ACER ASPIRE 3 A315-34-C0RE RAM & Storage upgrade

Raymoyer
Raymoyer Member Posts: 3 New User
edited October 2021 in Aspire Laptops
Hi. Just purchased this laptop in France and was wondering what the ram and ssd upgrade options are. It has a soldered 4gig memory. 
Some specs for this (Core!) version are:

Processor Intel Celeron Dual Core N4020 Gemini Lake Refresh (1.1 GHz,
2 cores, TDP 6W)
RAM installed (max) 4 GB (soldered) DDR4 2400 MHz (16 GB), 1 slot (free)
Storage 128 GB M.2 SSD 

Can I fit a 16 GB RAM into the free slot? And can I upgrade the HDD at all? If so which types are supported?

Thanks.

Best Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    Yes, a 16GB DDR4 sodiumm module 2400MHz or faster should be compatible and give you a total of 20GB maximum with the existing 4GB soldered RAM on the mainboard. You should also be able to add a 2.5" HDD or SSD up to 2TB. You can also change the 128GB m.2 card  up to a 2TB m.2 SATA3 card.

    Jack E/NJ

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    C-zero-R-E is just a submodel designation of the A315-34 series with slightly different features than say an A315-34-c55b. Case color combo may be slightly different. Keyboard might be specific to a certain county. Factory RAM could be higher. Boot drive could be from different manufacturers with differing capacities. Stuff like that. Your guess is as good as mine as how ACER derived the -c0re submodel designation from the specs instead of -core or anything else. :)

    Jack E/NJ

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Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    Yes, a 16GB DDR4 sodiumm module 2400MHz or faster should be compatible and give you a total of 20GB maximum with the existing 4GB soldered RAM on the mainboard. You should also be able to add a 2.5" HDD or SSD up to 2TB. You can also change the 128GB m.2 card  up to a 2TB m.2 SATA3 card.

    Jack E/NJ

  • Raymoyer
    Raymoyer Member Posts: 3 New User
    Thank you JackE. Appreciate it. What is the "Core" at the end of its name? Can't find much about it on the WWW!
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    C-zero-R-E is just a submodel designation of the A315-34 series with slightly different features than say an A315-34-c55b. Case color combo may be slightly different. Keyboard might be specific to a certain county. Factory RAM could be higher. Boot drive could be from different manufacturers with differing capacities. Stuff like that. Your guess is as good as mine as how ACER derived the -c0re submodel designation from the specs instead of -core or anything else. :)

    Jack E/NJ

  • Raymoyer
    Raymoyer Member Posts: 3 New User
    Ah ok  :). Thanks for clarifying that. 
  • jordontheego
    jordontheego Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    edited January 2022
    Hi @JackE I have the same laptop and model but the only difference is my CPU. I have the basic 'Intel Pentium Silver - N5030 - 1.1GHz, 4 cores' processor, would the upgrade options you mentioned still apply? 

    Be great to hear back from you.


  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer
    Yes, should be the same. However, some mainboards were equipped with 4GB in the replaceable RAM socket and nothing soldered to the unreplaceable RAM socket on the mainboard. In this case, 16GB, not 20GB would be the maximum possible RAM.

    Jack E/NJ

  • jordontheego
    jordontheego Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    Hey @JackE thanks for replying bro. That’s cool and understood. My last question I’m wondering is that with the upgrades of both the RAM and the M.2 SSD if I start using software can the CPU mentioned handle operating software efficiently? Is it a matter of how big the software is and what specs it needs to run….like with the new upgrades, how much can a Intel Pentium Silver processor actually handle?

    sorry if it’s a bit ambiguous but I’m an absolute noob to computing but I’ve bought a new laptop with the hope of downloading numerous software.

    thanks again
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer
    The bottlenecks to running big software are usually NOT due to the CPU. Sure, a faster CPU will process big software faster, but a slower CPU can usually process just as much software---well---more slowly. :)

    Jack E/NJ

  • jordontheego
    jordontheego Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    Hi @JackE again. So since we last spoke I bought 16GB RAM which is recognised by the laptop but can only use 8GB of it as 12GB is the limit. As well I have purchased a 'WD BLUE 3D NAND SATA SSD M.2 2280'. Now the M.2 SSD's interface is an 'M Slot socket'. An the card I removed is a kingston 128GB. Upon installing the new SSD I'm greeted with 'No Bootable Drive'. I go on the computers BIOS, the SATA mode is AHCI and the SSD is no where to be seen? Do I have the correct SSD or do I need an NVMe? Also do I need to boot with an OS as well? Be great to hear back from you.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer
    Yes, of course. That's because you must first clone or migrate the old card's Windows boot system on to the new drive BEFORE you install the new card. You must do this because the new card is empty. No Windows boot system on it because it's well, new. :)

    First, put the old card back in. Then order an inexpensive USB-to-m.2 SSD adapter from Amazon like shown below. Then use a free clone migration tool like MacriiumReflect or AOEMI backerupper, insert the new card in the adapter and clone the old card onto the new card. Then you can exchange the cards.

     

    Jack E/NJ

  • jordontheego
    jordontheego Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    edited January 2022
    @JackE Say no more. Thank you very much you've been a great help!
  • jordontheego
    jordontheego Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    Hi @JackE again. So I have literally done the above of what you said, cloned and inserted and then upon startup I get the same message, 'No bootable drive.' Could you advise on what I could do further? Also not giving me an option to change values on the boot menu in BIOS. UEFI is enabled, secure boot enabled and nothing next to boot priority order.
  • padgett
    padgett ACE Posts: 4,532 Pathfinder
    OK lets drill down further. What Brand is your new SSD and what software did you use to clone it ? Did you remove the original drive before trying to boot ? (Bios does not like two disks with the same signature.)
  • jordontheego
    jordontheego Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    The brand is WD Blue 3D NAND SATA SSD M.2 2280. I used macriumm reflect to clone and yes I removed the old drive.
  • jordontheego
    jordontheego Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer
    OK. Go back into the BIOS menu. Please post phone photos of the INFORMATION, MAIN & BOOT tabs if possible.

    Jack E/NJ

  • jordontheego
    jordontheego Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    @JackE it’s totally not recognised.


  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer
    It's either not inserted properly or the card's now bad. Did you disconnect the battery from the mainboard before you exchanged cards? If Windows was left in fast startup mode, the battery must be disconnected to avoid the possibility of hot-swap damage. Try unscrewing it again, re-seating a few times to help clean and make good contacts, then screwing it down again.  The card absolutely must appear in the BIOS INFORMATION tab or it's a goner.

    Jack E/NJ

  • jordontheego
    jordontheego Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    I always disconnect and reconnect the battery when swapping. Also disabled fast startup to check if that was the issue and it wasn’t. Can I boot Windows from the old drive externally whilst the new one is connected internally? Then once up and running use the new one? 

    I don’t know, I feel like the issue is with the M.2 interface not liking the look of the WD SATA SSD. I know the drive is good from viewing the cloned items within it on Macrium. Why it won’t utilise Boot manager once installed I don’t know.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer
    No. First swap the old card back in to see if it's still recognized OK by the BIOS.

    Jack E/NJ