Installing a PCIe mSATA Solid State Hard drive into an Intel NUC

While one of the newly acquired NUC6CAYS units is utilized as a TV box, it gives me a chance to upgrade the SSD drive, and operating system, in my oldest DC3217BY Intel NUC.

Difficulty : Easy

1. Remove the base plate, use a standard Phillips screwdriver and unscrew the four corner screws, they are retained in the base plate, lift the plate off and place to one side.

In this orientation, the PCIe slots are on the left and the memory slots on the right. There are two PcIe slots, one on top of the other. The upper is the mSATA solid state drive (SSD) held down by a single small Phillips head screw.

If we unscrew that, the SSD will pop up (make sure you don't lose the screw).

You can now see the WiFi card in the lower, shorter, slot.

With the mSATA drive removed you can see the Intel 512AN_HMW which is a PCIe WiFi link 5100 dual band card with two antenna connectors. Intel call this a PCIe Half Mini Card form factor. The Intel NUC comes preinstalled with the two antenna and they just clip on.

Installation of the higher capacity SSD is the reverse process, slide into the slot, push gently down and secure with the single screw.

That's it!

Replace the base plate.

Total time taken less than five minutes.

The next step is to install the operating system.