I want to upgrade my Acer aspire 3 with model number: A315-51-31HT and part no: NX.GNPSI.008

Hello everybody i was having hang issues with my laptop recently and i tried everything...went as far as to clean install win 10 again....but still the problem did not resolve and so i checked with a local technician and he said that my hard drive was dying and I myself while installing win10 again found the msg that this hard drive is damaged....so nevertheless i have made up my mind on investing on an SSD but i have no knowledge whatsoever about what kind of SSD should i buy or what type is supported on my laptop....so I need help in finding out what will be the best ssd for me... please help its urgent!!!!! Thanks in advance guys.

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JackE

You have two choices. You should be able to replace the 2.5" HDD with just about any 2.5" SSD up to 2TB without issues. You should also be able to install an m.2 SATA3 SSD card up to 2TB. The easiest and cheapest is probably a 2.5" SSD.

Zeeus

Thank you so much for replying....but it seems that 2.5" SATA SSD is more expensive as of right now than a SATA m.2 one.....and are you sure that this model has the m.2 slot and yeah i am thinking of buying a 500gb capacity one. And one more thing what do you mean when you say that installing the 2.5" one would be easier??

JackE

Yes, your mainboard has both a 2.5" HDD/SSD connector and an m.2 SSD card connector. The 2.5" is easier to access because there is a 2.5 access door on the bottom. The m.2 card is more difficult because the bottom cover and battery must be removed. Also the cloning/migration process is often less troublesome when moving Windows from a 2.5" HDD to a 2.5" SSD than to an m.2 SSD card.

Zeeus

Why should i clone or migrate windows...i mean i have my data already backed up on an external usb drive and a clean windows image(bootable USB) on another one....and I don't need the data on the hdd....so will i still need to clone or migrate windows??? And are you sure this is A315-51-31HT's motherboard?

JackE

You need some kind of an operating system on the new 2.5" SSD or m.2 SSD. They are usually not sold with Windows or any other operating system already installed. So you can either clone/migrate the ACER OEM Win10 version. Or you can install the generic Win10 version using Microsoft's media creation tool. The OEM and generic versions are not the same. The OEM version has system libraries that are specific to the ACER proprietary mainboard as well as the peripheral drivers that have updates available on the ACER download page. The generic version may or may not install OK. The OEM version is more likely to install OK. It's entirely up to you what version you want to try.

I'm only sure that the mainboard image posted earlier is from the original A315-51 series specsheet from ACER. This also states that the information is subject to change without notice due to production variations. So if it was mine, I'd remove the back cover & battery to make sure the m.2 socket was available before ordering the m.2 card instead of the much easier to install 2.5" SSD. I'd go for the easier to install 2.5" SSD. But it's not mine. So you have to decide if you want the m.2 SSD card more than the easier-to-install 2.5" SSD.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/y4/cnblkewjeykc.jpg

Zeeus

Okay mate thank you so much for solving my doubts....I will have to go with the media creation tool only as I didn't have the OEM version of Windows. I got Linux Ubuntu pre installed.....I had purchased a retail key (windows) and installed it earlier using the media creation tool only. Guess I'll have to do that again. Nevertheless will open my back panel today and check for the m.2 slot as currently it is selling cheaper than the 2.5" one.....if its there will surely purchase it.....Any tips as to what should the m.2 slot look like or have anything which I should check before buying a new one.....as I checked it on Google and they said that it is of various types.

JackE

Your m2 socket should look similar to this one shown below. It may have a single key bump on the right side called an M key. Or it may have another key bump on the left hand side called a B key.

The safest card choice is an m2 SATA3 card since it will physically fit and work in all m2 sockets whether M key only, B+M key or B-key only. Your model's mainboard will not operate at more than SATA3 speeds so it would be a waste of money to install a more expensive higher speed NVME card with a single M-key slot even if it fits. .

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/4k/mcfvova21t9d.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/5a/0viga2o4zzbx.jpg

Zeeus

Okay bro I understood everything just that how will a card with both m and b key connecter (as shown in the figure) would connect to a socket which has either b key or m key bump. Actually I am buying that one only the WD blue one which is shown in the picture above. Also I don't know why but at the moment here nvmes are selling cheaper than the 2.5" ones. I just cannot believe that an nvme and an msata are selling at the same price and the 2.5" one is about 1k costlier than the other two 🙃 seems like too many people are going for the 2.5" ones

JackE

The B+M key slots in the SATA3 card will fit a B-only keybump socket. The is because the empty B keyslot in the card will not be blocked by the B keybump in the socket. And the card's empty M keyslot will also not be blocked because there is no M keybump in the socket to block it, just gold plated connectors that won't be used because the card's M keyslot is empty.

Once you get the SATA3 card, you will more easily see how the card's empty B+M keyslots will not be blocked by a B-only keybump socket, an M-only keybump socket or a dual B+M keybump socket. It fits and works in all 3.

Zeeus

Okay mate... thanks so much for helping me out.....will ask again if I have any further queries

baitzeu

Hello,

I have the same model and I'm looking to upgrade to SSD for better performance. I want to know if I will be able to use existing 2.5" HDD if I add M.2 SSD. Also is there any way to check specification of the slot to help me decide best type of upgrade. It has a number printed on the slot that I believe specifies the type of slot it is. I found some information on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.2#Form_factors_and_keying and https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-in/000144170/how-to-distinguish-the-differences-between-m-2-cards but I couldn't find the numbers printed on my slot.

And yea... opening the back cover is not that complicated as other devices. Although I'm novice but I find it easy on this model as there no hidden mechanism/lock and there are no wires/stripe to care for except 2.5" HDD connection.