure it's a legit drive? where did you purchase from?

Spot on. After some searching online someone provided a command to print out details of the drive and this gave different results than what the drive was meant to be:

Including a different serial number. I looked on the Samsung website and you can see the serial I have is indeed for a 120GB SSD, not a 2TB one. There is a different serial number on the box and drive, which is for 2TB, a genuine serial. You can also see the gum outline of where another sticker used to be.

I got this off eBay and they bought it of Amazon. I presume not from them. The seller has accepted my refund request and Amazon have accepted theirs.

Another calamity for Dishonest Dave!

 

[Paul Pitchford]

Sorry I am late to the party on the reply I've been away since you replied.

I'm pleased you found a resolution to the answer to your issue. It's frustrating that eBay will allow such sellers to continue after what is quite apparent to be fraudulent activity.

 

[Faevilangel]

Spot on. After some searching online someone provided a command to print out details of the drive and this gave different results than what the drive was meant to be:

Including a different serial number. I looked on the Samsung website and you can see the serial I have is indeed for a 120GB SSD, not a 2TB one. There is a different serial number on the box and drive, which is for 2TB, a genuine serial. You can also see the gum outline of where another sticker used to be.

I got this off eBay and they bought it of Amazon. I presume not from them. The seller has accepted my refund request and Amazon have accepted theirs.

Another calamity for Dishonest Dave!

It's not uncommon for drives (and mostly usb's) to be faked hence why I asked, glad you got your refund

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

Good work, that's common for memory cards on eBay - hadn't thought about SSDs.
My first thought was that the SSD was partitioned to 120GB when installing Linux.
Even the 2TB drive is the same physical dimensions - it's just a PCB with chips in the plastic case with a controller - so it fits into any 2.5" bay.
It's the larger capacity mechanical hard drives that don't fit all 2.5" bays as the number of platters can make the drive too thick.

Although you've got a Clevo, so I think any drive would have fit!

It's a cracking drive by the way, hope you enjoy.
I've got a 1TB 850 Pro it's fantastic. Boot in a couple of seconds.

 

[qurttlfqrq]

If you have a M.2 port then you can try a M.2 SSD. Otherwise you can use CD Rom Caddy for a SSD.