Nitro 5 AN515-58-57Y8: Problem replacing M2 SSD with 2.5 SSD.

Hello - I am looking for some help in regard to replacing the SSD in my Acee Nitro 5 AN515-58-57Y8. I want to remove the SSD(M2) the computer came with and only use the new 1tb 2.5 SSD drive that I have purchased.

My system came with a 500gb M2 drive. I have purchased a 1tb 2.5 SSD and have successfully installed it in the laptop and have formatted the drive. When I attempted to remove the M2 drive, and boot from the new drive, it tells me no bootable device. I attempted to change the boot order in BIOS, and it does not allow me to change anything in relation to the boot order. I created a recovery drive on a USB, removed the M2 drive and attempted to recover onto the new SSD drive, that did not work.

I am not finding a way to use only my new drive, without having the M2 drive installed. I have been tackling this problem for 12+ hours and am overly annoyed at this point.. as this should be a really simple process. I have done this exact thing on multiple laptops and desktops, and have never had an issue. If anyone can assist with this, I would be more then grateful.

[Edited the thread to add model number to the title]

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fin3ssed

You need to have a operating system installed on the new hard drive. The m.2 drive has your windows operating system on it which is why it won’t boot when you remove it

fin3ssed

you basically need to clone your m.2 and put it all onto your new 2.5ssd then make sure that ssd is your boot drive with allocated letter C

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/707821/nitro-5-an515-58-57y8-problem-replacing-m2-ssd-with-2-5-ssd

@Moooookie I strongly recommend that YOU DO NOT USE A 2.5" SATA 3 6GB/s AS A BOOT DRIVE IN THIS LAPTOP AS IT WILL REDUCCE THIS LATOPS PERFORMANCE BY AT LEAST 500%+, you can do whatever you want but you will see that the laptop will not perform to its designed Acer gaming intended performance which I've given you a brief explanation why below.

What you first need to do with the 2.5" 1TB SSD is to CLONE the oem AN515-58 Nitro 5 M.2 SSD boot drive onto the new 1TB SSD drive by either installing the new 1TB 2.5 SSD into the AN515-58 laptop 2.5" SATA space, or you can use a USB 3.0 or USB-C to SATA 3 adapter cable (which is allot slower in speed to clone) then install the cloning software that your 1TB SSD drive uses oem (if it has one?) if it doesn't, then use Macrium Reflect 8 to clone the drive as a cloning software. After the cloning is finished, take the AN515-58 oem M.2 boot drive out and then boot your AN515-58 laptop with the new 2.5" 1TB SSD - WARNING YOUR NIYTRO 5 AN515-58 WILL BE 500%+++ SLOWER AND LIKE A SNAIL OPERSTING THE WIN-10 22H2 OR WIN-11 23H2 VERSIONS OSs😀 as the speed differences between an M.2 Gen4x4 drive and a SATA 3 SSD 6GB/s speeds will be tremendously slower, so be very aware of that.

Note: The Nitro 5 AN515-58 is a modern gaming laptop released on the 2023/01/06 and it has 2x Gen 4 M.2 SSD drive slots that its SSD1 boot drive speed and SSD2 slave drive M.2 slots are of a type PCIe4x4 interface which has a max and realistic benchmarked tested Read 6900MB/s /Write 6700MB/s speeds while one of the top 2.5" SATA 3 SSD drives like the Samsung 1TB 870 EVO has a Read speed of 565MB/s and a Write speed of 535MB/s which is like comparing a Model T to a private jets🤣. I

If you want to choose an appropriate Gen 4x4 M.2 SSD suitable for your AN515-58 have a look at this Tom's Hardware SSD Benchmarks Hierarchy 2024 which will give you a great guide to all the 1TB 2TB and 4TB Gen 3/4 and 5 M.2 SSD drive speeds compared to the fastest 2.5" SATA 3 Samsung 1TB 870 EVO, so look at the benchmark test differences done. I suggest that you use the 1TB SSD as an internal or external storage drive ONLY for your AN515-58.

Btw, an M.2 1TB M.2 SSD drive is just a little bit more expensive than a 2.5" SATA 3 SSD drive, but the performance difference is worth every extra dollar that you spend on an M.2 SSD. Good luck and hope this sways your decision to use that 1TB SSD