Helios 500 - OS on SSD instead of NVMe & running NVMe's / M.2 separately (ahci), not in Raid 0

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Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    Razamax Refer back to my earlier post on your model https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/622201/#Comment_622201

    These are from the model mainboard specs when it was first released. It's possible later releases of this model may have used a different mainboard configurations depending on the region.  The only way to be absolutely sure what you have is to open the machine. But beware even if you have all nvme capable  m.2 slots, larger size nvmes like the 970s are notoriously unreliable bleeding edge technology that may not be recognized in many nvme capable laptops. Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • Ario
    Ario Member Posts: 26 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    From my PH517-51
    2x NVMe like this one



    And one SATA SSD (with OS)


  • Razamax
    Razamax Member Posts: 45 Devotee WiFi Icon
    Thank you @JackE and @Ario for clarifying. I will open my system up and double check it, but from the above posts and the model number of the SSD mentioned, I am convinced that my SSD is a NVMe. So that answered my question.

    Thanks,
  • Firewalker
    Firewalker Member Posts: 16 Troubleshooter
    Razamax said:
    From your last paragraph, does this mean that Windows 10 will lose its activation just because you decide to break RAID on your system? Because I always assumed that the license is linked to your motherboard, and even replacing the hard drive and reinstalling a fresh copy of Windows 10 will not deactivate windows. So just breaking RAID and reinstalling a fresh windows 10 copy should leave the activation intact.

    Yes, the activation will stay if you change from a 'Raid' to 'Non-Raid' config in the bios. I only mentioned this because I saw people saying that you should reinstall windows.. (which is an option, although completely unnecessary in this case). If so, backup your licence key first by linking it to your MS account, or make sure you get the license key from your install another way :-).

    I don't know either why they decided to go with the Raid setup. Maybe because there's an Nvme SSD and normal HD installed already, so they assumed you would want an Intel Optane module to speed up the HD? 
    Anyways... I wanted to keep my Windows install (cleaned up the unnecessary bits) instead of reinstalling, and have a second SSD for Linux ;)
  • Firewalker
    Firewalker Member Posts: 16 Troubleshooter
    Razamax said:
    ACustomer1234 said:

    Both of the M.2 slots in the laptop are M-keyed.  This means they are both PCIe 4x, with the 4x being the amount of PCI-e lanes.  SATA M.2 drives do not utilize 4x PCI-lanes.  They don't even utilize 1 fully.  M-keyed M.2 slots are for NVMe.


    So does this mean that both M2 slots in PH517-51-72NU are actually NVMe capable? I have not opened my system yet so I cannot check if both slots are M-keyed?

    Please let me know if you are ever able to get both your NVMe slots working. I currently do not have any plans to install a second ssd but I may in future.

    Thanks,
    Yes, I installed an extra Samsung 970 Evo PCIe NVME SSD and did the steps I described before. 
    Afterwards, I cloned my Windows install to the Samsung drive, booted Windows from that drive and wiped the SSD it came with (Toshiba) so I could install Linux on it. The Samsung drive is faster so I wanted to have my Windows install on that one. 

    Hope that helps :)
  • Ario
    Ario Member Posts: 26 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    Good stuff Firewalker.
    BTW, it may depend on one's use case, what goes on the NVME.
    In my case, I need to write 4 videostreams at the same time, the NVME does that. The OS (Win10) is on the SSD, which is plenty fast enough for that.
  • Red-Sand
    Red-Sand ACE Posts: 1,892 Pathfinder
    edited January 2019
    I believe the ryzen model has one sata 3 SSD m.2 and the other is NVME. On the Intel ones both are NVME due to Intel Optane support.

    P.s. I also purchased my H500 from Microcenter (i7 model) and the advertised NVME was indeed a NVME.
    - Hotel Hero
  • Firewalker
    Firewalker Member Posts: 16 Troubleshooter
    Red-Sand said:
    I believe the ryzen model has one sata 3 SSD m.2 and the other is NVME. On the Intel ones both are NVME due to Intel Optane support.

    P.s. I also purchased my H500 from Microcenter (i7 model) and the advertised NVME was indeed a NVME.
    Yes, mine came with an NVME PCIE SSD from Toshiba and a 1TB HD from Toshiba... They're not bad drives, just the Samsung one is even faster ;-)

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