Surface Pro 8 SSD replacement. Is it working out? What do you think?

[Williaml99]

Greetings all. After reading the excellent Daniel Rubino article I was inspired to get the 256 GB model and upgrade. 2020 hind sight, I wish I would have ordered the 512 or 1TB model and just spent the money.

I bought the 1TB WD drive and had no luck. I have a lot of experience imaging computers. I tried from official MS media, my own recovery drive and Acronis. It would crash with that drive no matter what. . I am still excited about making this work.

I am curious to know if you plan to try this and if you have what drive did you use and how is it working.

I am thinking of getting the Kioxia_Toshiba drive.

The seller of the WD drive says that he thinks it is not the drives fault. I just know it will not work as an OS drive on my Surface pro 8. I can make it work as a stand alone drive in my external enclosure but that is not needed.

Not sure if I got a bad drive or compatibility issue with this model. (CH SN530 M.2 2230 SSD). Pleas share your experience and thoughts. Also good luck if you go down this road.

 

[HeyCori]

You've probably already done this, but if not, have you tried formatting the drive?

 

[Williaml99]

Thanks, yes in deed. Used a couple of utilities and also just formatted in windows. Disk clone would never work with Acronis. Might have worked from different computer if I had two nvme enclosers but only had one.

 

[Williaml99]

My Surface Pro 03 & 05 were just 512GB so I humbled myself and set my sights a little lower. I just decided to shop 512G new or used from American sellers. I bought a 512GB M.2 2230 NVMe PCIe SSD XA1-31512 for $65 bucks. It wont be here until the 4th thru 9th. I also got another little nvme enclosure to clone the drive if needed.

 

[mosargent]

I did the same as you. Purchased 256GB SP8 and a CH SN530 SSD. Installation went fine with a recovery image on USB thumb drive, but then started getting BSOD crashes randomly. Ran all sorts of computer, memory and drive diagnostics and reinstalled with a clean image download. Same issues. Works great until it crashes. Seller said is a driver issue and that WD has not released a compatible update. Waiting (not so) patiently.

 

[Williaml99]

Thanks for sharing, just found this. I ended up purchasing a used official MS 512 hard drive on ebay. Someone had upgraded their surface laptop to a TB. That drive totally works.
https://forums.windowscentral.com/e....ebay.com%2Fitm%2F265387207690&token=lx82J7MF
https://forums.windowscentral.com/e....ebay.com%2Fitm%2F144218650176&token=dy0f4ly2
If you can find one of these, I strongly encourage.

 

[Derek Jr]

Hi guys, Yes the article was terrific. I had tried before but did not realize the drive had a case around it and it overheated and locked up. I am no noob and have several drive docks I used to image my whole system and several times have imaged using the Windows 7 system image tool in Windows 10 under the control panel untoil it gave me issues so I bought lifetime license from EaseUS Todo and it works fine for SATA 2.5" and SATA 3.5" drives. I had tried to clone to a USB portable enclosure and it worked great as an external USB C drive enclosure but they have a workaround to read up to 2TB and my system would not lone it even using EaseUS ToDo Pro. This was for my Surface Pro 7+. You could get one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084ZKLQR...ag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUwpUvbUpU3838668

which I will be getting if I have to go aftermarket drive once I have exhausted trying to find a complete (in its case)512GB used drive. If I can find a used but fried 1TB drive cheap I will take just the case to install an aftermarket drive in, so my original drive stays pristine if the new drive won't work. I did the download and installed the new drive without messing with my original drive or case so once I determined it needed to be returned I could just pop it back in with no issues. I have not used that dock but have tried the

I have done literally hundreds of system images and clones AND restores which many never do. If you can't restore it what good is it?

I got the Microsoft Surface 7+ ISO to work but it is not smooth or user friendly. So I suggest that you clone using the above dock, then be very careful with the thin metal case in case you need to go back to your original drive. Remember restore the image to the new drive once it is installed using your USB Rescue thumb-drive that you made before imaging or touching the drive or doing anything to get into a system recovery environment and with your external drive. If someone could find a source for those thin drive cases Microsoft uses or on similar.

So two ways:
1. Make a USB flash drive recovery/repair drive. Change your boot sequence in startup to boot from USB. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...,box, and then select Create a recovery drive.

2. Attach an external 2.5" or 3.5" SATA HDD or SSD dock to your Surface.
Do a full system image to any normal drive. Not a clone.

3. Remove your original SSD from your Surface and replace with your new bigger drive.

4. Use your flash drive recovery/repair drive boot USB to go into recovery environment and select advanced and then restore from an existing image. Your external drive dock must be plugged in for this to work. The Surface Pro+ has two USB ports as does the Surface Pro 8. If you need an adapter for USB A to C for the Pro 8 use one they work. Make sure you have the correct system image selected and restore that image from your external drive/drive dock to the new drive in your Surface. disconnect everything and bot and your old system including all your programs and data and Windows updates will all be there. Enjoy.

Second method:
1. Get the external m.2 drive dock in the Amazon link above. Read the reviews as it gets hot and can't handle coarse handling.

2. Put the new drive in the external m.2 dock and using your choice of software clone the still in your Surface drive to the new drive in the external dock.

3. Then follow the directions in the article and carefully pry loose the original Surface SSD's case and clean it. The case MUST be clean for the thermal paste to work. Otherwise you WILL have overheating issues. Set the original Surface SSD aside carefully after cleaning it of old thermal paste too as if the new drive does not work you will have to reuse it.

4. install the new SSD with thermal paste carefully in the thin metal case crimping it back carefully tight. Remember to do no damage as if the new drive does not work or over heats then you will need to reuse that case for your original drive with new thermal paste.

Either way should work if you have the correct new drive. Or may not so preserve that original drive. If you bung it up your warranty is void as you damaged it and Microsoft will charge even under warranty to repair it. You might want to call tech support and get in writing what they will charge for a new drive repair. If they refuse you're up the creek.

 

[Paul Everist]

I bought the SP8 i5 128GB and then replaced the drive with a WD 1TB.

I followed the instructions in Dan's excellent article and had no problems. I decided not to transfer the metal case from the old drive to the new one.

I use the SP* for at least 8 hours every day, mostly plugged into a Surface Dock with an additional monitor, keyboard and mouse. I have been using it for several weeks now and haven't had any freezes or crashes.

To be honest, I was amazed at how easy the process was.

My only regret, was not buying the 256GB model to start with to get the Intel Evo benefits, but I got a fantastic deal on the base model and couldn't resist it.

 

[dan Faux]

Hi Paul
Happy it worked for you.
Sure would like to know where I am going wrong. Have tried five times and fails every time.