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ROG GL552 WITH Samsung 850 SATA III m2 drive is working: Here's How I Did It

dbodyguru
Level 9
I bought a Asus ROG GL552 and I had major issues trying to install a working SSD into the single m2 slot there.

Note, the GL552 and GL752 series (these are NOT the same as the higher end ROG G7552's!) don't support NVMe drives.

You have to have a SATA III m2 drive.

The ACHI m2 SSD versions don't work on this model (at least for some people, I see reports on this forum).

I bought a Samsung 850 PRO 512 SATA III m2 drive and installed that into the m2 drive on the GL552.

It detected this drive just fine. So at least on CANADIAN or AMERICAN versions of the GL552, Sata III m2 seems to be the working m2, not ACHI or NVMe.

However, using the Samsung Migration software to clone the 1 Terabyte default HDD OS installation to the new SSD did clone to the drive, but the drive would not boot a working version of windows 10. When I tried to boot from the new 512 850 EVO m2 SATA III on the GL552, it would boot into windows, but the desktop would flicker every half second and I could not click on anything.

I tried using Partion Magic, EaseUS TO Backup, Samsung Migration -- and every time I could NOT boot to windows properly on the new m2 SSD drive on the GL552.

Finally, I was able to get it working properly by using Macrum Reflect FREE, cloning from the HDD to the 512 Samsung EVO Sata III m2 SSD, switching the boot load order to the new SSD, and walla, it worked perfectly.

SO USE Macrum Reflect to Clone from your HDD to your SSD if you have the GL552 and you bought a Samsung 850 m2 SATA 3 SSD and you want to boot your OS from the SSD. The OTHER clone software did NOT produce a working installtion from me.
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Since this is the #1 hit on Google for m2 and the GL552, I thought I would add my experience in case anybody else encounters it.

My ROG GL552 was working perfectly, but I decided to upgrade to an SSD after a few weeks. I followed the suggestions in this thread but had different results.

1. Installed Samsung SSD 850 EVO.
2. Used Macrum Reflect FREE to clone HDD to SDD. Cloning seemed to work perfectly.
3. Changed boot load to SSD.
4. After logging into Windows 10, screen flickered like crazy and was unusable.
5. Changed boot load back to HDD.
6. After logging into Windows 10, screen still flickered like crazy. What? It wasn't like that before. I still don't understand this.
7. System restore on the HDD, flickering is gone.
8. One user said EASEUS worked. Installed EASEUS (free version).
9. Attempted clone. Error. Could not clone.
10. Attempted clone with EASEUS again. Checked "optimize for SSD" (don't know what it does). Seemed to work.
11. Changed boot load to SSD.
12. After logging into Windows 10, it worked! No more flickering.

Hey, sorry to revive this old thread. Just bought a leftover, new GL552VM for relatively cheap, and I'm wondering if anyone know whether the WD Blue M.2 2280 Sata III units work in this laptop; it's a bit less expensive than the Samsung and is more readily available, at least in my area. I assume it is easier to add the M.2 SSD before I start loading up all the stuff from my other computer on it, right?

Hello, I'm using Asus ROG GL552VX - DM409T. Can i install SSD of Samsung SSD 960 EVO NVMe M.2 250GB ?? If i can't, can you recommend me some ssd type that support my laptop. Thanks !

Hello! I just bought an ADATA 128GB m.2 SATA III and I can comfirm that it works in my GL552VW-SB71-CB . Mine is the i5 canadian version.

This is the exact product:
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=179_1229_1296&item_id=105522

I finished migrating my partitions and this works like a charm!
I even called ASUS support and they comfirmed it's SATA and not NvME, but then again there are differences between models. Some support nvme, some support sata. It's very confusing and after a few weeks of research, I finally took a decision and took the risk to buy the sata.

[EDIT: My Bios version is GL552VW.218]

dan1703
Level 7
Hi, i bought the gl552j from an european shop. My question is if the m.2 samsung ssd 850 evo(model: MZ-N5E250) it's compatible with the laptop. Unfortunately i bought the ssd, before studying about the laptop :(...

I think if you read this thread you will have your answer? The Title seems to say it all!!
G752VY-DH72 Win 10 Pro
512 GB M.2 Samsung 960 Pro
1 TB Samsung 850 pro 2.5 format
980m GTX 4 GB
32GB DDR 4 Standard RAM

Z97 PRO WiFi I7 4790K
Windows 10 Pro
Z97 -A
Windows 10 Pro

dan1703
Level 7
Ok, thanks a lot, but how i know the my 850 evo is not an ACHI or NVMe version? I am a newbe in this stuff...

You could start with the documentation that came with the drive. You could look up the drive on the website of the manufacture? Goggle is your friend?
EVO is SATA, 950 Pro is NVMe there are others I can't think of them now Oh the 951 that come standard for these Gaming notebooks is NVMe but inferior to the 950 Pro.
G752VY-DH72 Win 10 Pro
512 GB M.2 Samsung 960 Pro
1 TB Samsung 850 pro 2.5 format
980m GTX 4 GB
32GB DDR 4 Standard RAM

Z97 PRO WiFi I7 4790K
Windows 10 Pro
Z97 -A
Windows 10 Pro

dan1703
Level 7
Thanks a lot, i found this later on google... sorry for disturbing...

dan1703 wrote:
Thanks a lot, i found this later on google... sorry for disturbing...


Hey Dan, check the image below for the SATA III SSD drives that are compatible with your model. If you are looking at the Samsung EVO 850, you will want model: MZ-N5E250BW (250GB) or model: MZ-N5E500BW (500GB). It looks like you got the right one.

54515

Ignore the SKUs, the source of this image is XOTIC PC. Asus directed me to their website when I called customer support regarding SSD upgrades.