please clarify: does the an515-42-R5GT support both SATA and NVME in the M.2 slot?

Red_Sun

BIOS does not detect Samsung 970 evo m.2 NVME drive. It does, however, detect the samsung 860 which is m.2 SATA. I could find no settings in BIOS to correct this.

brummyfan2

Hi,
Yes your model supports both SATA and NVMe drives, you could try cloning HDD with EaseUS or using Migrate feature in Minitool Partition wizard and see whether it helps.
http://laptopmedia.com/review/acer-nitro-5-an515-42-radeon-rx-560x-review-not-just-a-facelift-there-is-a-new-engine-under-the-bonnet/

Red_Sun

Well level 2 support was much more helpful and knowledgable. He combed throught the service manual and indicated this unit does not support NVMe, and is a hardware limitation of the slot - not something a BIOS update could rectify.

Sooooo he suggested what I already suspected, that the m.2 drive must be SATA. Which is greatly dissappointing because if you look at its passmark score, it is one heck of a smokin' drive. Like in the top 5. So I settled for the samsung 860 1TB.

https://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/hdd.php?hdd=Samsung SSD 970 EVO 500GB&id=15854

So a little bummed I don't get passmark bragging rights, lol. Would the stock m2 be more than enough? Yes. Will I get some better performance out of the 860? You betcha. At least I tripled the storage of the stock an doubled that of the 970 for a better price.

So if anyone has any contrary info, or had success with a similiar situation, please post...

meva

Red_Sun said:

Probably could have a) tried to rma 970 just to ensure it wasn't a bad unit, and 2) attempted to clone original drive, like you said. Sounds like some folks have had success doing that, but I rapidly losing interest in investing time in this issue. I'M an old fart in that if BIOS can't see it, it doesn't exist, lol.

Another member of the community has an NVME drive on the way and will report his findings.

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/565780/

I just got an AN515-42-R8VD and a Samsung 970 EVO NVMe SSD and I tried everything to make them work together but I couldn't get them to work. Tried it with 3 Linux distros (Manjaro, Mint and elementary), Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. No dice. So I think it's safe to say that Red_Sun's information from Acer Support is correct. AN515-42s' m.2 port works only with SATA drives, not with NVMe ones.

It would be nice to have this written in the specifications of the laptops, not just in the service manuals. It would have saved me the cost of a 970 EVO that now is going to go on a shelf until I buy another device I could use it in.

brummyfan2

Hi,
Yes your model supports both SATA and NVMe drives, you could try cloning HDD with EaseUS or using Migrate feature in Minitool Partition wizard and see whether it helps.
http://laptopmedia.com/review/acer-nitro-5-an515-42-radeon-rx-560x-review-not-just-a-facelift-there-is-a-new-engine-under-the-bonnet/

Red_Sun

brummyfan2 said:

Hi,
Yes your model supports both SATA and NVMe drives, you could try cloning HDD with EaseUS or using Migrate feature in Minitool Partition wizard and see whether it helps.
http://laptopmedia.com/review/acer-nitro-5-an515-42-radeon-rx-560x-review-not-just-a-facelift-there-is-a-new-engine-under-the-bonnet/

Thanks. Sounds like Ill need an external connector to make this work. Meanwhile Im on hold with support to try and glean if internet tech specs do, in fact, support the drive before I go through all this extra effort.

Wish the BIOS was a bit more robust.

brummyfan2

Red_Sun said:

brummyfan2 said:

Hi,
Yes your model supports both SATA and NVMe drives, you could try cloning HDD with EaseUS or using Migrate feature in Minitool Partition wizard and see whether it helps.
http://laptopmedia.com/review/acer-nitro-5-an515-42-radeon-rx-560x-review-not-just-a-facelift-there-is-a-new-engine-under-the-bonnet/

Thanks. Sounds like Ill need an external connector to make this work. Meanwhile Im on hold with support to try and glean if internet tech specs do, in fact, support the drive before I go through all this extra effort.

Wish the BIOS was a bit more robust.

OK, please let us know the outcome.

Red_Sun

Well level 2 support was much more helpful and knowledgable. He combed throught the service manual and indicated this unit does not support NVMe, and is a hardware limitation of the slot - not something a BIOS update could rectify.

Sooooo he suggested what I already suspected, that the m.2 drive must be SATA. Which is greatly dissappointing because if you look at its passmark score, it is one heck of a smokin' drive. Like in the top 5. So I settled for the samsung 860 1TB.

https://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/hdd.php?hdd=Samsung SSD 970 EVO 500GB&id=15854

So a little bummed I don't get passmark bragging rights, lol. Would the stock m2 be more than enough? Yes. Will I get some better performance out of the 860? You betcha. At least I tripled the storage of the stock an doubled that of the 970 for a better price.

So if anyone has any contrary info, or had success with a similiar situation, please post...

brummyfan2

I don't think you are missing out much, there's not much noticeable difference between NVMe and SATA drives for an average user, NVMe is better for people who transfer large files very often, yes, larger SATA drive will give you better performance than the smaller stock SSD.

Red_Sun

Probably could have a) tried to rma 970 just to ensure it wasn't a bad unit, and 2) attempted to clone original drive, like you said. Sounds like some folks have had success doing that, but I rapidly losing interest in investing time in this issue. I'M an old fart in that if BIOS can't see it, it doesn't exist, lol.

Another member of the community has an NVME drive on the way and will report his findings.

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/565780/

Red_Sun

brummyfan2 said:

I don't think you are missing out much, there's not much noticeable difference between NVMe and SATA drives for an average user, NVMe is better for people who transfer large files very often, yes, larger SATA drive will give you better performance than the smaller stock SSD.

I found an old thread where you suggested using hardwareinfo to check for PCI lanes. Please advise on where I should be looking at the attached pic...thanks

brummyfan2

Red_Sun said:

brummyfan2 said:

I don't think you are missing out much, there's not much noticeable difference between NVMe and SATA drives for an average user, NVMe is better for people who transfer large files very often, yes, larger SATA drive will give you better performance than the smaller stock SSD.

I found an old thread where you suggested using hardwareinfo to check for PCI lanes. Please advise on where I should be looking at the attached pic...thanks

Unfortunately, HWiNFO 64 programs doesn't work for newer models, it works fine for E series and F series laptops, so you have to rely on the information available online or from Acer Support centre.

Red_Sun

So running into another problem. Trying to perform a fresh install of win 10 pro. I have recieved 2 fraudulent copies of win10 product keys from amazon. Not happy. It is starting to look likw I will have to clone the original stock drive to the new one, and upgrade to pro via microsoft directly. Can you recommend a m.2 to usb adapter?

brummyfan2

Red_Sun said:

So running into another problem. Trying to perform a fresh install of win 10 pro. I have recieved 2 fraudulent copies of win10 product keys from amazon. Not happy. It is starting to look likw I will have to clone the original stock drive to the new one, and upgrade to pro via microsoft directly. Can you recommend a m.2 to usb adapter?

You could use something like this:https://www.amazon.co.uk/ELUTENG-Enclosure-Support-Aluminum-Adapter/dp/B06XD1Z2JK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1532817182&sr=8-1&keywords=m2+to+usb+adapter
https://www.amazon.co.uk/M-2-NGFF-USB-External-Case/dp/B010O2RIBC/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1532817482&sr=8-13&keywords=m2+to+usb+adapter

meva

Red_Sun said:

Probably could have a) tried to rma 970 just to ensure it wasn't a bad unit, and 2) attempted to clone original drive, like you said. Sounds like some folks have had success doing that, but I rapidly losing interest in investing time in this issue. I'M an old fart in that if BIOS can't see it, it doesn't exist, lol.

Another member of the community has an NVME drive on the way and will report his findings.

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/565780/

I just got an AN515-42-R8VD and a Samsung 970 EVO NVMe SSD and I tried everything to make them work together but I couldn't get them to work. Tried it with 3 Linux distros (Manjaro, Mint and elementary), Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. No dice. So I think it's safe to say that Red_Sun's information from Acer Support is correct. AN515-42s' m.2 port works only with SATA drives, not with NVMe ones.

It would be nice to have this written in the specifications of the laptops, not just in the service manuals. It would have saved me the cost of a 970 EVO that now is going to go on a shelf until I buy another device I could use it in.

Red_Sun

meva said:

Red_Sun said:

Probably could have a) tried to rma 970 just to ensure it wasn't a bad unit, and 2) attempted to clone original drive, like you said. Sounds like some folks have had success doing that, but I rapidly losing interest in investing time in this issue. I'M an old fart in that if BIOS can't see it, it doesn't exist, lol.

Another member of the community has an NVME drive on the way and will report his findings.

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/565780/

I just got an AN515-42-R8VD and a Samsung 970 EVO NVMe SSD and I tried everything to make them work together but I couldn't get them to work. Tried it with 3 Linux distros (Manjaro, Mint and elementary), Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. No dice. So I think it's safe to say that Red_Sun's information from Acer Support is correct. AN515-42s' m.2 port works only with SATA drives, not with NVMe ones.

It would be nice to have this written in the specifications of the laptops, not just in the service manuals. It would have saved me the cost of a 970 EVO that now is going to go on a shelf until I buy another device I could use it in.

Thank you for confirming. Will not move forward w/ cloning attempt using another 970. In spite of all of this, I am very happy with the SATA 860 I purchase. Noticeably faster than the stock M.2 it came with.

Where did you get the R8VD? Looks pretty sweet with the 2700U and the Vega10.

Consider me jealous.

bani

Can any one update their Bios to v1.11 and try NVMe M.2 SSD?

Red_Sun

bani said:

Can any one update their Bios to v1.11 and try NVMe M.2 SSD?

Thanks for alerting me to the fact a new BIOS is out! Just downloaded it, will update once I am finished with my tasks.

Joe_Cool

Damnit, if I had known that before. My seller told me NVMe was supported with 4 lanes on my AN515-42-R3VU. I have a Western Digital WD Black WDS500G2X0C but BIOS V 1.11 does not detect any devices. The SATA 1/2 enabled/disabled setting makes no difference. Bummer.
I guess I will also order a M2 SATA SSD now...

Joe_Cool

This is especially frustrating since the slot is keyed for M. So you can't know till you try...

Joe_Cool

Samsung SSD 860 EVO 500GB, M.2 (MZ-N6E500BW) SATA/AHCI works fine.
So NVMe confirmed not working.
It's alright, but sadly just SATA speeds.

eulalia844

Yes, NVMe is better for people who transfer large files very often!

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Michael852654

NVME does not work with the Nitro 5 AN515-42-R7EB (AMD Ryzen 5 2500), it came with BIOS 1.08, I've tried with all BIOS 1.09 / 1.10 ... until 1.13, no luck, was not recognized.

Which is sort of sad, especially since the much cheaper Aspire A315-51-38G5 (Intel i7) works super fast with the Samsung 970 EVO NVME drive which I swapped out to try with the Nitro 5... (so it went back into the Aspire A315-51, have ordered SATA version for the Nitro 5...)

So I'm assuming it has to do with the AMD chip set, since it seems the Intel versions do work with NVME m.2 cards...

Vikram_101

brummyfan2 said:

Hi,
Yes your model supports both SATA and NVMe drives, you could try cloning HDD with EaseUS or using Migrate feature in Minitool Partition wizard and see whether it helps.
http://laptopmedia.com/review/acer-nitro-5-an515-42-radeon-rx-560x-review-not-just-a-facelift-there-is-a-new-engine-under-the-bonnet/

It's just sata3, don't support nvme.