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Installing a new SSD to my new XPS 8700
Hi,
Last month I bought a dell XPS 8700 (i7 4790, 8gb) model from Dell.com & it has a 1 TB 7200 rpm hard drive.
Now I need to install Samsung 850 EVO 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD to my machine & i need your advice on following;
1. Do I need to purchase 2.5" to 3.5" Internal Hard Disk Drive Mounting Kit for this purpose?
2. Do I need to purchase additional SATA III cable?
3. Do I need to purchase additional power cables or not?
4. What is the correct method to install Windows 8.1 to this SSD?
Since i'm not an elect guy, your educating opinions / advises are highly appreciated.
Tharaka
Dell-Ashwin N
14 Posts
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February 25th, 2015 08:00
Hi GUPSGUPS ,
In order to proceed with the cloning you would have to have both the SSD and the SATA with the same storage space. And a specific software would not be required since the raid feature will be present in the BIOS. If the requirements are met you would be able to clone the hard drives.
-Ashwin
Philip_Yip
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March 22nd, 2015 18:00
One of the easiest ways is to use Dell Backup and Recovery.
Step 1: Make Recovery media with Dell Backup and Recovery
Follow the instructions here to make a Rescue Disk (Bootable External Hard Drive) or Factory Backup (Bootable USB Flash Drive):
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/dell-backup-and-recovery/
This should be standard procedure when you get a new Dell system.
Also make a Windows 8.1 UEFI Bootable USB as its required to use DISKPART:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-microsoft-windows-and-office/download-microsoft-windows/download-windows-8-1-retail-and-oem-iso/
This is useful to have to hand in case you later want a clean installation (For Windows 7 users the OEM .iso is unavailable to download so just use a Windows 8.1 .iso for DISKPART).
Step 2: Use DISKPART
Use of DISKAPRT will result in data loss...
Insert the Windows 8.1 Bootable USB. Power up your system and press F2 to get to the Dell BIOS setup. Ensure that the SATA Operation is AHCI (see the start of this video up till 1:21):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGJ4MnZTNXo&list=PL1RkaknDn7v_SJaBuleIyodZD7Nt_IgqM&index=2
Windows 8.1
Windows 7
Boot from the Windows 8.1 installation media and use DISKPART > CLEAN ALL on the HDD and DISKPART > CLEAN on the SSD:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/we-couldnt-create-a-new-partition-or-locate-an-existing-one-for-more-information-see-the-setup-log-files/
Step 3: Restore Factory Settings to SSD
Power down the system and remove the cables from the HDD. We want the computer setup so it has the SSD only otherwise Dell Backup and Recovery will restore to the HDD.
Use the Rescue Disk or Factory Backup to install Windows 8.1 or 7 to the mSATA SSD. Update Windows and check that its running okay.
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/dell-backup-and-recovery/#Restore
Power down your Dell.
Step 4: Initialise HDD and Assign for Libraries
You can power down your Dell and reinsert your hard drive. Power it up and log into Windows. Finally you can initialise your hard drive and set it up to use the HDD as a data drive:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/hardware-upgrades-for-your-system/upgrading-to-a-solid-state-drive/solid-state-drive-and-hard-drive-configuration/
This should now have the factory settings installed correctly on the SSD with the HDD being used for your files.
Tharaka87
12 Posts
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March 23rd, 2015 10:00
Hey NATAKUC4,
Can you confirm whether the above method is successful when migrating to a 500gb SSD from a 1tb HDD (With different size drives) ?
Tharaka
Philip_Yip
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16K Posts
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March 23rd, 2015 10:00
I carried it out on a 512 GB HDD to a 256 GB SSD so yes it works with different sizes.
monkuboy
4 Posts
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April 24th, 2015 11:00
If the Factory Image restore disc is used, does that contain all of the necessary drivers or would the drivers have to be installed separately from that? Thanks!
cjk42
4 Posts
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March 20th, 2016 16:00
Hi, I have an 8700 that came with Windows 7 Pro and has been upgraded to 10 Pro. When I tried to follow your instructions, I get stuck at changing the settings in the BIOS to AHCI/UEFI/SecureBoot. My machine has been upgraded to Windows 10 but was/is set to Legacy Boot. When I try to change it to UEFI, I get the following error:
No Boot Device Available, F1 to try again, F2 to run setup utility, SATA 0 and 1 installed, rest are none.
I get this error if I change everything (UEFI on, Secure Boot on, Legacy Option ROM off) or if I only change UEFI to enable it. This has me nervous about proceeding with anything else.
Do you have any suggestions?
Philip_Yip
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March 21st, 2016 14:00
you need to reinstall the OS once you change these settings. You should be booting from a USB and clean installing after these settings are applied.
cjk42
4 Posts
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March 21st, 2016 18:00
Thanks so much! One more quick question, will changing to UEFI etc mess anything up with Windows recognizing my key/license or will it just carry over?
Philip_Yip
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March 23rd, 2016 02:00
It is the same hardware and the key will be automatically input from the UEFI BIOS from the correct installation media during installation.
cjk42
4 Posts
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March 28th, 2016 07:00
Hi Philip, I just wanted to thank you for your help here and especially on your website. I was pretty nervous about doing this but after your answers above, I followed your instructions and now have an SSD/HDD machine with a clean Windows 10 install on UEFI and Secure Boot. It is amazing how much faster the SSD makes it. Thanks again.
Dan-H
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March 28th, 2016 10:00
With all due respect, this is incorrect and misleading.
There are many free and commercially available software packages that can clone drives of different sizes. Acronis and easeus are two I have personally used in the past year to clone "larger" drives to "smaller" SSDs.
As long as the "In-Use" source drive is less than the size of the target is is trivial to use either acronis or easeus to map the boot sectors, recovery partitions etc from a larger drive to a smaller drive.
For some reason when I post links my posts get moderated so I won't bother.
Philip_Yip
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March 28th, 2016 13:00
Great! Thanks for letting me know you had a successful install. SSDs make a noticeable performance boost. :)