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Cyran on 03 April 2020
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EricHiggin said:


d21lewis said:

Would an external SSD be sufficient? I have swapped the HDD for a PS4 before so if I need to put an SSD in, hopefully it's not too complicated. I'll probably do that further down the line.

I like the idea of gaming and, once I figure it out, I'll probably just play older generation games. And since I have Game Pass, I'll play a bunch of my 360 games. I don't need the best of the best.

Installing an SSD internally is about as easy as it gets. Some people just lay them on the bottom of the case, or tape them down using double sided tape. 2.5" types don't necessarily have to be screwed in place like an HDD does since SSD has no moving parts. Still best to screw it down if you can. An M.2 slot type SSD on the mobo isn't tough to install either. Line up the stick with the slot indent and insert on an angle, push it down toward the board gently, insert 1 screw snugly, done.

As for installing Win 10, I think quite a few SSD's come with OS imaging software to help you transfer it over directly from the HDD to the SSD. It's all explained in the software tutorials/manuals that come with them.

Agree with everything here I just want to add I looked at the spec documentation on the computer you bought.

http://cdn.cnetcontent.com/cb/d1/cbd17345-5bc9-44db-9ec5-08e33cf755c8.pdf

It shows both a open 2.5 bay and a open M.2 so you can just leave the HDD in the computer and install either a sata SSD in the 2.5 bay or a M.2 SSD in the M.2 slot then use a clone program to move the OS from hdd to the SSD.

Hp also got specification for your motherboard

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05939208

The M.2 SSD socket on diagram is where a M.2 go and installed just like EricHiggin said.

if you use a 2.5 SSD you need to connect a sata cable from one of the Sata connectors on motherboard to SSD and then a SATA power from PSU to SSD.  Most likely on PSU sata power line connecting to HDD there a second connector that will reach the free 2.5 slot.  For the data line (motherboard to SSD) you might need to buy the cable if you don't have one and the SSD don't come with one.