Nitro 5 USB-C Displayport, HDMI Specification, External HDD/SSD Enclosure, Cloning.

Quadratojugal
Quadratojugal Member Posts: 12

Tinkerer

edited December 2023 in 2020 Archives
Good day,

I have a couple of questions regarding my Nitro 5 capabilities.
I have a Nitro 5 (2018) AN515-52-56HJ; i5-8300H, 128GB M.2 SATA SSD 1050 Ti, 4GB RAM, 1920x1080p 144Hz display.

Questions:
(1) I have a 2018 model so it has only one M.2 ports. I wish to expand my storage but I fear an external HDD/SSD enclosure will be my last resort. Is my laptop capable of cloning through a hard drive enclosure? At which ports should I plug it into; USB-C, USB 3.0, USB 2.0?
(2) As for the cloning, I read several claims that cloning an OS from an OEM will result in voiding of activation key and you will have to buy a key to be licensed again. Is there a Nitro 5 owner who have tried cloning through enclosure? Was it easy? What app did you use to clone?
(3) Lastly, I have plans to buy an external 1080p 144Hz monitor, paired it with a decent keyboard and a mouse, just to have pseudo-desktop feel when playing. I kept searching online but can't find any regarding my HDMI port specification. Is my model capable of outputing 144Hz to an external monitor through HDMI? Plenty of claims says 1080p HDMI only supports up to 120Hz. 
(4) If HDMI is not possible, does buying a USB-C to DisplayPort (if the monitor has displayport) solve the problem? Does my USB-C 3.1 port support DP Alt Mode?

Sorry for the lengthy question. That is all. Thanks in advance!

Best Answer

  • batmalin
    batmalin Member Posts: 4,231 Guru
    Answer ✓
    Hi,
    1. Should be capable but booting your OS from USB enclosure will be slow. As for the port you can use whatever your enclosure supports.
    2. For cloning you can use https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree . About the license transfer I will let someone else to answer
    3. HDMI port is v2.0 so it can support 144hz
    4. USB-C doesn't  support video out on this model


    Please click "Yes" if I have answered your question.
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Answers

  • batmalin
    batmalin Member Posts: 4,231 Guru
    Answer ✓
    Hi,
    1. Should be capable but booting your OS from USB enclosure will be slow. As for the port you can use whatever your enclosure supports.
    2. For cloning you can use https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree . About the license transfer I will let someone else to answer
    3. HDMI port is v2.0 so it can support 144hz
    4. USB-C doesn't  support video out on this model


    Please click "Yes" if I have answered your question.
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  • Quadratojugal
    Quadratojugal Member Posts: 12

    Tinkerer

    Thank you, @batmalin! You, more or less, answered all of my questions. I'll withhold first making your answer the correct one so that others can still leave some input. Anyways, thank you again.
  • batmalin
    batmalin Member Posts: 4,231 Guru
    You are welcome mate!
    Please click "Yes" if I have answered your question.
    Userbench: https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/31177158

  • muk199
    muk199 Member Posts: 10

    Tinkerer

    batmalin said:
    You are welcome mate!
    Thanks for the answers.

    What alternative would there be to have a second external monitor if the USB C of this model doesn't support video?

    Thanks
  • batmalin
    batmalin Member Posts: 4,231 Guru
    edited July 2020
    HDMI is the only option and only one external monitor is possible.
    Please click "Yes" if I have answered your question.
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  • muk199
    muk199 Member Posts: 10

    Tinkerer

    batmalin said:
    HDMI is the only option and only one external monitor is possible.
    No, its not, other people have commented in this same forum about making it work with external hubs.
  • 1) I know that you use an external usb storage. Now, why didn't you replace the ssd m2 2280 sata 3 with a nvme nvme gen3x4 ssd with more storage capacity?
    2) The colleague batimalin, already answered, but you also reinstall windows, like this:
    3) The colleague batmalin already answered, but I will complement with the following information: the external monitor must also be able to display 144Hz through the hdm port;
    4) colleague batmalin has already responded.
    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
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                                                     egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
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  • batmalin
    batmalin Member Posts: 4,231 Guru
    muk199 said:
    batmalin said:
    HDMI is the only option and only one external monitor is possible.
    No, its not, other people have commented in this same forum about making it work with external hubs.
    Ok, then get a hub a try. Don`t forget to post the results here.
    Please click "Yes" if I have answered your question.
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  • Quadratojugal
    Quadratojugal Member Posts: 12

    Tinkerer

    edited July 2020
    @egydiocoelho Sorry I worded it wrong. I meant to buy an NVME enclosure so I can clone my M.2 SATA drive on it; but having having a hard drive enclosure is not really technically wrong as I might also replace my hard drive to SATA SSD in the near future. 

    Follow-up question: In the future where I might upgrade my HDD to SDD. Is it okay to just copy the contents of my HDD to SSD via hard drive enclosure, and not clone it since it isn't the booth drive?
  • batmalin
    batmalin Member Posts: 4,231 Guru
    Yes, just copy the files will do the job.
    Please click "Yes" if I have answered your question.
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  • muk199
    muk199 Member Posts: 10

    Tinkerer

    batmalin said:
    muk199 said:
    batmalin said:
    HDMI is the only option and only one external monitor is possible.
    No, its not, other people have commented in this same forum about making it work with external hubs.
    Ok, then get a hub a try. Don`t forget to post the results here.
    I actually got a USB 3.0 (standard connector, not the C) and that outputs HDMI. You can see my comments in other posts and see that I already talked with people who have this working successfully.

    I will post the results here along with pictures.
  • batmalin
    batmalin Member Posts: 4,231 Guru
    muk199 said:
    batmalin said:
    muk199 said:
    batmalin said:
    HDMI is the only option and only one external monitor is possible.
    No, its not, other people have commented in this same forum about making it work with external hubs.
    Ok, then get a hub a try. Don`t forget to post the results here.
    I actually got a USB 3.0 (standard connector, not the C) and that outputs HDMI. You can see my comments in other posts and see that I already talked with people who have this working successfully.

    I will post the results here along with pictures.
    Hum, what is your model? And yes please, post the pictures here.
    Please click "Yes" if I have answered your question.
    Userbench: https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/31177158

  • Quadratojugal
    Quadratojugal Member Posts: 12

    Tinkerer

    Please upload pictures here if it works @muk199. Thanks!
  • muk199
    muk199 Member Posts: 10

    Tinkerer

    It worked. I made another comment with a video and explaining all the stuff but it seems its in moderation
  • batmalin
    batmalin Member Posts: 4,231 Guru
    Ok waiting to see it.
    Please click "Yes" if I have answered your question.
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  • Quadratojugal
    Quadratojugal Member Posts: 12

    Tinkerer

    Have you posted the video in other places @muk199? Anyway we can see it?
  • muk199
    muk199 Member Posts: 10

    Tinkerer

    Seems like the moderators haven't approved the comment..

    I dont feel like writing all the stuff again, here is the video again, hope this time works: https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=XZ6qwAkZiIdKt7lRTBXgqcDHTLha2Y8EBHYX

    Conclusion: this is a software solution, the usb 3.0 -> hdmi is emulating a video connection, which is really not, so its ends up having issues. The more expensive converters are the same thing at the core: a software solution. Some of them work better than other ones, but nothing guarantees if you buy a $200 converter that its going to work perfectly, it can work the same as the $15 converters.

    There are  mainly 2 makers of the software solutions: FrescoLogic and DisplayLink. All the converters that you will see online will use one of those 2 software's. 

    I dont feel like going through more issues to make this work perfectly as I want it to, so I will just buy another computer :/ This stuff about the usb c connector being gen 1 or gen 2, being displayport or not, is really stupid and misleading. Who thought about making all of them look the same.

    Anyways, maybe someone can make it work better with more time, wish you luck.
  • Quadratojugal
    Quadratojugal Member Posts: 12

    Tinkerer

    Thanks for getting back