Has anyone been able to use an NVMe drive in their Swift 1?

Darkended · September 2018

I've tried everything to make an NVMe drive work on my swift 1 (SF114-32-p2pk) but it just refuses to read and I was wondering if anyone has got it to work and if it was just plug and play or if you need an older BIOS version or something.

Kamalika · September 2018

Hi Darkended,
Yes. Acer SF114-32 laptop has M.2 SSD slot. Complete Solid state drive spec for your laptop model is listed below:-
256 GB, PCIe Gen3, 8 Gb/s up to 4 lanes, NVMe
128 GB / 256 GB, SATA 6 Gb/s
64 GB eMMC

You can install a M.2 NVMe SSD according to this link: https://laptopmedia.com/laptop-specs/acer-swift-1-sf114-32-3/
After that the NVMe drive should work.

Commodore_1995# · September 2018

It does accept yes ssd nvme, but maybe you have not set up the drive properly! Can you hit a photo of the bios info and boot section?

Mateo620 · January 2019

Has anyone been able to use an NVMe drive in their Swift 1?

I have been searching for this answer for a while now and no there doesn't seem to be anyone on here with that has gotten an NVMe SSD to successfully work in their Swift 1 SF114-32. It is NOT seen by the BIOS, Windows OS or Windows installer. This leads me to believe the M.2 slot only supports SATA SSDs and the information in the above mentioned link is incorrect. I tested this myself with an NVMe Intel 760p SSD and a SATA Micron M510 SSD. The SATA drive worked, NVMe did not. I'm still waiting for someone to prove me wrong or for a BIOS update to come along and enable this but I won't hold my breath. In most cases, the SATA SSD is good enough and also much faster than the onboard eMMC SSD.

Commodore_1995# · January 2019

@Mateo620 The service manual shows this, see:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/vc/58pfcctkw5ph.png

However I'm not 100% sure if this model actually supports NVME! Did you disconnect the emmc memory to see if the notebook identifies the nvme?

Mateo620 · January 2019

egydiocoelho said:

@Mateo620 The service manual shows this, see:

However I'm not 100% sure if this model actually supports NVME! Did you disconnect the emmc memory to see if the notebook identifies the nvme?

I tried to disable the SATA port 0 but that did not resolve the issue. All that does is prevent the use of the eMMC SSD and the SATA SSD.

I don't think this model supports NVMe, at least not in software. The hardware MAY support it but it MAY not be enabled it seems. All the sources I've managed to find show SATA only as of today (January/3/2019). I think some information above is incorrect for now.

For example, here user Balatekie posted this Official Acer compatibile SSD chart. All of these SSDs are SATA:

User Sharanji posted "Some of the officially listed SSD's are listed below" ... again all SATA drives.

And this review of the Acer Swift 1 SF114-32 by notebookcheck shows it is equipped with a Micron 1100 MTFDDAV256TBN SATA SSD:

User WileECoyote on this forum like me also tried to install and use the Intel 760p but failed and instead had to use Western Digital Blue M.2 SATA SSD which worked without any issues. He also mentions trying the NVMe Samsung EVO 970 but fails too.

User ICD58 also reported the same issue and also used the 250GB WD Blue M.2 SATA drive.

User Darkended also says he "got a ADATA SATA SSD to replace my NVMe one and it worked without issue."

User Jjack says "I bought two ssd m.2 NVMe crosair 240GB and 480GB, but non of them work."

User Clotu69 says "I have the same problem with my Acer Swift 1 SF114-32-P30S. Windows 10 and the BIOS do not recognize my SSD card. I tried the Samsung 970 EVO."

User brummyfan2 states, "Hi @egydiocoelho ;
Yes, I think it's wrong as I couldn't find anyone successfully installed a NVMe drive in this model, I don't know the reason for it, could be the CPU which doesn't have support for Optane."

This is the evidence I was able to gather up. I'm hoping acer can address this via a BIOS update, software update, firmware update or some kind of fix. If the hardware doesn't support it, then fine as long as they provide correct information to their customers.

Commodore_1995# · January 2019

I agree with you @Mateo620!

orbx · May 2019

Will try one more time my WD Blue SN500 NVME (250Gb)

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/ny/k8nzyuli63ny.jpg

........ but have ordered a WD green cheaper 240Gb Sata. and and external USB box for to clone the eMMC.

orbx · May 2019

My eMMC is an HYNIX........

Darkended · May 2019

Seems like i forgot to post an update. I contacted support and after ~10 painfully long calls i got in touch with someone that contacted acer's engineering department. They confirmed that the acer swift 1 SF114-32-p2pk does not support NVMe. If however you really want to use a pcie drive with it they said, if i recall correctly as this was around 5 months ago, that it will work if the on board emmc storage is disabled though the bios. I never tried this out because I was sick and tired of Acer support and didn't want to go back to them so I decided to get an adata sata ssd instead. I don't trust that it will work however as if anything the on board emmc would share bandwidth with sata instead of using a 2x or 4x pcie lane though who knows it might. I'm marking this as the answer and will edit it if someone can confirm if disabling the on board storage enables pcie drive use.

Commodore_1995# · May 2019

@DarkendedThe service guide for this model has been updated by Acer. Look at what is said here:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/x8/wrhgxn42ovt0.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/1b/lxoxcd3kek6r.jpg

Darkended · May 2019

It seems like Acer does have a new model up the P7BG which at a glance has the same specs but at least I'm assuming has the option for NVMe drive usage. Unless there has been a bios update that I haven't catched that unlocks the ability to use NVMe or they did a silent upgrade to the P2PK without changing the model number I'd say my claim still stands that at least the P2PK does not support NVMe.

Commodore_1995# · May 2019

I found this difference:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/dk/s0dlfongyfih.png

orbx · June 2019

How strange! - I am even unable to initialize the Blue NVMe in an USB enclosure????? Nor GPT or standard boot partition????......

GPT way says disk is too small (250 Gb)??????

or disk not ready for other option!!!!!!

In fact, I want to get rid of it, only wondering if I use my Green Sata as a data partition or if its worth cloning my eMMC on it?????????

orbx · June 2019

Well, I'm now using my Green 240Go as the

Documents partition! Simplest if not fastest! Cheers

orbx · June 2019

Until ACER tells we can use NVMes!!!!!!!!!!!

Commodore_1995# · June 2019

Have you tried cloning emmc for ssd?

Jelo77 · November 2021

Hi,

I am brand new to this and confused by the various options. I have a Acer Swift 1 SF113-31-P1NX. From reading numerous threads it sounds like one of these would work:
https://www.amazon.ca/Samsung-970-EVO-Plus-MZ-V7S1T0B/dp/B07MG119KG/
https://www.amazon.ca/Blue-NAND-500GB-SSD-WDS500G2B0B/dp/B073SBX6TY/
https://www.amazon.ca/Crucial-MX500-500GB-NAND-Internal/dp/B0786QNS9B/

Could someone let me know if the Samsun Evo Plus NVMe would work with this model? Or would it be safer to go with the WD Blue?

Thanks, J.L.

Commodore_1995# · November 2021

Jelo77 said:

Hi,

I am brand new to this and confused by the various options. I have a Acer Swift 1 SF113-31-P1NX. From reading numerous threads it sounds like one of these would work:
https://www.amazon.ca/Samsung-970-EVO-Plus-MZ-V7S1T0B/dp/B07MG119KG/
https://www.amazon.ca/Blue-NAND-500GB-SSD-WDS500G2B0B/dp/B073SBX6TY/
https://www.amazon.ca/Crucial-MX500-500GB-NAND-Internal/dp/B0786QNS9B/

Could someone let me know if the Samsun Evo Plus NVMe would work with this model? Or would it be safer to go with the WD Blue?

Thanks, J.L.

This model only accepts ssd m2 2280 sata 3.

Jelo77 · November 2021

Thanks for the quick response. If I understand correctly it means that this is the right choice: https://www.amazon.ca/Blue-NAND-500GB-SSD-WDS500G2B0B/dp/B073SBV3XX/?th=1

Commodore_1995# · November 2021

Jelo77 said:

Thanks for the quick response. If I understand correctly it means that this is the right choice: https://www.amazon.ca/Blue-NAND-500GB-SSD-WDS500G2B0B/dp/B073SBV3XX/?th=1

Yes, this model will work.