SP513-52N-53Y6: Is the M.2 Slot PCIe NVMe compatible? Can I use a 1 TB SSD?

Hello,

I have an Acer Spin 5 (SP513-52N-53Y6) with a 256 GB m.2 SATA SSD. I would like to exchange it with a 1 TB one. Can I choose a PCIe NVMe one such as the Samsung 960 EVO 1 TB or the new Samsung 970 Evo 1 TB or do I have to go for a SATA one such as the Samsung 860 EVO 1 TB or the Western Digital Blue 3D Nand 1 TB? A screenshot of HWINFO64 is attached. I'm using Ubuntu 17.10 (and soon 18.04), in case it matters.

Note: I do not require the SSD to perform at the higher PCIe speeds in this laptop, SATA 3 speed would be fine. The reason is that I intend to buy a more powerful laptop later this year and am going to transfer the SSD into the new laptop, but I need the storage capacity now in this machine.

Thanks!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/5e/q25i6s38ed5u.png

Accepted answers

yellowdust

Thanks for your answer!

Short result: Samsung EVO 960 1 TB (PCIe NVMe) works.

Longer version: Acer support had stated that PCIe NVMe SSDs should work without any capacity restriction. Answers in forums were mixed, with no definite result (i.e., practical experience) in either direction. So I bought a Samsung EVO 960 1 TB (MZ-V6E1T0BW) and agreed with the seller that I could exchange (undamaged, within 14 days) if it turns out to be incompatible.

Installing the hardware was a matter of minutes.

I installed both Windows 10 Home and Ubuntu 18.04 in dual boot with grub and both installations were no problem. Note, though, that I've been running these installations for less than 24 hours and am mostly using Ubuntu.

According to AS SSD and Crystal Disk Mark the Samsung EVO 960 is indeed faster. I don't know which part of that speed up is due to SATA vs PCIe NVMe and which part is due to other factors such as capacity and/or faster controller. HWINFO64 suggests that it might only be using 2 lanes but I didn't dig into that (and do not intend to do so).

Screenshots for the old 256 GB Micron SATA SSD:

Screenshots for the new 1 TB Samsung EVO 960 PCIe NVMe SSD:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/zr/clm0jjg7xe8t.png

Hope that helps, thanks again!

All comments

brummyfan2

Hi,
You might be able to use a NVMe SSD, Acer recommends M.2 SATA SSD but the review and others have stated that NVMe ssd is compatible.
https://www.ultrabookreview.com/17701-acer-spin-5-sp513-52n-review/
https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/541522/which-ssd-drive-do-i-purchase-to-upgrade-my-spin-5-sp513-52n-552k-to-1tb-from-256gb

yellowdust

Thanks for your answer!

Short result: Samsung EVO 960 1 TB (PCIe NVMe) works.

Longer version: Acer support had stated that PCIe NVMe SSDs should work without any capacity restriction. Answers in forums were mixed, with no definite result (i.e., practical experience) in either direction. So I bought a Samsung EVO 960 1 TB (MZ-V6E1T0BW) and agreed with the seller that I could exchange (undamaged, within 14 days) if it turns out to be incompatible.

Installing the hardware was a matter of minutes.

I installed both Windows 10 Home and Ubuntu 18.04 in dual boot with grub and both installations were no problem. Note, though, that I've been running these installations for less than 24 hours and am mostly using Ubuntu.

According to AS SSD and Crystal Disk Mark the Samsung EVO 960 is indeed faster. I don't know which part of that speed up is due to SATA vs PCIe NVMe and which part is due to other factors such as capacity and/or faster controller. HWINFO64 suggests that it might only be using 2 lanes but I didn't dig into that (and do not intend to do so).

Screenshots for the old 256 GB Micron SATA SSD:

Screenshots for the new 1 TB Samsung EVO 960 PCIe NVMe SSD:

Hope that helps, thanks again!

brummyfan2

You are welcome and thanks for posting the results

frcabot

Those are indeed NVMe speeds (as SATA would be limited to 600MB/s), but it does seem like it is using only 2 lanes rather than 4 lanes, as your speeds are roughly half what they should be (normal speeds would be about 3-3.5GB/s, you are getting roughly half that).

LinuxUserPL

I have another laptop, model SP512-51. When searching for information on compatibility with NVMe technology, none of the search engines on various portals indexed information about whether my laptop supports NVMe.

Since this post usually appears as one of the first for searches, let me add my observations here, because maybe someone like me will be looking for answers.

I was able to boot the NVMe 1.4 drive without any problems, namely the budget PNY XLR8 CS3030. The BIOS version on the computer is 1.14. I did not have to make any changes to the UEFI software, or add drivers.

Before installation, HWINFO applications did not show the PCIe port which was activated only after installation (Apparently, the bios in laptops turn off ports if no devices are connected to it). By default, the port has been slowed down from 4x to 2x. Somewhere I read that for safety reasons (temperature).

The BIOS in the information obviously shows that there is no hard disk, because in its information it shows only SATA disks.

The disk works without any problems on Windows 10 (factory HOME - after using the USB disk with recovery - there are no problems with key activation - the driver built into windows with Microsoft from 2006 ... I have not found anywhere else).

The disk also works without problems on Linux, Manjaro (on a kernel configured individually from the official source kernel.org), checked on 5.4.7, 5.4.9, 5.4.10, file system EXT4, XFS, NTFS, ExFAT. The driver like NVMe 1.3 version, but works fine.

EXT4 file system on the LUKS encrypted partition (disk full in 50%)

XFS file system on the LUKS encrypted partition (disk full in 50%)

Windows NTFS - disk full in 10%

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/no/8w8ovj4ptved.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/1h/35wdpftjpech.png

brummyfan2

Hi @LinuxUserPL
Thanks for this useful information

LinuxUserPL

An error has crept in, it's about SP513-51 (Spin5 seems from 2016)

ericdaarrell

Hi, everyone. I'm just here for say you guys that my Spin 5 SP513-52N is not compatible with XPG S11 PRO.
I bought XPG S11 PRO 2TB and I can't install it because It doesn't fit in the rabbet for SSD M.2.
I hope help you all.

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