A first look at upgrading the Vivobook Pro 14 OLED M3401QC from a 512GB PCIe 3.0 SSD to a #Samsung990 1TB NVMe SSD. #SSD #Samsung
There comes a point when a laptop doesn't necessarily need to be replaced—it just needs a little more storage.
That was the thinking behind this upgrade of my Vivobook Pro 14 OLED M3401QC. The laptop is still a capable machine, powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 graphics and 16GB of DDR4 memory.
The problem was storage.
My unit came with a 512GB PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD, and for a laptop used for applications, documents, media and projects, that capacity can disappear surprisingly quickly.
Rather than replace the laptop, I decided to upgrade its storage to a Samsung 990 1TB NVMe SSD (MZ-V9V1T0BW).
This isn't the full performance review yet. Instead, this is my first impression of the upgrade, including why I chose the Samsung 990, the PCIe 4.0 versus PCIe 3.0 situation, the cloning process and what I expect from the drive in everyday use.
The full performance comparison—with benchmarks, real-world tests and thermal measurements—will be covered in a separate post.
https://youtube.com/shorts/zOdXtpToXN8
Why Chose the Samsung 990 1TB
The replacement drive is the Samsung 990 1TB, model MZ-V9V1T0BW.
It uses the M.2 2280 form factor and a PCIe 4.0 x4/NVMe 2.0 interface.
Samsung rates the 1TB model for sequential read speeds of up to 7,150 MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 6,450 MB/s.
It is also rated for up to 700K/1.1M IOPS for random read and write performance, while the 1TB model carries a 400TBW endurance rating.
On paper, those numbers look impressive.
But there's an important catch with my Vivobook.PCIe 4.0 SSD in a PCIe 3.0 Laptop
The Vivobook Pro 14 OLED M3401QC uses a PCIe 3.0 NVMe storage interface.
That means the Samsung 990 cannot reach its advertised PCIe 4.0 speeds in this laptop.
And that's okay.
PCIe is backward compatible, so the PCIe 4.0 Samsung 990 can operate on the laptop's PCIe 3.0 interface.
The SSD simply won't have access to the full bandwidth of PCIe 4.0.
So I'm not expecting to see Samsung's headline 7,150 MB/s sequential read figure from this particular laptop.
That's not the point of this upgrade.
For me, the main reasons for choosing the Samsung 990 are:
1TB capacity
Strong performance within the laptop's PCIe 3.0 limitations
Samsung's SSD management software
Good long-term storage potential
The ability to reuse the drive in a newer PCIe 4.0 system later
That last point is particularly interesting.
If I eventually move the Samsung 990 into a newer laptop or desktop with PCIe 4.0 support, the drive will have considerably more performance headroom.
From 512GB to 1TB
The biggest difference I'll notice isn't necessarily going to be benchmark performance.
It's storage capacity.
Going from a nominal 512GB to 1TB essentially doubles the advertised capacity.
]That's a significant upgrade for a laptop that is used for work and content creation.
Applications, documents, photos, videos and project files can quickly consume hundreds of gigabytes.
With the original 512GB drive, storage management can become a constant concern.
The 1TB Samsung 990 should provide considerably more breathing room.
For this particular upgrade, that additional capacity is arguably more important than chasing the highest
possible sequential read speed
Why I Decided to Clone Windows
I also wanted to avoid starting from scratch.
A clean Windows installation is always an option, but it means reinstalling applications, restoring settings, configuring drivers and moving files back into place.
Instead, I decided to clone the existing Windows installation from the original 512GB SSD to the Samsung 990.
The plan was simple:
Original 512GB SSD → Samsung 990 1TB → Replace the SSD → Boot Windows → Expand the partition
Before doing this, I recommend creating a separate backup of important files.
A clone is not a replacement for a proper backup.
The Cloning Process
To start the upgrade, I connected the Samsung 990 using an appropriate USB NVMe enclosure.
This allowed the new SSD to remain outside the laptop while the original internal SSD was still installed.
That gave me the opportunity to clone the existing installation without immediately touching the original drive.
One important thing to remember when cloning a Windows system drive is to clone the entire disk, not simply the C: partition.
A Windows installation can contain EFI/system and recovery partitions that are important for maintaining a bootable installation.
After the cloning process was completed, I shut down the laptop and replaced the original 512GB SSD with the Samsung 990.
Then came the moment of truth.
The first boot.
First Boot With the Samsung 990
After installing the Samsung 990, I powered the Vivobook back on.
The goal was simple: see whether Windows would boot normally from the cloned SSD.
Once Windows started successfully, I checked the system to confirm that the new drive was being used as the boot drive.
The next step was checking the available storage.
Because the Samsung 990 has twice the nominal capacity of the original SSD, the cloning process may leave additional space as unallocated capacity.
That space can then be added to the Windows partition using Disk Management.
Once that was completed, the main goal of the upgrade was achieved:
The existing Windows installation was transferred to the new 1TB SSD without having to reinstall everything.
My First Impression
So far, the most obvious benefit of the Samsung 990 isn't a benchmark number.
It's the additional storage.
Moving from 512GB to 1TB gives the laptop significantly more room for applications, files and projects.
The installation and cloning approach also makes the upgrade relatively straightforward because I didn't have to rebuild my Windows environment from scratch.
The more interesting question, however, is performance.
Because the Vivobook is limited to PCIe 3.0, I'm curious to see how much of the Samsung 990's potential can actually be used.
Will it provide a noticeable improvement over the original 512GB SSD?
Will sequential performance be significantly better?
What about random performance?
And how does the Samsung 990 behave thermally inside a relatively compact 14-inch laptop?
Those are questions that require actual measurements.
What I'm Testing Next
For the full performance article, I'll compare the original 512GB SSD directly against the Samsung 990 1TB inside the same Vivobook Pro 14 OLED M3401QC.
The testing will include:
CrystalDiskMark sequential read/write performance
CrystalDiskMark random performance
Windows boot time
Windows login-to-desktop time
Large file transfers
Application loading
Large project/file loading
SSD temperatures
Capacity comparison
General day-to-day usage
The goal isn't to compare the Samsung 990 against Samsung's laboratory specifications.
The goal is to see how the Samsung 990 actually performs inside this particular PCIe 3.0 laptop.
That's a much more useful comparison for anyone considering the same type of upgrade.
First Look: Worth the Upgrade?
At this stage, I'm approaching the Samsung 990 1TB as a capacity-focused upgrade with potential performance benefits.
The Vivobook Pro 14 OLED M3401QC can't exploit the full PCIe 4.0 performance of the drive, so anyone buying it specifically for 7,150 MB/s sequential reads should set their expectations accordingly.
But the drive still offers several advantages.
The jump from 512GB to 1TB is immediately useful, the Samsung 990 is a high-performance NVMe SSD, and its PCIe 4.0 capability means it can potentially be reused in a newer system later.
For an older laptop that still has plenty of life left, that combination makes the upgrade interesting.
Coming Next: Full Performance Test
This first-impression article is only the beginning.
The next post will put the Samsung 990 1TB against the original 512GB SSD in the Vivobook Pro 14 OLED M3401QC.
I'll look at the actual benchmark results, real-world file transfers, boot times, application loading and SSD temperatures.
The most important question will be simple:
How much performance can a PCIe 4.0 Samsung 990 actually deliver when it's installed in a PCIe 3.0 laptop?
That's where the numbers will tell the real story.
Stay tuned for the full Samsung 990 1TB performance test.