Acer spin5 513-51 - Sumsang 970 EVOplus NVMe NOT recognised in BIOS information?

513-51-N16W1- 1x M.2slot with THNSNK256GVN8. Motherboard KBL Drift_SK - BIOS ver 1.7

I'm upgrading the Standard SATA6 THNSNK256GVN8 SSD to the new 970 EVOplus NVMe. Thought this to be possible as previous poster, Viktors69, achieved this on 513-51

With bootable Acronis, cloned the SSD to NVMe (usb Plugable) and then booted into windows. NVMe is present in device manager and the partitions are mirrored, all good so far!

Then installed NMVe into the M.2 slot and boot but no bootable device found and BIOS information shows HHD model name and Serial no. = NONE and SATA mode = AHCI!

Do i need to install a NVMe driver (although recognised in windows!). There are later BIOS versions but I rather avoid updating at this stage as don't think it will fix the problem.

Will the NVMe work in AHCI M.2 slot?

Any help greatly appreciated, sorry about large images.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/yd/ai9hhn0jyd10.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/sd/ms8bbjg7hbkg.jpg

Edited the content to hide personal and sensitive information
Acer-Samuel

Accepted answers

brummyfan2

Hi,
I am sceptical about cloning method, you could try Migration feature in Minitool Partition wizard, download and install Minitool partition wizard free, run it and use Migrate feature to transfer everything from old SSD to new SSD and try booting with it.
https://www.minitool.com/partition-manager/partition-wizard-home.html
https://www.partitionwizard.com/help/migrate-os-to-ssd-hd.html

brummyfan2

You could try Macrium reflect, backup the current SSD to an external HDD, create a bootable USB drive, then install the new SSD and boot with the recovery disk, recover the image to the new SSD.
https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/7363/macrium-reflect-is-a-free-and-easy-to-use-backup-utility/

Windypauls

OK... I've got to the bottom of this problem.

So for all those users with only 1 x M.2 slot, you MUST have the NVMe drive installed in the M.2 slot and then you migrate the old hardrive from a bootable windows USB drive.

Here was my steps.

1. backup original 256GB sata3 drive (acronis2020).

2. download FREE https://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/ for making bootable USB of my original drive. This is to boot windows from USB, not M2.

3. open WinToUSB and select third drive on the list, 'physical drive'.

4. select my Sumsung portable USB3.0 SSD (T5 500GB) and select GPT for UEFI (laptop 5years or newer).

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/6q/baoewv96axfv.png

5. select Legacy and 'sector by sector'

6. Click next and WinToUSB will prompt you to confirm shutdown for it to be able to copy all sectors.

7. Once completed, shutdown PC. Press and hold F2 during startup to boot into BIOS and change boot order to boot from USB HHD and F10 to save and exit. Note - NVMe will not be visible in BIOS info!

8. Window should now have booted via USB and you can check if the Sumsung 970Evo NVMe is functional by downloading Sumsung magician https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/product/consumer/970evo/

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/pf/0h93356qhdai.png

The NVMe driver is also at the link but I didn't need it.

9. Now you can migrate/mirror/clone the bootable USB drive to NVMe drive. I used Minitools partition wizard but also tested Sumsung Data Migration and that worked fine.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/h7/fe5cbp5hqpar.png

10. Minitools will ask you to shutdown to continue to clone the drive. Once its finished, remove USB bootable drive and boot into BIOS to change boot order and you should be good.

Final results don't mean that much to me! I plan to redo the test with the original sata SSD.

Not sure if all 4 lanes are used, how can you check?

Thanks for all forum inputs.

Paul

brummyfan2

Hi @Windypauls
Your drive uses 2lanes because the speed is half the speed advertised by Samsung for the drive(3500/2500).

All comments

brummyfan2

Hi,
I am sceptical about cloning method, you could try Migration feature in Minitool Partition wizard, download and install Minitool partition wizard free, run it and use Migrate feature to transfer everything from old SSD to new SSD and try booting with it.
https://www.minitool.com/partition-manager/partition-wizard-home.html
https://www.partitionwizard.com/help/migrate-os-to-ssd-hd.html

billsey

Also be sure to boot at least once with only the new drive connected. Some cloning software clones the disk ID and that confuses Windows.

Windypauls

brummyfan2 said:

Hi,
I am sceptical about cloning method, you could try Migration feature in Minitool Partition wizard, download and install Minitool partition wizard free, run it and use Migrate feature to transfer everything from old SSD to new SSD and try booting with it.
https://www.minitool.com/partition-manager/partition-wizard-home.html
https://www.partitionwizard.com/help/migrate-os-to-ssd-hd.html

Minitool partition is not FREE, it forces you to upgrade!

Windypauls

I've tried several times to boot the NVMe drive but nothing, also tried acronis backup recovery and still does not recognise the NVMe.

In Minitool partition manager it shows the partition position in different orders, could this be the problem? Other reserved partition is before ESP!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/6m/gbtblwx3827d.png

brummyfan2

Windypauls said:

brummyfan2 said:

Hi,
I am sceptical about cloning method, you could try Migration feature in Minitool Partition wizard, download and install Minitool partition wizard free, run it and use Migrate feature to transfer everything from old SSD to new SSD and try booting with it.
https://www.minitool.com/partition-manager/partition-wizard-home.html
https://www.partitionwizard.com/help/migrate-os-to-ssd-hd.html

Minitool partition is not FREE, it forces you to upgrade!

Hi,
Yes, unfortunately, the new version(12) has removed the Migrate feature from free version

https://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

brummyfan2

You could try Macrium reflect, backup the current SSD to an external HDD, create a bootable USB drive, then install the new SSD and boot with the recovery disk, recover the image to the new SSD.
https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/7363/macrium-reflect-is-a-free-and-easy-to-use-backup-utility/

Windypauls

Migrated the OS drive to NVMe SSD with minitool partition wizard and the mirror looked successful with all partitions in the right place,

but NVMe SSD still not recognised in BIOS info! and so no MBR found!!!

Could the hardware be faulty, do i need drivers?

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/4v/ywn2f02fjr9b.png

billsey

It looks like it changed the partition sizes for all partitions. That tends to break UEFI booting. You should still have the 100MB UEFI partition after the cloning. You should also not have drive letters assigned and should try booting at least once with only the SSD installed.

Windypauls

OK... I've got to the bottom of this problem.

So for all those users with only 1 x M.2 slot, you MUST have the NVMe drive installed in the M.2 slot and then you migrate the old hardrive from a bootable windows USB drive.

Here was my steps.

1. backup original 256GB sata3 drive (acronis2020).

2. download FREE https://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/ for making bootable USB of my original drive. This is to boot windows from USB, not M2.

3. open WinToUSB and select third drive on the list, 'physical drive'.

4. select my Sumsung portable USB3.0 SSD (T5 500GB) and select GPT for UEFI (laptop 5years or newer).

5. select Legacy and 'sector by sector'

6. Click next and WinToUSB will prompt you to confirm shutdown for it to be able to copy all sectors.

7. Once completed, shutdown PC. Press and hold F2 during startup to boot into BIOS and change boot order to boot from USB HHD and F10 to save and exit. Note - NVMe will not be visible in BIOS info!

8. Window should now have booted via USB and you can check if the Sumsung 970Evo NVMe is functional by downloading Sumsung magician https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/product/consumer/970evo/

The NVMe driver is also at the link but I didn't need it.

9. Now you can migrate/mirror/clone the bootable USB drive to NVMe drive. I used Minitools partition wizard but also tested Sumsung Data Migration and that worked fine.

10. Minitools will ask you to shutdown to continue to clone the drive. Once its finished, remove USB bootable drive and boot into BIOS to change boot order and you should be good.

Final results don't mean that much to me! I plan to redo the test with the original sata SSD.

Not sure if all 4 lanes are used, how can you check?

Thanks for all forum inputs.

Paul

brummyfan2

Windypauls said:

OK... I've got to the bottom of this problem.
So for all those users with only 1 x M.2 slot, you MUST have the NVMe drive installed in the M.2 slot and then you migrate the old hardrive from a bootable windows USB drive.
Here was my steps.
1. backup original 256GB sata3 drive (acronis2020).
2. download FREE https://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/ for making bootable USB of my original drive. This is to boot windows from USB, not M2.
3. open WinToUSB and select third drive on the list, 'physical drive'.
4. select my Sumsung portable USB3.0 SSD (T5 500GB) and select GPT for UEFI (laptop 5years or newer).

5. select Legacy and 'sector by sector'

6. Click next and WinToUSB will prompt you to confirm shutdown for it to be able to copy all sectors.
7. Once completed, shutdown PC. Press and hold F2 during startup to boot into BIOS and change boot order to boot from USB HHD and F10 to save and exit. Note - NVMe will not be visible in BIOS info!
8. Window should now have booted via USB and you can check if the Sumsung 970Evo NVMe is functional by downloading Sumsung magician https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/product/consumer/970evo/

The NVMe driver is also at the link but I didn't need it.
9. Now you can migrate/mirror/clone the bootable USB drive to NVMe drive. I used Minitools partition wizard but also tested Sumsung Data Migration and that worked fine.

10. Minitools will ask you to shutdown to continue to clone the drive. Once its finished, remove USB bootable drive and boot into BIOS to change boot order and you should be good.

Final results don't mean that much to me! I plan to redo the test with the original sata SSD.
Not sure if all 4 lanes are used, how can you check?

Thanks for all forum inputs.
Paul