BIOS (UEFI), SATA AHCI S600, PCIe NVMe - E15 (E5-575G-53VG)

So I really like my E15 (E5-575G-53VG) (Win 10 Pro, 16GB RAM) But I'm pretty close to filling up the 256 GB SSD. Yes, I have cleaned up excess junk on the drive, and I have a second drive installed for files, etc., and an external 2TB HDD backup. But my boot drive is filling up with apps, VMs and such. And moving things around to other drives sometimes causes latency and missing components that I have to reset.
So I want to upgrade my boot drive to 512GB. That will be plenty for me.
My Mobo SSD IF is a "B" key connector. The original SSD is an "M" key. So a B key (PCIe) SSD will fit. The UEFI SATA mode is AHCI. So it won't do me much good to put in a PCIe SSD from what I've read, which is what I want to do. However, I thought I could change this setting to Auto or PCIe in the UEFI. But my UEFI interface doesn't give me that option. My UEFI version is 1.04. Never updated it since the day I bought the machine in 2015 or '16. I see the latest version is 1.34. So here are my questions.

Should I update my BIOS to the latest version or go through each update one by one? My instincts tell me to just use the latest one as that will have all the updates (files size is a clue too), but I just want to be sure.
Will that give me the option to change the SATA mode from AHCI to PCIe or auto? The IF has the right key config so that would imply the lanes are there (?). But can the BUS handle the I/O?
Or, should I just update my UEFI and stick with an S600 SATA drive?
Or, just buy a new machine? Frankly this is def my last choice as I'd rather upgrade this SDD and use my cash to build a powerful workstation (tower). I'm dying to try a Ryzen7 CPU and config!

I'm most concerned about flashing my BIOS firmware as I don't want to brick my laptop. Any advice on how to do this is helpful. BTW I have downloaded and unzipped the ACER BIOS update file. I looks like ACER will handle all the necessary steps. Before I do this, I will create an ISO of my HD and a recovery disk.

Any and all helpful replies are greatly appreciated. Let me know if you need any more details. Pics below. Mobo SSD IF, SSD, UEFI home page. Thank you Acer Community!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/lc/0my5mu5eufcy.jpg

//Edited the content to add model name on title.

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JackE

Leave BIOS alone. Must stay in AHCI mode. You seem to have a 256GB Samsung 2.5" SATA3 SSD. And a Kingston is a 256GB SATA3 m.2 card. You can easily replace either internal SSD. But it's usually easier to simply replace the non-boot SSD because no cloning/migration is needed. Jack E/NJ

StevenGen

Skairipa said:

So I really like my E15 (E5-575G-53VG) (Win 10 Pro, 16GB RAM) But I'm pretty close to filling up the 256 GB SSD. Yes, I have cleaned up excess junk on the drive, and I have a second drive installed for files, etc., and an external 2TB HDD backup. But my boot drive is filling up with apps, VMs and such. And moving things around to other drives sometimes causes latency and missing components that I have to reset.
So I want to upgrade my boot drive to 512GB. That will be plenty for me.
My Mobo SSD IF is a "B" key connector. The original SSD is an "M" key. So a B key (PCIe) SSD will fit. The UEFI SATA mode is AHCI. So it won't do me much good to put in a PCIe SSD from what I've read, which is what I want to do. However, I thought I could change this setting to Auto or PCIe in the UEFI. But my UEFI interface doesn't give me that option. My UEFI version is 1.04. Never updated it since the day I bought the machine in 2015 or '16. I see the latest version is 1.34. So here are my questions.
Should I update my BIOS to the latest version or go through each update one by one? My instincts tell me to just use the latest one as that will have all the updates (files size is a clue too), but I just want to be sure.
Will that give me the option to change the SATA mode from AHCI to PCIe or auto? The IF has the right key config so that would imply the lanes are there (?). But can the BUS handle the I/O?
Or, should I just update my UEFI and stick with an S600 SATA drive?
Or, just buy a new machine? Frankly this is def my last choice as I'd rather upgrade this SDD and use my cash to build a powerful workstation (tower). I'm dying to try a Ryzen7 CPU and config!
I'm most concerned about flashing my BIOS firmware as I don't want to brick my laptop. Any advice on how to do this is helpful. BTW I have downloaded and unzipped the ACER BIOS update file. I looks like ACER will handle all the necessary steps. Before I do this, I will create an ISO of my HD and a recovery disk.

Any and all helpful replies are greatly appreciated. Let me know if you need any more details. Pics below. Mobo SSD IF, SSD, UEFI home page. Thank you Acer Community!

My advise Skairipa and from my experience the easiest way to overcome your problems is this, get a new SSD M.2 drive that is exactly the same as you have installed with a higher capacity (as 256GB is a low capacity for a boot drive) and then clone your boot drive HHD0 the (Samsung SSD 860 EVO 250GB) with the Win-10 Pro OS on it to a higher capacity M.2 drive of a minimum 500GB or even a 1Tb of the same OEM specs, and use the 256GB (which is not a high capacity these days) as a slave drive, btw, I run a 500GB boot drives and a minimum of a 1Tb slave drive or higher. You can clone your existing boot drive with and if you get a Samsung drive with their excellent "Data Migration" software or if you get other drives with the excellent Macrium Reflect v7" software.

1. With the bios, the released and first bios from Acer for the E5-575G-53VG OEM was the Insyde v1.02 with a bios ROM type; W25Q64FVSSIQ. you have the first Acer listed bios update which is the version v1.04 dated 2016/05/20, which there are 8 more current updates to the v1.04's. I would update that to the last bios v1.47 dated 2018/09/18 released by Acer so that you have all the full functionality of your E5-575G options that Acer intended for the E5-5715G's. Btw, I've updated allot of older laptops bios's than your E5-575G-53VG and desktops with no problems and they worked perfectly.

Please Note: that this is my suggestion only as updating a bios and its success is extremely variant and depends on your systems software functionality and the bios chip condition (especially in older laptops/desktops) so that the computer doesn't turn off during a bios update and/or the bios chip is in good order and has not deteriorated with age so it will fail in a bios update environment but, most older bios chips do update perfectly without any problems but, you have to update to the strict precautionary rules of a bios update.

2&3. Definitely stay in AHCI mode don't change anything in bios. Your M.2 specs features are: e-NAND system specification, compliant with V5.0 and Dual data rate of up to 400Mbyte/s @ 200MHz and your Hard Disk Drive features are: Interface; SATA-3, Fast data transfer

rate (Gbits / sec, max; 6.0Gb/sec.

4. With the E5-575G you can update the memory to a max 32GB at DDR3L-1333MHz soDIMM or DDR3L-1600MHz soDIMM into its 2x slots (e.g. 2x 16GB DDRL3-1666MHz) or you can also try as I've done to the higher DDR3L-1866MHz and the hard drives to 2,5" SATA-3 and M.2 SSD's, that is all that you can, as updating the SSD and RAM is a much cheaper option than buying a new machine.

Skairipa

OK, I'll stick with my current SATA config.

JackE said:

Leave BIOS alone. Must stay in AHCI mode. You seem to have a 256GB Samsung 2.5" SATA3 SSD. And a Kingston is a 256GB SATA3 m.2 card. You can easily replace either internal SSD. But it's usually easier to simply replace the non-boot SSD because no cloning/migration is needed. Jack E/NJ

I've updated BIOS in the past on other machines. No issues. Yes I know there can be issues. But why not run the latest firmware Jack? Please explain your reply. Thanks.

JackE

BIOS updates are usually reserved for machines that have significant issues specifically addressed by the update description. Unlike driver updates, they should be considered irreversible if they cause collateral issues. Jack E/NJ

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