Inspiron 3650, installing two SSD

Perfect!! That's exactly what I'm looking for. How do you find things like this?

Your help is much appreciated!

Thanks again, Dan

Do you sell this stuff? What do you recommend for the data cable for the SSD?

Thanks, that will help a ton. I'm wondering now if this is going to cause any problems with the power supply. I'm pretty sure the 3650 has a 240 W power supply. I will also be going from 8 GB to 16 GB of RAM.

You think that power supply is enough?

Welcome to the Dell Community @Dan722

the install is pretty clear now. but what needs to be done to get the SSD as the boot drive.... Bios/UEFI changes?

the video shows the physical install, but not changing boot drive.

I have found all the parts needed to make the install of a SSD. Ultimately, I would like to keep the 3.5 inch mechanical hard drive as storage. So I'm trying to figure out how I can make the SSD the first boot device so the system will boot from that drive.

If I leave the mechanical 3.5" drive in its current slot I assume that the computer will continue to see that as the first boot option. What is it that I need to do to make the SSD the first boot option with the old hard drive still in its original position? Do I need to move the original drive? It has to go in the drive bay where it will fit.

Since this computer has a UEFI/BIOS I cannot change the boot sequence without going into the legacy BIOS. I can change the boot sequence there but then I have to go back into UEFI and I'm not sure if the boot sequence will be the same as I set in the legacy BIOS.

Any ideas?

Thanks, Dan

The Inspiron 3650 specs say: "Two 2.5-inch drive or one 3.5-inch drive."  

So what you're planning is probably not going to work unless you can find a 9.5-mm SSD or HDD that can squeeze into the optical drive slot, meaning you'd have to give up the CD/DVD drive, if you have one.

Clone the HDD onto external media (USB HDD) using something like Macrium Reflect (free version). Then remove the HDD and install your SSD, connecting it to the same motherboard port where the HDD was connected. Install the cloned image on the SSD.

Lots of threads on these forums about cloning and replacing a HDD with an SSD, so search for them...

So what you are saying is you can make the SSD primary by using the cable that is currently attached to the 3.5" HHD, and then connect a new cable to the HHD to another hard drive connection on the motherboard.

Is that correct?

That's correct @Dan722 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv0Iu82z7iU

While I understand what you are saying and have seen it in the manual, at least one person is installed three drives, two 2.5 inch SSD and one 3.5" HHD.

If needed, I will install only the 2 SSD's.

@Dan722 

It is finished! The HDD was cloned successfully in about 50 minutes to a SSD. This was done with Acronis true image cloning from within Windows! I am using the cloned drive this time. No problems with cloning whatsoever.

Also, no problems installing more drives than the Dell manual said were possible.

It's very simple, just follow what the guys have said in this thread. Especially
@U2CAMEB4ME .

If you want to be the primary boot drive, you will need to put it in a 2.5 inch bay and use the data and power connection for the 3.5" bay. If you desire to keep a drive in the 3.5" bay you do have to purchase a power cable and a data cable. Available on Amazon.

Thanks to all who replied!

@Dan722