We've already covered how you would go about upgrading the RAM on the Acer Aspire 5 A515-46-R3UB. This is a fine laptop but it definitely has its shortcomings, mainly a limited 4 GB of RAM and a very stingy 128 GB of storage. And while we do love the Acer Aspire 5 A515-46-R3UB as a whole, today we're going to teach you how to go about upgrading the storage on the Acer Aspire 5 A515-46-R3UB through the SATA bay. A simple upgrade that shouldn't take you much more than 10 minutes from the start.
How to Install more Storage on the Acer Aspire 5 A515-46-R3UB
Firstly, you need to know the type of storage you're getting. This particular notebook features a 128 GB NVME M.2 2280 storage unit. You may opt to upgrade this unit, which offers read/write speeds of over 3000 MB/s. However, this will imply you also cloning the drive through a clone dock and might not be worth it unless speed is of the utmost importance.
Another option is to insert a 2.5-inch SATA SSD. The A515-46-R3UB already features everything you need in order to do this.
It comes with the SSD tray, the connecting cable, as well as the screws. You'll find all of this within the laptop's package. We would recommend getting a drive that's at least 500 GB, though ultimately the capacity is going to depend on your needs and your budget.
Acer Aspire 5 A515-46-R3UB Storage Upgrade Step-By-Step
Step 1: Before doing anything to the laptop you want to make sure the Aspire 5 is completely turned off and disconnected from the power source. You don't want to get a discharge when performing the upgrade.
Once you've confirmed that the laptop is turned off and disconnected you're going to place it upside down and remove the screws attaching the case to the chassis of the laptop. After that, you're going to make use of some kind of device to pry open a laptop. Some people use a guitar pick and in a pinch, you could use a credit card. In any case, start with the edges and start to detach the casing like so:
Step 2: Now that you've opened up the laptop you'll notice that there's an upgrade slot located on the side of the heating fan. That's where you're going to place the SSD tray. In fact, you'll notice it even features the screwholders on the lower end to make sure the SSD is properly attached to the laptop.
Step 3: Now that you've located where you're going to introduce the storage unit you're going to insert it below the pink band and screw it to the laptop like so:
Step 4: At this point, you might be wondering where you connect the A515-46-R3UB's SSD? Well, that's pretty simple, the connector is located right below the wireless card. Therefore you're going to need to grab that screwdriver once more, remove the screw that's attaching the wireless card to the board and that's where you'll be able to easily connect the drive like so:
Step 5: In the event, you wanted to upgrade the NVME M.2 2280 SSD, which would offer you up to 6 times faster read/write speeds than your run-of-the-mill 2.5-inch SSD, then you're going to want to remove the onboard NVMe located on the right side of the battery by removing the screw located at the far end and retrieving it from the connecting pins. This is where you would find the NVME unit:
Step 6: Once the unit has been removed you're going to grab the unit you bought and insert it at a 45-degree angle making sure the pins are properly aligned. The following picture is what that would look like on another laptop since we didn't upgrade the NVME unit in this one. Once you've placed it on the slot you're going to grab the screw you removed from the previous unit and use it to screw the NVME unit tightly in its place.
Step 7: Finally, you're going to attach the lower case to the laptop once again, and on "Disk Management" you're going to go ahead and format the new volumes that your A515-46-R3UB has recognized so that you may now enjoy having a lot more storage space than the originally supplied 128 GB.