Storage upgrade in T8 Plus...

[Gabe]

I was contemplating upgrading the storage in my T8 Plus to NVMe. I know it supports NVMe, as the 2230 NVMe drive that had come in my Dell laptop worked with it, though I had to tape the end down while trying it, as 2230 is too short. Do you think the following is a good choice?

www.amazon.com/Timetec-Compatible-Think ... 7XPZS?th=1

It's not very expensive, its ratings and reviews are pretty good and it's still 512GB, like the drive the unit came with. I know there are a few less expensive ones out there, but I don't really trust those.

The LPDDR5 makes this unit pretty snappy, and I think an NVMe drive will make it even better. And the best thing is that this T8 Plus is the least expensive mini PC I've ever purchased, but you sure wouldn't know it. It's more responsive than at least seven of the other mini PCs I have, including its near twin, the T8 Pro.

[Gabe]

I did end up ordering that drive, and I'm glad I did.

First, I made sure to sign into my Microsoft Account with my T8 Plus to ensure that, in addition to Microsoft's Activation servers, its Windows Activation would be logged on my Microsoft Account. I then saved the drivers to a USB flash drive, as I always do before doing any kind of upgrade, for that 'just in case' scenario. I know I can get the drivers here too, but it's just easier to save the drivers that are already on the unit. For reference, the drivers are in C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore, and the folder to save is labeled "FileRepository". It tends to be anywhere from about 2.5GB to 6GB in size, depending on the model and how many drivers are in it.

I also created USB Windows 11 installation media using Microsoft's Media Creation Tool. I already had it, but it was a couple of months old, so I did a new one for it to be more up to date.

I then installed the new drive. I started it with that USB installation media and did a clean install of Windows 11. With this unit the drivers included with Windows were enough for the WiFi, so I was able to sign into my Microsoft Account during Windows setup. Once I got to the desktop, after doing all of the initial setup steps, I checked the Activation status and, sure enough, all was good. It was Activated. After bringing the unit up to date with Windows Update there were still a couple of drivers that needed to be installed, and I used that saved folder to do so. Rather than doing them individually I did them all in one shot, which you can do with Windows 11. You can do it with prior versions of Windows too, but only Windows 11 doesn't require a 3rd party tool to do so. It has a built in option in the Device Manager that allows you to install/update all of the drivers from a saved source, which was that folder.

Anyway, all is well, and the upgrade was well worth it. It's made the unit even more responsive than it already was.

Original Drive.png (30.38 KiB) Viewed 3119 times

New Drive.png (32.17 KiB) Viewed 3119 times

[barry777]

This information is very effective, thank you for sharing it.
The size supported by the T8 Plus built-in hard drive bay is 2242. If you are interested in the internals of this Mini PC, I will record a disassembly video. (Due to size restrictions, disassembly is a bit difficult)