My HP Victus has stopped charging, and the charging plug feels loose when connected. I haven't backed up all of my important files to OneDrive yet. Before taking it to a repair shop, I considered removing its M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD and temporarily installing the SSD from my Acer Aspire 5, since both laptops use the same drive type. Would that be reasonable, or would buying an M.2 NVMe USB enclosure be the safer option for copying my files?
3 Answers
One important catch is encryption. If the HP drive uses BitLocker or another form of device encryption, you may need the BitLocker recovery key before another computer can read the files. Find or save that key first if possible. Once the files are backed up, the repair center can work on the laptop without putting your data at risk.
I’d buy the enclosure rather than swapping the drives between laptops. Remove the HP’s SSD, place it in the enclosure, connect it to the working Acer, and copy the files. Swapping drives can cause Windows driver, activation, or boot issues, and it also risks disrupting the Acer’s working installation. You should also avoid using the Acer’s drive as a replacement unless you’re prepared to reinstall Windows.
A repair shop should be able to diagnose and repair a charging or power problem without needing the SSD installed. If the shop insists on having the drive just to test charging, I’d be cautious. If this is being handled directly under the manufacturer’s warranty, they might have their own requirements, so check first. For recovering your files, an NVMe USB enclosure is the simplest approach.
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