M.2 128 GB SSD

[Jahness]

OK, I'm helping a friend with her laptop and something came up that I've never actually dealt with.
Specs are
Acer Aspire V5-591
M.2  128 GB SSD
1 TB HDD
Intel Core i7 @ GHz
8GB Ram

Problem is I cant see the SSD in device manager or Computer Management. The only reason it came up is she was trying to write files to it one day when she realized it's not showing up. I have no experience with these new ssd's since all my experience is from the older computers. I was wondering if maybe it's set up as a ready boost drive and kept hidden to prevent users from corrupting the files on it. Any guidance would be much appreciated.

Thanks
John

[DaveLembke]

If disk management doesnt show the drive attached then the drive is either dead or issue with sata cable etc. Whats disk management show for attached drives for the system?

[BC_Programmer]

I would expect with such a configuration for the SSD to be the boot drive.

From what I can find, the V5 doesn't come with an SSD. It is the more recent V15 models which come equipped with an SSD. The OS comes installed on it as well.

The V5 models sometimes have a smaller cache drive (8-16GB), that won't be visible in disk management but it should appear in device manager.

[Jahness]

Sorry, I meant to say Disk Management, not Computer Management. Also, it is a V15 but the sticker also has V5 so I wasn't sure. I have attached an image of the sticker to show you. It was given to someone else before me to try and figure it out but I think he made it worst and stacked multiple copies of the OS on the 1 TB drive. There were 4 windows.old files on her drive. I think that since he couldn't see the damaged SSD, he assumed it wasn't there. At least that's what I think. I was just making sure about being able to see the M.2 SSD in the Disk Management, Device Manager, and in Windows Explorer. I have installed 2.5" SSD's in computers before, just no experience with M.2 SSD's. Thank's for such QUICK responce's and help, as always.

John

[Lisa_maree]

Hi Jahness

Is the M2 drive configured as an HDD cache as explained here.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/How-it-Works-Intel-SSD-Caching-148/

If the hard drive shows as over 1 TB like 1096 GB's then is is likely the 2 drives are configured in the above mode and show as 1 drive in disk management.

If this is the case , it is very important not to separate the 2 drives and to keep a current full backup. If you are wanting to replace either drive you need an image of both drives to restore. And also don't try restoring the image to a single SSD and expect it to boot. There is changes to windows you need to make before making the image and changes to the BIOS before booting the single drive.
 

[Jahness]

Hi Lisa, I really don't think this is the case since the 1 TB is showing the correct size but also the SSD doesn't even show up in setup. I opened the computer and removed the SSD completely and rebooted just to see what would happen and it booted as before. I think the SSD is dead and she may want to install a new one as her boot drive so I guess my new question is this, after installing a new SSD, can I just run system restore and choose the option to install the OS on the SSD? She's my daughters friend and I really want to help her as inexpensive as possible. Thank You   John

[Lisa_maree]

Hi Thanks for the reply,
 I would check how much of the 1 TB drive is used . And what the Laptop is being used for, from that info you can then decide  to install a 250 GB or 500 GB M2 drive or say a 500 GB SSD in place of the 1 TB standard drive. With either option you could do a clean install or image the 1 TB. I like the idea of the 500 GB M2 drive. Then you can  run system restore and choose the option to install the OS on the SSD.
Perhaps consider this one https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147677

[Jahness]

Perfect, that's what I was wanting to do for her. She's taking courses in Cad and will be doing alot of 3D Rendering. I wanted to setup the M.2 as her boot drive and a few program installs so she can use her 1 TB Strictly for saved files. Thanks Again to all.....John