Inspiron 3671, M.2 SATA drive not seen by PC

I should add the M.2 device is a 256GB device as i see in the inspiron-3671-desktop_users-guide_en-us.pdf the M.2 device is limited to 512GB.

Thanks

How are you deciding that the PC doesn't see the drive?

Specs say:  one M.2 2230/2280 PCIe/NVMe solid-state drive. So if you bought the wrong type of SSD... 

The M.2 SSD is blank unless you cloned your HDD and transferred the image onto the SSD.

Back up all your personal files on the HDD to external media first.

Then boot from the original HDD with the new M.2 connected and use Samsung's (or other) software to migrate an image to the M.2. Then reboot using the F12 boot menu to boot from the M.2 to confirm that the PC can boot from that drive.

And finally disconnect the HDD from the SATA port on the motherboard and see if PC boots normally from the SSD. And when that's done, you'll have to re-initialize the HDD to remove Windows and then you can copy all your backed-up personal files back onto the HDD for regular storage.

Hi, thanks for that... i understand the disk device is empty/blank. Issue is the PC is not seeing/recognizing the device is attached to the PC.

At this point i'm thinking i might have the wrong device interface (M.2 device).

I have a Samsung SATA M.2 where I think the PC requires a M.2 PCIe/NVMe AHCI device... 

Thanks

Hi

The windows OS, booted off the existing 7.2K drive does not see the device (device manager rescan & disk manager.) No new device appears in the OS.

The windows installer, booted off a USB containing the OS image to install, does not show any eligible devices to install to (7.2K drive is disconnected at this time so that M.2 would appear as only device)

I might have an option to return device but if I cannot; I would implement it using a PCIe riser card/adapter which allows the device to attach to the PC in that manner, then for additional storage.

Although the whole point is to speed up the PC’s boot up time as well as usage. Applications are painfully slow, with PC almost appearing to lock up sometimes. (due to current immediate workload, as that settles it becomes more responsive)

Thank you

I'd try to return that SSD and get the right type. I have no idea if a riser is going to work with that SSD in this PC model...

Which CPU do you have, i3, i5 or i7?

How much RAM do you have and is it installed in one module (eg 1x8 GB) or do you have a pair of modules (eg, 2x 4GB)?

Do you have an add-in (NVidia) video card or only onboard Intel UHD Graphics?

How much junk is loading in the background?

Have you scanned thoroughly for malware recently?

Re: The PC however is not "seeing" the new drive when installed (I tried the new drive & an older one lying around, known to work, with no luck.)

are you 100% certain you installed the ssd using correct procedure? https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/us/en/04/inspiron-3671-desktop/inspiron-3671-service-manual/procedure?guid=guid-e0b54f4d-4345-4424-963e-90a18ebd1255&lang=en-us

do you have another pc to test either ssd and verify at least one works now?

Hi All

Thought I'd reply with what ended up being the resolution. 

I bought a new M.2 device, PCI NVMe. the format between the two appear identical..

So the PC is now working really well. I am returning the incorrect device & am offered a refund (amazon).

It is worth pointing out that you should change to AHCI from RAID mode... in the PC bios before installing the OS from scratch. (M.2/SSD works better & sports its statistics better under AHCI) (if you forgot and the PC is still in RAID mode, there is a way to make the change without reinstalling the OS, search the internet.)

Thank you

Glad you were able to get the right M.2 type drive to work...

Ron;

Do you know why the Inspiron 3671 does not support an M2 SSD greater 512?  I would love to upgrade my 256GB drive to the Samsung 970 EVO Plus, it is the 2280 form factor but I keep hearing there is a 512GB limit.  I would really like to understand what is driving that.  Any light you can shed on this would be appreciated

Chuck.

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@safety6 wrote:

Ron;

Do you know why the Inspiron 3671 does not support an M2 SSD greater 512?  I would love to upgrade my 256GB drive to the Samsung 970 EVO Plus, it is the 2280 form factor but I keep hearing there is a 512GB limit.  I would really like to understand what is driving that.  Any light you can shed on this would be appreciated

Chuck.

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All I know is what the spec sheet says:
M.2 2230/2280 solid-state drive:  PCIe/NVMe AHCI, up to 6 Gbps, Up to 512 GB

It would be speculation on my part why the limit is set at 512 GB. But why do you need an SSD that's >512 GB?

This model supports one 3.5-inch hard drive and one M.2 2230/2280 PCIe/NVMe solid-state drive, with a limit of 2T for the HDD.

That's a lot of storage space, especially if you only store Windows and app files on the SSD and you tell Windows to move and store its default folders (eg, docs, music, photos, etc) on the HDD, and set up apps you install to save their data files on the HDD too.

That's a good question about why I need 2TB...  more a matter of it's out there why not do it.  I am concerned that the 256 is a tad small considering everything keeps issuing more and more storage space.  I'll probably go with the 970 EVO Plus 500GB just for the performance enhancement.... 

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@safety6 wrote:

That's a good question about why I need 2TB...  more a matter of it's out there why not do it.  I am concerned that the 256 is a tad small considering everything keeps issuing more and more storage space.  I'll probably go with the 970 EVO Plus 500GB just for the performance enhancement.... 

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You misunderstood what I said...

I was saying a 512 GB SSD + 2T HDD is a lot of storage space, so I was wondering why you'd want an SSD that's even bigger than the 512 GB SSD limit for this system...

Please help. My HDD failed so I've bought a WD Black M.2 2280 500GB which according to the manual should be ok?? It isn't listed in the BIOS. I wondered if it was DOA so I have a PCIe x4 adapter card. I place the WD into that and the BIOS sees it?? I've flashed the BIOS to the latest 1.21 version.