Laptop SSD Upgrades - 2.5" SATA / M2 / PCie Interface Drives - what to look for when planning an upgrade

We have found through experience that upgrading laptops to a new or larger SSD is now a little more complex than it used to be. Time was when you could clone across the internal 500 Gbyte (typically) of an computer to a nice new Intel or Samsung (or your choice of brand but these are our 'gotos') via extrernal USB adapter and then swap the drives and you're done.

However to add complexity to this new laptops - particularly when powered by the current 6th and 7th Generation intel CPUs, these may now be fitted with new 'stick' format SSDs. These have a few different physical interfaces and standards for support. We've also seen cases where a stick based SSD physically fits into a computer and is supported by the hardware, but not supported in BIOS and thus not usable or recognised.

To save others from repeating the pain we've been through, we share here our general advice and learning, as well as notes on a few specific popular laptop models where we've first hand experience of problems and can help you fast forward to the happy solution..

Thanks to Aftab Uzzaman for sharing the great 'ghtcha' photo on the page banner here.