Nitro AN515-51. SSD failing/corrupt. How to install windows on a new SSD.

Hello,

I have Nitro AN515-51. 256GB SSD (M2 - Intel) and it had a 1TB HDD. Windows 10 Home 64Bit. The HDD failed 9 months back. And now the SSD is also showing corruptions - 51% health.

I tried migrating the OS/cloning the disk onto another disk, but each time it shows there are read errors. I still went ahead and cloned. Enabled boot menu and booted from the new(cloned) disk, but it gets stuck after the ACER loading screen, a black screen appears, the mouse moves - blue circle each time I move the mouse and nothing else. Its stuck there even if i leave it on for hours.

Reinstalling windows/repairing windows on the existing SSD fails each time. Windows updates also roll back every time (im stuck on Win10 1909).

I am a bit lost, read a lot of posts that led me to the above steps (cloning/repairing etc). I need help/pointers on how to make a fresh install on my new SSD.

Should I disconnect the failing SSD from the laptop?Before installing fresh windows on the new SSD.
The new SSD will be in the second drive bay (its a SATA). Will this be an issue. Do I need to install windows on an M2. SSD?
Should I use the windows media creation tool to create a bootable usb and then install. Will this cause any issues? Windows activation. Device drivers etc?

Thanks for the help!

Accepted answers

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/687759/nitro-an515-51-ssd-failing-corrupt-how-to-install-windows-on-a-new-ssd

Salvage whatever data you can from the HDD and SSD by mounting the bad drives in an external USB case and copying personal files to another PC, if that does not work contact a PC repair shop to retrieve data from a broken disk. Make a bootable USB flash drive with a Windows ISO file. Yes you should remove all drives from your laptop and mount the new SATA SSD in the 2,5" HDD case or if PCIe in the Sata slot. It is up to you, but I would use a Sata drive as the boot drive, NVMe SSDs can give booting issues on older systems.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/install-windows-10-on-new-ssd-disk/1bb06826-880b-4428-be2d-474e9ea618b5
and this W10 tutorial:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-clean-install-windows-10-a.html

If in a bind, bring the laptop to Acer Services in your country and ask them to load the original OEM Windows on your new SSD, or if Acer prefers a certain 2.5" SATA drive let them install that one but insist you want SSD not HDD, there are very fast 2.5" SATA hybrid HDD/SSD mechanical drives by WD on the market.

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/687759/nitro-an515-51-ssd-failing-corrupt-how-to-install-windows-on-a-new-ssd

Just in addition as you need to do a clean install of Win-10 with a new 1TB PCIe NVMe M.2 drive to give you allot of capacity, for this to work. Don't use the faulty 256GB Intel SSDPEKKW256G7X1 PCIe-NVMe drive as that is why you are not able to install Win-10.

Make a Win-10 Installation USB with bootable Rufus 4.1 file and follow the Rufus installation process as per their guide, then boot this installation USB with your AN515-51 laptop and do a Clean Install of Win-10 on your laptop, only use the 2.7" SATA III spinner or SSD drive as a slave secondary drive as SATA III drive are way too slow these days, use the faster and compatible M.2 SSD PCIe NVMe drive as your boot drive only. Also and when you get your AN515-51 working 100% update the bios to its last version 1.22 and make sure that you have all windows updates done and all NVidia and Intel drivers up to date.

All comments

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/687759/nitro-an515-51-ssd-failing-corrupt-how-to-install-windows-on-a-new-ssd

Salvage whatever data you can from the HDD and SSD by mounting the bad drives in an external USB case and copying personal files to another PC, if that does not work contact a PC repair shop to retrieve data from a broken disk. Make a bootable USB flash drive with a Windows ISO file. Yes you should remove all drives from your laptop and mount the new SATA SSD in the 2,5" HDD case or if PCIe in the Sata slot. It is up to you, but I would use a Sata drive as the boot drive, NVMe SSDs can give booting issues on older systems.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/install-windows-10-on-new-ssd-disk/1bb06826-880b-4428-be2d-474e9ea618b5
and this W10 tutorial:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-clean-install-windows-10-a.html

If in a bind, bring the laptop to Acer Services in your country and ask them to load the original OEM Windows on your new SSD, or if Acer prefers a certain 2.5" SATA drive let them install that one but insist you want SSD not HDD, there are very fast 2.5" SATA hybrid HDD/SSD mechanical drives by WD on the market.

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/687759/nitro-an515-51-ssd-failing-corrupt-how-to-install-windows-on-a-new-ssd

Just in addition as you need to do a clean install of Win-10 with a new 1TB PCIe NVMe M.2 drive to give you allot of capacity, for this to work. Don't use the faulty 256GB Intel SSDPEKKW256G7X1 PCIe-NVMe drive as that is why you are not able to install Win-10.

Make a Win-10 Installation USB with bootable Rufus 4.1 file and follow the Rufus installation process as per their guide, then boot this installation USB with your AN515-51 laptop and do a Clean Install of Win-10 on your laptop, only use the 2.7" SATA III spinner or SSD drive as a slave secondary drive as SATA III drive are way too slow these days, use the faster and compatible M.2 SSD PCIe NVMe drive as your boot drive only. Also and when you get your AN515-51 working 100% update the bios to its last version 1.22 and make sure that you have all windows updates done and all NVidia and Intel drivers up to date.