Help upgrading Acer Aspire E5-576G SSD

I have an Acer Aspire E5-576G laptop that I got back in like 2016-17, and the storage has gotten rather full. I’m a bit stumped on how to find exactly what SSD’s are compatible with my laptops motherboard and the limit of available SSD memory size that it supports. Could anyone help me figure this out or point me in the direction I could figure this out?

Ideally, I want as fast (as in write speeds) as an NVme (I don’t want SATA) SSD my motherboard will support with 1TB or 2TB storage with something like SAMSUNG 970 EVO Plus SSD 1TB NVMe M.2 Internal Solid State Hard Drive but I just don’t know if my motherboard only supports 500GB or 1TB or 2TB of storage and I don’t know if my motherboard only supports write speeds of like 3,500MB/s or something higher like 5,000MB/s or even 7,400MB/s. Would love any answer to this.

My motherboard name and vendor that I can find is KBL “Ironman_SK”

My laptop already has a 256GB SSD in the slot labelled “F” below. I want to take that out and replace it with something higher and faster if possible. Not shown in this picture, but my laptop also has an empty space for an additional 2.5in SATA drive, but I don’t want to use that, I just want to replace my current SSD is that’s possible.

Here’s my system info, would appreciate any help trying to upgrade my SSD, thank you!

scott@fedora:~$ inxi -Fxxxza --no-host
System:
  Kernel: 6.11.11-300.fc41.x86_64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
    v: 2.43.1-4.fc41 clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=(hd0,gpt2)/vmlinuz-6.11.11-300.fc41.x86_64
    root=UUID=7521958a-91df-42e1-84ef-27e94d742d66 ro rootflags=subvol=root
    rd.luks.uuid=luks-66170427-c466-4b57-a2cb-b0093c6c6473 rhgb quiet
    rd.driver.blacklist=nouveau modprobe.blacklist=nouveau
  Desktop: GNOME v: 47.2 tk: GTK v: 3.24.43 wm: gnome-shell
    tools: gsd-screensaver-proxy dm: GDM v: 47.0 Distro: Fedora Linux 41
    (Workstation Edition)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Aspire E5-576G v: V1.32
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: KBL model: Ironman_SK v: V1.32 serial: <superuser required>
    part-nu: 0000000000000000 uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: Insyde v: 1.32
    date: 10/24/2017
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 3.6 Wh (100.0%) condition: 3.6/62.2 Wh (5.7%) volts: 12.7
    min: 11.1 model: PANASONIC AS16B5J type: Li-ion serial: <filter>
    status: full
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i5-8250U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Coffee Lake
    gen: core 8 level: v3 note: check built: 2017 process: Intel 14nm family: 6
    model-id: 0x8E (142) stepping: 0xA (10) microcode: 0xF6
  Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 4 cores: 4 threads: 8 tpc: 2
    smt: enabled cache: L1: 256 KiB desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB
    desc: 4x256 KiB L3: 6 MiB desc: 1x6 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 3400 min/max: 400/3400 scaling: driver: intel_pstate
    governor: performance cores: 1: 3400 2: 3400 3: 3400 4: 3400 5: 3400 6: 3400
    7: 3400 8: 3400 bogomips: 28800
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling mitigation: Microcode
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT
    vulnerable
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed mitigation: IBRS
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: IBRS; IBPB: conditional; STIBP: conditional;
    RSB filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not affected
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 620 vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: i915
    v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5 process: Intel 14nm built: 2016-20 ports:
    active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1,HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:5917
    class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP108M [GeForce MX150] vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI
    driver: nvidia v: 565.77 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 550.xx+
    status: current (as of 2024-09; EOL~2026-12-xx) arch: Maxwell code: GMxxx
    process: TSMC 28nm built: 2014-2019 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 4
    link-max: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1d10
    class-ID: 0302
  Device-3: Chicony HD WebCam driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-7:4 chip-ID: 04f2:b571
    class-ID: 0e02
  Display: wayland server: Xwayland v: 24.1.4 compositor: gnome-shell
    driver: gpu: i915 display-ID: 0
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: Najing CEC Panda LM156LF1L03 built: 2017
    res: 1920x1080 dpi: 142 gamma: 1.2 size: 344x194mm (13.54x7.64")
    diag: 395mm (15.5") ratio: 16:9 modes: 1920x1080
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 vendor: intel mesa v: 24.2.8 glx-v: 1.4 es-v: 3.2
    direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2)
    device-ID: 8086:5917 memory: 7.56 GiB unified: yes display-ID: :0.0
  API: EGL Message: EGL data requires eglinfo. Check --recommends.
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_skl, snd_soc_avs,
    snd_sof_pci_intel_skl bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:9d71 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.11.11-300.fc41.x86_64 status: kernel-api
    tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off tools: N/A
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.2.7 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168NGW [Stone Peak] driver: iwlwifi
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 03:00.0
    chip-ID: 8086:24fb class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1
    speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 3000 bus-ID: 04:00.1 chip-ID: 10ec:8168
    class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp4s0f1 state: down mac: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager,wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless-AC 3168 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB
    rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-5:3 chip-ID: 8087:0aa7
    class-ID: e001
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 4.2
    lmp-v: 8 status: discoverable: no pairing: no class-ID: 6c010c
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 238.47 GiB used: 130.57 GiB (54.8%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: SK Hynix model: HFS256G39TND-N210A
    size: 238.47 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 1P10 scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 236.87 GiB size: 236.87 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 130.09 GiB (54.9%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/dm-0 maj-min: 253:0
    mapped: luks-66170427-c466-4b57-a2cb-b0093c6c6473
  ID-2: /boot raw-size: 1024 MiB size: 973.4 MiB (95.06%)
    used: 474.8 MiB (48.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
  ID-3: /boot/efi raw-size: 600 MiB size: 598.8 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 19.3 MiB (3.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
  ID-4: /home raw-size: 236.87 GiB size: 236.87 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 130.09 GiB (54.9%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/dm-0 maj-min: 253:0
    mapped: luks-66170427-c466-4b57-a2cb-b0093c6c6473
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 10 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
    comp: lzo-rle avail: lzo,lz4,lz4hc,842,zstd max-streams: 8 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 58.0 C pch: 50.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
  Memory: total: 16 GiB available: 15.49 GiB used: 6.33 GiB (40.9%)
  Processes: 357 Power: uptime: 3h 22m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
    suspend, test_resume image: 6.17 GiB services: gsd-power,thermald,upowerd
    Init: systemd v: 256 target: graphical (5) default: graphical
    tool: systemctl
  Packages: pm: rpm pkgs: N/A note: see --rpm tools: dnf,gnome-software,yum
    pm: flatpak pkgs: 120 Compilers: gcc: 14.2.1 Shell: Bash v: 5.2.32
    running-in: kgx inxi: 3.3.36
1 Like

Looks like the SK Hynix HFS256G39TND-N210A is a sata ssd. I would expect other m.2 sata ssd’s will work.

Hi Scotty,

Per Acer, this model does not support NVME in that slot …

And here are the Acer recommended …

Main thing is this machine only supports SATA III in either the 2.5inch or the M.2

So, the best transfer rate you can expect is what SATA III can provide, 6Gbps. Personally, I would use that empty 2.5inch disk slot – add something like a 1TB ~ 2TB Samsung 870 series and keep the internal for basically OS only or maybe dual boot M$ + Linux/Fedora