Dell Inspiron 15 7560 unable to detect Samsung NVMe 960 Evo M.2 SSD

SSD 960 EVO NVME M.2 250GB

NVMe M.2, PCIe 3.0 x4 NVM Express SSD for Client PCs and M.2 (2280)

www.samsung.com/.../Samsung_SSD_960_EVO_Data_Sheet_Rev_1_1.pdf

SanDisk X400 SSD M.2 2280 128GB

SD8SN8U-128G

Form factor - 2.5”/7mm cased, M.2 (2280)

interface SATA III (6 Gb/s)

www.sandisk.in/.../x400-ssd-for-boot-drives-data-sheet.pdf

Called Dell support today and was surprised to hear them tell that they have no clue of this will work..

Adding few details if that helps

SSD 960 EVO NVME M.2 250GB
NVMe M.2, PCIe 3.0 x4 NVM Express SSD for Client PCs and M.2 (2280)

http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/downloads/document/Samsung_SSD_960_EVO_Data_Sheet_Rev_1_1.pdf 

SanDisk X400 SSD M.2 2280 128GB
SD8SN8U-128G
Form factor - 2.5”/7mm cased, M.2 (2280)
interface SATA III (6 Gb/s)
https://www.sandisk.in/content/***/sandisk-main/en_us/assets/resources/enterprise/data-sheets/x400-ssd-for-boot-drives-data-sheet.pdf

The specifications on that system only show a SATA compatibility.  Since the Samsung 960 EVO is a PCIe drive, it won't work in that capacity.

If you are trying to install the drive as SATA you may have to load specific drivers during the install but I have not tried that.  Many of the Inspirons are not PCIe capable, although some of the gaming ones are.

Typically if the M.2 slot on the system only supports SATA-based SSDs rather than NVMe-based SSDs, the slot will have an extra notch that physically prevents you from installing an NVMe SSD.  See here: cdn1.bigcommerce.com/.../m2-sata-nvme-ssd.jpg

However, I suppose it's possible that this system doesn't have that notch but also doesn't support NVMe, in which case you're out of luck.  Just as a last resort, if you've already double-checked that the SSD is properly seated in the slot, go into the BIOS by pressing F2 during boot and check the top "System Information" option.  Scroll through the list and see if you see any mention of your SSD.  If not, chances are it's not supported.

The BIOS does not need to switch the slot between SATA and NVMe.  I've swapped SATA SSDs for NVMe SSDs, and when the system supports both, it switches automatically based on the type of card installed into the slot.

The Dell systems which support both PCIe and SATA in a PCH configuration M.2 slot have to use RAID for SATA mode and AHCI or disabled for PCIe.  It does not switch automatically.

My Inspiron 15 7567 Gaming supports both SATA and PCIe/NVMe.  And it came with a NVMe drive set up to use the SATA bridge controller.  I replaced my drive with a Samsung 960 EVO and changed the SATA to AHCI and it picked up the PCIe drive fine.

The referenced system does not support a PCIe drive, just as my Inspiron 17 7779 does not.  If you look at the specifications for these two systems, you can see the difference in the Storage reference.  As was mentioned, you can get a much larger M.2 SATA drive for much less than a PCIe drive.

The 2280 number is the physical size of the drive,  22 wide by 80 long.

Thanks guys, appreciate the inputs.

Let me share some more insights of what I have gathered from my research.

1) The M.2 Connector, accepts the Samsung 960 Evo just fine. No issues there. as Evo uses the "M Connector" and the factory fitter Sandisk X400 uses a "B&M" Connector and operates in SATA3 Mode. The on board M.2 Connector support 2280 Interface/Form factor, which the 960 Evo also complies with.

2) In the BIOS the SSD is not detected -> System information in M.2 is - NONE

3) The 960 Evo can operate in both NVMe and SATA mode.

In my opinion what is missing is the BIOS's ability to switch between SATA3 Mode and NVMe. I dont think this is a HW limitations but the way the BIOS is written to be able to detect the NVMe Devices.

I ran HWInfo to find more about the M.2 Connector  and here is what i could find about the M.2 Connector. So if I am reading correctly, then the connector is M type, which is what the Evo 960 employees.

This is what leads me to beleive that this is restricted at the BIOS level and is not a HW restriction due to SATA3/NVMe type architecture.

But all said... i could be completely wrong as well... Only Dell can confirm .... :)

The "2280" interface/form factor isn't an interface.  It's just a form factor describing the physical dimensions of the M.2 card, i.e. 22mm x 80mm.  That is in no way a guarantee that a card will actually work in the slot you're using or even fit into the slot (due to the M vs B&M keying); it literally only means that there's clearance AROUND the slot for a card that physical size.

Where did you see that the 960 Evo is backward compatible with SATA mode?  I'm not certain, but I'm fairly confident that's not accurate.  But even if it were, you'd be wasting a ton of money using the 960 Evo in that case because SATA would become a major bottleneck.  You could probably find less expensive SSDs that will perform just as well with that interface, such as the 850 Evo.  The fact that the slot also has a single PCIe lane wired to it isn't great either, since the 960 Evo can address (and make very good use of) 4 lanes. I believe all M.2 slots that support NVMe are also required to have at least 2 PCIe lanes wired to them, but I'm not certain about that.

The BIOS does not need to switch the slot between SATA and NVMe.  I've swapped SATA SSDs for NVMe SSDs, and when the system supports both, it switches automatically based on the type of card installed into the slot.

I think you've got an SSD that only works with NVMe paired with a system that only talks SATA on its M.2 slot, even though for some reason the slot didn't have an extra plastic tab where the "B" notch is in order to prevent NVMe SSDs from being installed.

^ Interesting info.  On the XPS 13 9360 I swapped recently, it originally had a SATA-based M.2 SSD and was configured in RAID mode, and when I switched it for a 960 Evo NVMe drive, it was picked up just fine despite still being in RAID mode. I did end up switching it to AHCI for unrelated reasons later, but maybe that system is designed differently. Thanks!

I had a similar problem when I purchased my Dell Inspiron 15 7567 with a 1TB Hard Drive. I installed a Samsung 960 EVO NVMe SSD and I was having all sorts of issues like the drive is not being detected or boot disk not present. When I cloned the system to the SSD it booted but I couldn't install the Samsung NVMe driver and the Magician software does not see the drive. I wanted to make a clean install on the NVMe drive and finally I was able to do it. Here's what I did: Go to the BIOS Settings; Click on Restore Settings; Click on BIOS defaults: Hit OK then click Apply; Go to system configuration and choose AHCI then hit Apply; Go to drives and uncheck SATA-0; The ones that should be checked are M.2 PCIe SSD-0 and SATA-1 only; Click Apply then Exit. You should be able to make a clean install on your NVMe drive.

Thanks Lancer81,  unfortunately your suggestion will not work as in the BIOS for 7560 the M.2 port is coded as SATA and not as PCIe. Now the point to note is the M.2 port supports M Key  devices,  also the PCIe bus already exists as the graphic card is using the  PCIe bus, so the Evo960 will not get detected without a BIOS update to enable the M.2 port to see PCIe devices... More overs NVMe device support has nothing to do with hardware, its all software. So if the BIOS has the code to detect device then it will work. Unfortunately this is direct conflict with Dells policy of making money, afaik this feature is intentionally not being provided to force people to buy the more expensive of their products... What is more disappointing is the responses i got from Dell in all my attempts.. I have been trying to get them to provide me the technical explanations on why a BIOS update is not going to help.. its complete silence from Dell... Great support to customer :)

The system only has a SATA Interface.  The 960 Pro is a PCIe/NVMe drive.  Why don't you get an M.2 SATA drive.  Your contention a Bios update would allow the PCIe drive to be detected, I assume, is not correct on your system.

If you want to see the difference, check the specifications for the 7560 and 7567 in the Storage specifications interface.

A new BIOS version has been released in end September 2017 (version 1.2). Could you update the BIOS and see if the NVMe SSD works?

No BIOS update will turn a SATA interface into an NVMe interface.  That would require a mainboard redesign.

Hello, I have a similar problem.  Dell 7650, internal mSATA SSD, and I've bought an interpose cable to utilise the second HDD connector with a 2.5" SATA Crucial MX200 SSD.  6 months ago it worked fine.  But I upgraded to Win10 Creators Update (1703) and the second drive disappeared from within the OS.  I rolled back to the previous version of Win10 (1609) and it worked again.   For about 2  weeks

BUT the machine bricked when I installed too many updates at once, including a new BIOS.  I installed Win10 v1703: but no second HDD.  I then found an ISO of the previous version (1609) but it made no difference.  I've updated to the latest version of Windows (Fall Creators Update) but still no second HDD.

The exact symptoms are curious

The second drive isn't recognised in the OS when it is connected internally.  It also isn't recognised in the BIOS when connected internally except under one specific condition: if I first use the drive in an external caddy connected via USB, and then connect it internally while the machine is rebooting into BIOS mode, then it is listed as a drive in BIOS.  But it never shows up in the OS, and every subsequent time that I boot to BIOS it also isn't listed.  BIOS only lists the drive on the first occasion after I use the drive in an external caddy.  (I read somewhere that the drives can shut down if they get a power overload and that using them in USB mode can override the shutdown).

How frustrating, especially as it was working earlier in the year with an older version of the BIOS and WIN10.  Any help gratefully received.  I don't have another HDD to try but will have in about a week.