SOLVED Updating to SSD

[John Schoelles]

I have a Dell XPS 8930 desk top PC running Windows 10 Home 64 GB with a 2TD 7200 rpm SATA hard drive approx. 2 years old.
I would like to upgrade to SSD but do not need a 2TD drive a 1TD drive is sufficient.
Can anyone recommend a good reliable SSD drive that is not to expensive?

 

[Ian]

Moving to an SSD is a great idea - it'll make a HUGE speed difference! You'll like it

Does your Dell XPS 8930 have a free m.2. slot? You can get SSDs that use the same SATA connections as your mechanical drive, or newer ones that use a slot directly on the motherboard (most PCs in the last 3 years have this slot).

m.2. drives are preferable if you can use one, with Sandisk, Samsung, Intel and Crucial all being good SSD manufacturers.

With a bit more info on m.2. vs SATA we can advise in a bit more detail .

 

[Tim Locke]

If you are going to use an M2/NVME type SSD, you will need to know whether you have some PCI lanes available. NVME is much faster than SATA but on some machines with a modern video card you could run out of PCI bandwidth.
I have read but don't know that big M2 type drives can get hot and potentially overhear part of the motherboard.

Maybe ask this on a Dell forum as well?

 

[John Schoelles]

The Dell Service Manual for my XPS 8930 shows a slot on the system board, item 8 for a solid-state drive, M.2 SSD.
Searching on the Dell web site for parts using my PC service number only shows “M.2 PCle NVMC class 40 2280 SSD, 1 TB”.

Specifics for my pc: Dell XPS Desktop with Windows 10 Home, 64 bit,
8th generation Intel i7-8700 processor, 3.2 GB
Ram 16 GB DDR4, 2666 MHz
4 GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050Ti graphics
If I should decide to upgrade to SSD the 1TB drive is adequate for me since currently am only using 68.2 GB
of 1.81 TB (96% free)

There are 4 partitions: 650 MB EFI System Partition (100% used), OS (C) (96% free), 990 MB WINRETOOLS Recovery (53% free) & 13 MB unallocated, not listed only shown.
Since I would be going to a smaller drive, I would have to re-allocate the OS (C) drive partition keeping the others as is. Can the 13 MB partition be eliminated?
I know I would need help to resize OS (C) partition.

To do the cloning I would use Macrium Reflect cloning feature since I already use this software to image my drives as backups

After all this done how do you make the SSD the OS (C) primary drive in place of the other drive?
Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Clintlgm]

During the clone, you will shrink the C: Partition once the clone is complete Reboot and Spam F12 That will give you a one time Boot menu where you will select your new m.2 NVME SSD. Once you in Windows and all it good you can format your old hard drive and if its still ok use it for data storage or replace it for a newer storage drive.
If your only using 68 GB I would recommend getting a 512GB M.2 NVME SSD and if you need more storage later on just replace your old hard drive with a newer one. I wouldn't go all the way down to that 128GB you could even go down to a 256GB since your only using 68 GB This will save you more than enough to purchase a newer Hard drive if you need more storage or even a 1TB 2.5 SATA SSD this is a direct replacement for your current 2.5 SATA Hard Drive. If you will never need any more than 256GB go for it. Its all you really need.
I have found Samsung 970 Evo excellent for the money in M.2 and 960 Evo for 2.5 SATA SSD. Her is a video showing you how to Clone and adjust partitions size at the same time. you won't need to eliminate any partitions

Be sure your USB Recovery thumb drive is current and works Test it to ensure that it boots into the MR Recovery program. Again Boot up Spaming F12 fo for that onetime boot menu and select your MR Recover USB UEFI

 

[john sturgess]

I got a 500 version of this drive
Western Digital WD BLACK SN750 NVMe M.2 2280 1TB PCI-Express 3.0 x4 64-layer 3D NAND Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) WDS100T3X0C
for only $64.99 JUST LOVE THE SPEED in my DELL DESKTOP https://www.newegg.com/western-digital-black-sn750-nvme-1tb/p/N82E16820250110

 

[john1in2]

It is tricky to clone from a big drive to a small drive. The cloning software always wants to keep the partitions the same or bigger. So be sure to look into this before cloning. There is a nice free app I used but now I forget the name, it automatically figured it all out....Not Macrium Reflect (which is great by the way)... something else...

 

[Clintlgm]

It is tricky to clone from a big drive to a small drive. The cloning software always wants to keep the partitions the same or bigger. So be sure to look into this before cloning. There is a nice free app I used but now I forget the name, it automatically figured it all out....Not Macrium Reflect (which is great by the way)... something else...

NOt so with Macrium Reflect. With MR you can move partitions around make them large or smaller it all in the set up watch the videos on YouTube

 

[BigFeet]

AOMEI Backupper has no issues cloning disks of different sizes either. I've done it multiple times. Bigger to smaller and smaller to bigger.

 

[John Schoelles]

I was able to clone my drive using Macrium Reflect free in the Rescuer Environment as they recommended for best result.
No problems going from a larger drive to a smaller drive.
Installing the drive was a little different than Dell had on their instructions since the original drive was installed in one of the secondary locations.
I installed the new drive in primary drive location.
I could not remove the old drive from its location because of a plastic support bracket preventing its removal.
I tried to remove the bracket without success.
This bracket is not even shown in the instructions.

 

[Clintlgm]

I was able to clone my drive using Macrium Reflect free in the Rescuer Environment as they recommended for best result.
No problems going from a larger drive to a smaller drive.
Installing the drive was a little different than Dell had on their instructions since the original drive was installed in one of the secondary locations.
I installed the new drive in primary drive location.
I could not remove the old drive from its location because of a plastic support bracket preventing its removal.
I tried to remove the bracket without success.
This bracket is not even shown in the instructions.

If you'll download Dell Service Manual for your particular computer using your Service Tag Number you'll probably find how to remove this bracket in the Storage section.

 

[John Schoelles]

I have service manual and there is no bracket shown in the picture that shows how to remove the secondary hard drive.
This is were the original hard is located and not in the location shown for primary hard drive

 

[Clintlgm]

I have service manual and there is no bracket shown in the picture that shows how to remove the secondary hard drive.
This is were the original hard is located and not in the location shown for primary hard drive

And you go this service manual using your Service Tag Number? There is a general Service manual by the model number that doesn't have the exact set up for all the different models under a Model number. Such as my Dell notebook Model it 7000 series my specific Service code is under 7386 which shows my exact MB layout and instructions for upgrading storage. The way I got this is to log on to Dell Support using my service tag number that way I am sure to get the correct one for my specific model.
From your picture, it looks pretty much straight forward how to change out hard drives? Can you post actual pictures of your storage set up? Do you have any m.2 slots you can use? You can also log on to the Dell support forums there you will find other users of the same model you have to help you solve this problem, its not really a Windows Problem https://www.dell.com/community/Desktops/ct-p/Desktops

 

[John Schoelles]

I agree that it is not a Windows problem.
I thought that maybe someone may have come across the same thing during a hard drive exchange in a similar unit.
As far as going to Dell for any help it is a waste of time unless you have a service agreement with them or are still under warranty.
I am neither; I tried Dell Community with a different problem and got the same response.

 

[Clintlgm]

That's funny I participate in those forums and there are several people there that can be very helpful. Dell Tech support is a big failure again I guess it will take another Class Action suite to get them actually having intelligent support again.
Personally, I don't see what can be so complicated about changing out hard drive for SSD's., i , mean we do this on Notebooks and that can get complicated desktop are pretty straight forward. I mean that hard drive went in there it should come back out. Maybe the cage goes in before coming out or goes sideways have a good serious look and you should be able to solve the problem. Post some pictures maybe we can see what the key to removal is?

 

[John Schoelles]

I was finally able to remove the HDD with its cage after doing some slight modifications to the bracket that was preventing it from sliding out. Dell had a service person change out the original HDD while still under warranty. Why it was installed in the secondary location I don't know. The cage had to be removed since the drive was attached to the cage with screws that are not accessible without removing it.
I installed my SSD in the primary (according to the service manual) location which is much easier to access.
So far the new SSD is working great and using Macrium Reflect to clone was no problem.
Thanks to all who provided some assistance.

 

[Clintlgm]

Glad it all worked out for you, enjoy your new SSD