Predator 17 G9-793: upgrade boot SSD to Samsung 970 Pro M.2 NVMe SSD

Hi,

I'd like to upgrade the boot SSD in my Predator G9-793 (BIOS settings and configuration details at https://1drv.ms/b/s!AjBPRo9wXw9s54dr8B_JwtgxBJGYSQ) that came with a LITEON CV1-8B256 256GB M.2 SATA SSD to a Samsung 970 Pro M.2 NVMe SSD, without the hassle of reinstalling everything.

I've used Samsung's cloning software in the past so that should be simple, but...

I've read various pieces of conflicting information (including on this very forum) about the characteristics of the two M.2 slots in the G9-793, and about the software (BIOS and OS) settings to be used for M.2 SATA vs. M.2 NVMe.

The first part of the equation is about slot compatibility.

Would it be possible to temporarily connect the new NVMe SSD to the currently unused slot, boot from the current SATA SSD, perform the cloning, then swap the SSDs so that the NVMe one becomes the boot drive? If not, I'm thinking about buying an external M.2 NVMe - to - USB3 enclosure for use during the cloning.

(I know I would need a 2280-to-22110 conversion bracket)

After cloning and substituting the NVMe SSD in the first slot for the SATA SSD, will the second (currently unused) slot accept the SATA SSD?

The next part of the equation is about software.

Assuming I have an exact clone of the current C: SATA drive running Windows 10, will the NVMe copy boot and run? Or would I have to install some additional drivers before cloning?

What about BIOS settings?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Stéphane.

Accepted answers

seyf

I did the same upgrade to my G9-593 which has the same mainboard.

1. I installed Samsung NVME SSD drivers to my system without installing Samsung SSD. (If you don't do it you cannot boot it.)

2. I created an image of Liteon to an external driver using Acronis (I used the bootable image of Acronis to prevent any problems) and then removed it and installed Samsung. Then using the same bootable Acronis, I recovered the image to Samsung.

3. Without installing old SSD, I booted the system. It will not boot, and give you a warning. Then you need to click Advanced Options -> Startup Repair. This will do it. Check if everything is allright in your Windows.

4. I installed the old SSD by making my own extender from an expired credit card. You basically need to cut it in a way that it will have a hole for the screw, and will hold the SSD on the other end. I used a thin paper in between two SSD's to prevent any kind of contact. For screw, I used one of the screws that holds two pieces of case together. (There are ~15 more of them :P ) You basically need a scissor and a screwdriver etc. to punch a hole (and optionally a nail trimmer to trim the edges a bit after cutting the card.) It works since November, no issues so far.

All comments

ven98

I don't think you will be able to connect the 970 evo to the second M.2 port, because it is SATA and is B key while the 970 EVO is M key. If you are lucky you will be able to move the Liteon SSD to the 2nd port if it M+B key(as it SATA SSD it should be M+B), which is compatible with both M and B key and therefore have the 970 EVO in the first port, which is M key.

The BIOS shouldn't have any issues with the drives, theoretically.

When you clone the all data from the LITEON drive to the 970evo both drives will be detected as bootable and most likely the system will automatically boot from the LITEON. To make it boot from the 970evo you have to go to BIOS, disable secure boot(you have to create supervisor password in order to disable it) and change the boot priorities, so the system boots from the desired drive. Your other option is after disabling secure boot to enable f12 boot menu and then manually select the drive after pressing f12 on start up.

xapim

If what was stated above by @ven98 (theoretically it should work) but if it doesn't you will have to get either an nvme usb or compatible sata 2.5" enclosure adapter in order to clone you existing m.2 sata i don't have nvme but i cloned my wd 3d nand with a sata 2.5" adapter using easeus partition master in fact i removed my liteon installed the wd blue took my 1tb hdd out and just put my liteon in the dual m.2 2.5" sata adapter booted from it and just cloned it to the new ssd then just removed the sata adapter and reinserted back my 1tb hdd and if something goes wrong i have my 128gb ready to boot and i can even boot up from my usb dock without having to remove anything

sba923

Thanks for your answers.

For now I can't seem to find a 2280-to-22110 extender thingie so I'll have to go for getting something like https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B07F2T9196 to connect the 970 externally for the cloning step. Then I'll have to remove the Liteon and replace it with the 970, which leaves me with the Liteon to spare that I won't be able to make use of unless I also buy https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B01N4EUXCU

P.S. how do I get notified by email that someone's posted a comment on this very thread?

xapim

sba923 said:

Thanks for your answers.

For now I can't seem to find a 2280-to-22110 extender thingie so I'll have to go for getting something like https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B07F2T9196 to connect the 970 externally for the cloning step. Then I'll have to remove the Liteon and replace it with the 970, which leaves me with the Liteon to spare that I won't be able to make use of unless I also buy https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B01N4EUXCU

P.S. how do I get notified by email that someone's posted a comment on this very thread?

@sba923 select the star at the top of the thread right side to bookmark it and what you need is this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Predator-17-G9-Mounting-M-2-SSD/dp/B072VFPXJ7 and regarding the liteon ssd i would keep it as backup with the original OS (i have my liteon 128gb in a sata startech 2.5" enclosure)

https://www.startech.com/HDD/Adapters/m2-u2-adapter-nvme~U2M2E125 (this one supports nvme)

https://www.startech.com/HDD/Adapters/m2-sata-adapter~S322M225R (this is the one i have its sata only but dual)

https://www.startech.com/HDD/Enclosures/m2-ssd-enclosure~SM2NGFFMBU33 (this one is usb but doesn't support nvme just sata)

Hope it help@sba923

asad814

@sba923 https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/555379/solution-for-those-who-are-looking-for-ssd-bracket-for-predator-15-and-17#latest go through this post if you are finding the bracket

sba923

Thx @xapim; B072VFPXJ7 is "currently available." Going to look at the link from @asad814

sba923

@asad814 - AliExpress says delivery time 30-50 days

Will think about making such a gizmo myself! After all, it's nothing but a rectangular piece of PCB with one hole and one semi-circular notch at the edge...

asad814

@sba923 i got this in 8 days....and its lot cheaper..but its your choice

seyf

I did the same upgrade to my G9-593 which has the same mainboard.

1. I installed Samsung NVME SSD drivers to my system without installing Samsung SSD. (If you don't do it you cannot boot it.)

2. I created an image of Liteon to an external driver using Acronis (I used the bootable image of Acronis to prevent any problems) and then removed it and installed Samsung. Then using the same bootable Acronis, I recovered the image to Samsung.

3. Without installing old SSD, I booted the system. It will not boot, and give you a warning. Then you need to click Advanced Options -> Startup Repair. This will do it. Check if everything is allright in your Windows.

4. I installed the old SSD by making my own extender from an expired credit card. You basically need to cut it in a way that it will have a hole for the screw, and will hold the SSD on the other end. I used a thin paper in between two SSD's to prevent any kind of contact. For screw, I used one of the screws that holds two pieces of case together. (There are ~15 more of them :P ) You basically need a scissor and a screwdriver etc. to punch a hole (and optionally a nail trimmer to trim the edges a bit after cutting the card.) It works since November, no issues so far.

sba923

@seyf Thanks a zillion. This is just the answer I was looking for, because this confirms many of my working hypotheses, notably the one about the requirement to install the NVMe drivers (could you please share a link?) before cloning.

I have a couple of question though:

1. why didn't you use Samsung's cloning software?
2. why didn't you do SSD-to-SSD cloning (either by connecting both to the G5 via the M.2 ports, or by using an external USB3-to-M.2 NVMe or USB3-to-M.2 SATA enclosure) and went for a two-step, third-drive-in-the-middle approach?

sba923

For now I'm ordering the 970 only. I confirm the Liteon CV1-8B256 is B+M keyed. So I should be able to put the 970 in port #1 (M-keyed), move the Liteon to port #2 (B-keyed), tell the BIOS to boot from the Liteon, run the cloning, then tell the BIOS to boot from the 970.

I only need to first install the NVMe drivers (thx @seyf for the confirmation). Will now search for them (maybe there'll a CD in the 970's box?).

sba923

Found the driver at http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/DR/201805/20180514160435960/Samsung_NVM_Express_Driver_3.0.exe but it cannot be (pre)installed if the NVMe drive is not present. So I'll have to put the 970 in port #1 (M-keyed), move the Liteon to port #2 (B-keyed), tell the BIOS to boot from the Liteon, install the NVMe driver, run the cloning (still planning to use Samsung's Data Migration too), then tell the BIOS to boot from the 970.

seyf

@sba923 weird you cannot install it. Well, this laptop I use heavily for business reasons too, so I could not afford any kind of data loss and I want to keep it pristine in case anything happens. If you take the image and then remove it, whatever goes wrong, you just replace it and you still have a fully functioning operating system. I would say i was overly precautious.

If you get both installed and boot from Liteon, you should be able to install though. This will also make sure that your adapter will work.

I did not use any other software, because I know how good Acronis is. And if you clone harddrives while the operating system is open in one of the drives, it is still risky as many files are open and being modified by the processes. So bootable tools to do the cloning was my best bet here. I don't think Samsung has a bootable tool to do the cloning.

sba923

Indeed off-line cloning is best. But I have experience with Samsung's "live" cloning and that worked like a charm.

BTW something's starting to bother me now that I have ordered the 970 PRO: Samsung's doc says:

System Configuration
Windows Operating System shall successfully load the driver only when Samsung NVMe SSD 970
PRO, 970 EVO, 960 PRO, 960 EVO or 950 PRO is installed to
 PCIe slot directly connected to CPU or
 M.2 or PCIe slot connected to PCH.
However, in the PCH case, Windows Operating System cannot load the driver under following
BIOS configurations where
 PCH Storage Configuration is set to “Raid Mode, or
 NAND/Storage Remapping option*” is enabled.
* The option name can be different according to M/B manufacturers.
Please refer to your M/B manual.

My G9-793's BIOS says "RAID" and there's no way to change that to AHCI (tried Ctrl+R and Ctrl+I during POST but that doesn't get me the Intel RAID ROM...)

Will I actually be able to use the NVMe 970 in my laptop?

seyf

sba923 said:

Indeed off-line cloning is best. But I have experience with Samsung's "live" cloning and that worked like a charm.

BTW something's starting to bother me now that I have ordered the 970 PRO: Samsung's doc says:

System Configuration
Windows Operating System shall successfully load the driver only when Samsung NVMe SSD 970
PRO, 970 EVO, 960 PRO, 960 EVO or 950 PRO is installed to
 PCIe slot directly connected to CPU or
 M.2 or PCIe slot connected to PCH.
However, in the PCH case, Windows Operating System cannot load the driver under following
BIOS configurations where
 PCH Storage Configuration is set to “Raid Mode, or
 NAND/Storage Remapping option*” is enabled.
* The option name can be different according to M/B manufacturers.
Please refer to your M/B manual.

My G9-793's BIOS says "RAID" and there's no way to change that to AHCI (tried Ctrl+R and Ctrl+I during POST but that doesn't get me the Intel RAID ROM...)

Will I actually be able to use the NVMe 970 in my laptop?

I did not really need to mess with BIOS except for boot order. It is SATA mode. NVMe is not SATA.

sba923

So I should ignore Samsung's statement?

seyf

Yes, you should.

sba923

JIC I have trouble with Samsung's Data Migration: do you confirm you've used the 30-day free trial edition of Acronis True Image, or would I need to buy the $49.99-for-one-computer edition?

xapim

sba923 said:

JIC I have trouble with Samsung's Data Migration: do you confirm you've used the 30-day free trial edition of Acronis True Image, or would I need to buy the $49.99-for-one-computer edition?

Use easeus partition manster to clone your drives i always had used it to clone mine and its always perfect and i don't thrust the hdd's/ssd's manufacturers software anyway most of the tmes they are completely useless

sba923

Here's the steps I have followed / where I stand:

1. Moved the Liteon to slot 1, and changed the boot order in the BIOS to HDD1. This got me a working system. Without changing the boot order the system would not boot. My understanding is that UEFI remembers that the boot device was HDD0.
2. Attached the 970 to slot 0, and booted.
3. Installed the Samsung NVMe drivers (restart required)
4. Cloned the Liteon onto the 970 using Samsung's Data Migration tool (OEMed from Clonix)
5. at this point, restarting would boot, but C: would still be the Liteon (I changed the old C:'s volume label to ensure I always know which partition on which disk is the actual C: / Windows system partition)
6. Changed the BIOS boot order to HDD0, C: would still be the Liteon
7. Enabled F12 boot menu, and used that to choose the 970's copy of the Windows Boot Manager: system booted fine, with C: being the 970 this time
8. Removed the Liteon: system booted like a charm from the 970
9. Changed the BIOS boot order to Windows Boot Manager, system still works fine (that's where I'm typing this from)

Now I need to find a way to put the Liteon back into slot 1 yet keeping the Windows Boot Manager to be loaded from the 970's AND then the Windows system partition to be the one on the 970.

I'm no BCDEDIT/BCDBOOT expert, so this will probably take me some time ;-)

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