Does the Acer Spin 3 have a spare m.2 or msata slot for a SSD?

Gigahurtz · November 2016

laurent_14 · November 2016

Hello,

Spin SP315-51 (Spin 3) has a M.2 2242/2280 SSD socket.

jenchiwei · December 2016

Thanks. It is verified that the SPIN 3 has a m.2 "M" key connector. what type of m.2 ssd I should get? msata or PCIe NVMe type? It appears all the PCIe SSD is "M" key.

Does it support boot from PCIe? Where I can find information about the motherboard? Enter to the BIOS doest seems to be UEFI boot.

The SPIN 3 with HDD is painfully slow and not responsive. What's the reason to sell a i7, 12G DDR4 RAM with crappy HDD to make it like a sub $300 PC while I paid $600 for it!

jenchiwei · December 2016

any luck on you spn upgrade?

laurent_14 · December 2016

Hi jenchiwei,

All original SSDs are M.2 SATA 3.0 (B&M keys). There is no information concerning NVMe 1.1 supported. They are shipped with Windows 10 so UEFI bios.

PS: I'm not an Acer employee.

jenchiwei · December 2016

It appears to be a "M" key m.2.

laurent_14 · December 2016

I see only 4 pins instead of 5. M key can be PCIe X4 or SATA interface.

raptor88 · December 2016

ACE laurent_14 said:
Spin SP315-51 (Spin 3) has a M.2 2242/2280 SSD socket.
All original SSDs are M.2 SATA 3.0 (B&M keys). There is no information concerning NVMe 1.1 supported. They are shipped with Windows 10 so UEFI bios.

ACE laurent_14,

Thanks for your info.

According to a reply to a question by Acer on amazon for the Spin 3 SP315-51-53C7:

Question:
Can you add an SSD to this laptop?
Answer:
While the system has an M.2 SSD slot, this model does not ship with an M.2 drive installed so the standoff pin and mounting screw are not included with the system. Unfortunately these parts are not available for purchase.
By Acer America MANUFACTURER on November 29, 2016

I bought a Spin 3 SP315-51-79NT from Costco. Would this M.2 SSD Crucial MX300 work?

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX300-275GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B01IAGSDJ0/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1481402121&sr=1-2&keywords=m.2+ssd

..... The label on the SSD picture says it is SATA 6Gb/s, 5V, 1.7a.

Guess I'll need to buy a standoff but what height standoff? According to the question/answers for the Crucial MX300, 2 mounting screws are included.

Thanks,

Raptor88

raptor88 · December 2016

jenchiwei, thanks for posting your pictures.

Did you install a M.2 SSD in your Acer Spin3 yet? If so, which one and what about the standoff and mounting screw?

Thanks,

Raptor88

laurent_14 · December 2016

Hi Raptor88,

Q: Would this M.2 SSD Crucial MX300 work?

A: Yes SATA 3.0=SATA 6Gb/s

Q: Guess I'll need to buy a standoff but what height standoff?

A: I think it is a little metal plate. I'll try to get this information next week (screw and "bracket").

raptor88 · December 2016

Ace Laurent_14 said:

Q: Would this M.2 SSD Crucial MX300 work?

A: Yes SATA 3.0=SATA 6Gb/s

Q: Guess I'll need to buy a standoff but what height standoff?

A: I think it is a little metal plate. I'll try to get this information next week (screw and "bracket").

-----

Thanks for your help.

A 128GB PCIe M.2 SSD sells for about $10 more than a 256GB SATA M.2 SSD. I really only need a 128GB SSD. Wonder if a faster PCIe M.2 SSD would work in the SP315-51-79NT Spin3 laptop? If anyone knows, please post.

Thanks,

raptor88

jenchiwei · December 2016

Just a mounting screw needed if you get a 2280 (22mm wide x 80 mm long)

jenchiwei · December 2016

Got a intel 600p m.2 ssd nvme. But no luck to have the spin 3 recognize the new ssd. May require a bios update. Still no where to find information on acer web.
I am sure a ata ssd can replace the clunker hdd. But it is kind of defeat the point of m.2 ssd in place and leave me a useless hdd. Better stay away from the spin 3 (acer as well) if want to enjoy the hype of m.2 ssd. Read from a web site how to Id if a nvme is supported: look in existing nvme on the system. Smiley Happy

raptor88 · December 2016

jenchiwei said:

Just a mounting screw needed if you get a 2280 (22mm wide x 80 mm long)

-----

Thanks jenchiwei for this valuable info.

mck

raptor88 · December 2016

jenchiwei said:

Got a intel 600p m.2 ssd nvme. But no luck to have the spin 3 recognize the new ssd. May require a bios update. Still no where to find information on acer web.
I am sure a ata ssd can replace the clunker hdd. But it is kind of defeat the point of m.2 ssd in place and leave me a useless hdd. Better stay away from the spin 3 (acer as well) if want to enjoy the hype of m.2 ssd. Read from a web site how to Id if a nvme is supported: look in existing nvme on the system.

----------

Thanks jenchiwei,

I Googled the intel 600p m.2 ssd nvme and it appears that it is a PCIe type with a M connector. Guess your experience verifies that the PCIe type SSD will not work in the Spin3.

Ace laurent had previously posted that "All original SSDs are M.2 SATA 3.0 (B&M keys). There is no information concerning NVMe 1.1 supported." So I guess that with that info plus your experience, the Spin3's motherboard can only support the SATA 3.0 type SSDs with the B+M keys.

Thanks so much for sharing your valuable experience!

mck

raptor88 · December 2016

Raptor88 said:

Thanks jenchiwei,

I Googled the intel 600p m.2 ssd nvme and it appears that it is a PCIe type with a M connector. Guess your experience verifies that the PCIe type SSD will not work in the Spin3.

Ace laurent had previously posted that "All original SSDs are M.2 SATA 3.0 (B&M keys). There is no information concerning NVMe 1.1 supported." So I guess that with that info plus your experience, the Spin3's motherboard can only support the SATA 3.0 type SSDs with the B+M keys.

Thanks so much for sharing your valuable experience!

mck (Raptor 88)

----------

jenchi and Ace_laurent,

I called Acer tech support and the representative verified that the model of Spin3 that I have (SP315-51) does support the SATA type of SSD, and not the PCIe type.

Raptor88

jenchiwei · December 2016

The "M" key socket on Spin3 will fit both M+B and M key ssd

raptor88 · December 2016

jenchiwei said:

The "M" key socket on Spin3 will fit both M+B and M key ssd. (image omitted to save bandwidth)

----------

Hi jenchiwei,

Although "M" type PCIe SSDs will fit the M.2 socket on the Spin3 motherboard, Acer's tech rep said the motherboard only supports the SATA type SSDs. To the best of my knowledge, from research that I did so far, I believe that SATA type SSDs only come in the B+M keyed SSD cards.

I ordered a Crucial MX300 275GB M.2 (2280) SATA-3 SSD from the following link:

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX300-275GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B01IAGSDJ0/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1481402121&sr=1-2&keywords=m.2+ssd

Will post my results when I receive that SSD.

Raptor88

jenchiwei · December 2016

Got the same Mx300 m.2 sata SSD . It works on my spin3. Thanks.

Now the new win10 instalation need to activate digital license.

raptor88 · December 2016

jenchiwei said:

Got the same Mx300 m.2 sata SSD . It works on my spin3. Thanks.

Now the new win10 instalation need to activate digital license.

----------

Great. Glad to hear that it works. You got yours really fast.

Regarding activating the Win10 digital license, I'm planning to clone the factory 1TB hard drive to the new SSD. Shouldn't have any Win10 activation problems that way.

The clone should work but as a precaution, I've backed up the 1TB drive and also made an Acer factory backup restore drive.

Happy Holidays,

Raptor88

raptor88 · December 2016

jenchiwei,

BTW, did you create an Acer factory backup restore drive on a USB flash drive? If so, how long did it take? (I assume your Spin3 came with a 1TB hard drive.)