Solved Issues replacing Optane ssd with nvme

Hazel123 said:

It’s ok I restarted and the updates are going again.

On install there was no option to select home or pro. It was Windows Pro but now just says home. Doesn’t matter really as I have a separate pro licence - but just wondering why it isn’t pro.

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It’s the license that links it, a clean install without entering the key will always be home in my experience

If it was pro before, shouldn’t the licence be on the motherboard and linked automatically? Unless previous owner upgraded it. But I reset it twice before changing the drive and it was still pro.

Anyway it seems to have installed ok and rebooting ok. The Intel Optane thing is there in device manager and the software app installed too. Hopefully that won’t affect the drive and set up. Masses of Intel drivers!

This is after the clean install - sorry - photos posted twice. I noticed W Update installed some firmware. Maybe the system thinks it’s still Optane?

So laptop up and running and I can now finally reinstall all my files and programs. :) Thanks for all the support. Should have been a 15 minute job if just swapping normal drives.

Drive still doesn’t show in bios! If I open the Optane software panel it just says the system isn’t Optane ready. But I wonder what would happen if I tried to uninstall that app. It shouldn’t normally appear with a clean install.

This is all that’s in bios under uefi.

Uninstalled the Optane app. Bye bye Optane. I really don’t like that HP’s firmware or whatever it is - put things into my clean install.

Hazel123 said:

I’m installing Windows 10 by the way. Sorry I know this is eleven forums! Going to keep this machine on 10 for now.

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I agree with @CornishRattler, what matters is that you have a working laptop that is using your new NVMe drive. Just remember that you can always do a C partition and just the C partition image restore if you want. I still think that a Optane drive combined with an NVMe drive is useless and only done to inflate the price of the computer.

Hazel123 said:

It’s ok I restarted and the updates are going again.

On install there was no option to select home or pro. It was Windows Pro but now just says home. Doesn’t matter really as I have a separate pro licence - but just wondering why it isn’t pro.

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Was Windows Home the original OS installed when the laptop was new? If the laptop was upgraded to Pro with a digital license you should be able to use the Windows Pro generic key to update from Home to Pro.

Hazel123 said:

So laptop up and running and I can now finally reinstall all my files and programs. :) Thanks for all the support. Should have been a 15 minute job if just swapping normal drives.

Drive still doesn’t show in bios! If I open the Optane software panel it just says the system isn’t Optane ready. But I wonder what would happen if I tried to uninstall that app. It shouldn’t normally appear with a clean install.

This is all that’s in bios under uefi.




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I think the problem was when you cloned the old drive to the new drive. When you did the install was looking for the Optane drive and couldn't find it.

I think you’re right. In hindsight I should have just done a clean install in the first place. But many times I’ve restored an image to a new drive and it should be quick and easy.

Yes I’ve used the generic key and it’s upgraded to pro now. Presumably my own copy with Microsoft.

Still kind of bugs me that there is Optane software in device manager with a standard nvme installed.

All experience though!

Just wondering if it’s worth upgrading to 16gb ram now. It has 8gb removable ram installed. Just the one slot. It’s enough but 16gb would be good when I’m doing photo or video editing maybe. Which I don’t do that often but.

Glad to hear it is up and running. I don't see any reason not to put more ram in. Maybe you would like to give windows a few days to settle down first and see if everything is going smoothly. Congrats!

Noticed the drive I removed had a sticky pad underneath. Presumably for heat? Just wondering if I should have put one on the new drive. It’s the first time I’ve installed an nvme.

Possible for heat or vibration?

The Intel Memory and Storage app is the control centre for changing/ setting Optane options and RAID options if an Intel RAID chip is available and used, if you are not using the Optane drive or an Optane module or Intel RAID you can remove this app, Windows may at some point re install it as it comes from the MS Store now or if you allow HP to do updates it may re appear.
The drivers (RST drivers) are installed regardless as Windows detects Optane support is built into the BIOS/ chipset and apparently on that laptop can not be disabled, hence why it shows in device manager as a controller (the RST premium one), the drivers will not be used if there are no Optane capable drives attached.
The Standard NVME Express Controller is the Windows default one for NVME drives, the other controller is for creating a software RAID using MS Storage Spaces.
Windows has a built in NVME driver which it will use for your new drive unless you install a manufacturer specific driver (Intel, Samsung, Crucial etc), in my testing performance is about the same regardless of driver used, at least on Gen3, but some manufacturers support apps (Intel MASGui, Samsung Magician for example) require their own driver be used to access specific functions.
It is generally a good idea to install the laptop manufacturers device and chipset drivers as a lot of them can be customised versions, although Windows does a fairly decent job of getting things right these days, you may find limited functionality of some aspects of the laptop without the HP drivers.

Hazel123 said:

If it was pro before, shouldn’t the licence be on the motherboard and linked automatically? Unless previous owner upgraded it. But I reset it twice before changing the drive and it was still pro.

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If the clean install skipped asking for a key then it found one on the motherboard. If it installed Home then that's what the key was, and your guess that the previous owner upgraded it is correct. You can confirm this with ShowKeyPlus.

You could upgrade Home to Pro with the generic key because the PC already had a digital licence for Pro on the activation servers from the previous upgrade.

Hazel123 said:

It seems some of the original hp set up is appearing. Like the wallpaper. I don’t think standard windows 10 install has bright coloured umbrellas wallpaper does it? Didn’t used

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Yes, the bright colored umbrellas were on one of my students' desktop when we set it up. Right straight from Microsoft.

I must admit this is absolutely the first instance I have ever read about or seen where an OS has been installed on a permanently installed NVMe SSD that BIOS does not recognize as installed. This particular HP laptop is truly a unique beast.

NavyLCDR said:

I must admit this is absolutely the first instance I have ever read about or seen where an OS has been installed on a permanently installed NVMe SSD that BIOS does not recognize as installed. This particular HP laptop is truly a unique beast.

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It's been awhile, and I think my NVMe is a 960 but don't hold my feet to the fire. I could have a faulty memory.

At any rate, when I first installed it in my HP desktop, I had the dickens of a time getting my computer to recognize it. I don't remember how I finally got it to work, but it's just fine now.

NavyLCDR said:

I must admit this is absolutely the first instance I have ever read about or seen where an OS has been installed on a permanently installed NVMe SSD that BIOS does not recognize as installed. This particular HP laptop is truly a unique beast.

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Maybe it does but only shows limited info? But yes bizarre that a drive doesn’t show in bios. Far too much firmware for my liking. But everything working fine.

I did once have a Sony laptop with specific firmware that meant it could only run on a 320gb drive - the same size as the original and had to be sata I or ii. You could install a different drive but a) it wouldn’t load the recovery image and b) it would overheat so much it was unusable. Didn’t overheat when it had a 320gb sata ii drive in! I had to hunt down a refurbished one.

@Hazel123 A write up about Optane that pretty much hits the nail on the head, easy read, I promise. :)
Intel's Optane business is hurtling towards an unglorified end