Installing mSATA card on Inspiron 15R special edition (7520)

Hi Dominique,

The picture on my earlier post is from a training document and numbers on it does not indicate the actual part numbers. N7JHH is a universal  Dell part number for daughter board with mSATA port for Inspiron 15R SE (7520).

For availability of part in other regions you will need to contact the regional sales team.

Thank You

Hello guys, I had been looking for this part and calling/emailing DELL for four month.. and finally I got it !

To get the daughter card with mSata here is what I finally did :

- I called DELL and asked to speak with the "Spare Parts" department

  (no need ot explain you complicated situation, just say you need to buy a part)

  (maybe you'll have to wait a long time on the phone, so surf on the net while waiting on the phone,

   and try to call them on a cheap number)

- Ask for the Dell part number "N7JHH" (it's an international reference number, meaning the same everywhere)

- It'll cost 11.5€ (!) - about 15$ (US) and they ship it for free (at least they did for me)

That's it, no more headaches..

well, you still have to disasemble your computer again and buy an mSata drive.. but at least now, you have your SSD drive for SRT caching or to put Windows on, and still have your 750GB or 1TB drive for the data :)

The part for me seem to be shipped by UPS from the Netherland - I live in France - and it should arrive a week after my order :)

(Laptop reference : Inspiron 15R SE 7520)

In case someone needs it, here is the french phone number for DELL

Complete steps of my installation of the msata drive here :

en.community.dell.com/.../20251653.aspx

This is my case. I contacted the dell support and told me that mine has support. when i disassembled everything, the daughter board has no slot. I almost bought the mSATA.

I just ordered the 15r and fully expect to not have the mSATA port available. I want to replace the 750 with an SSD and use the original as storage. Has anybody tried something similar to the below product with success? Any issues with the BIOS recognizing and booting from either drive?

http://www.amazon.com/SATA-caddy-12-7mm-Universal-DVD-ROM/dp/B0056EW4A4/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=EL03JIEP3OK8&coliid=IFFR95VD28JGP

Also, can someone confirm if the drive in the 15r is 9.5mm or 12.7mm? These adapters seem to come in both sizes.

Hi PTScott33,

Inspiron 15R has 12.7 mm SATA tray load optical drive however I cannot confirm if this will work as I haven't come across anyone who has tried this.

hi all.

I can confirm that caddy 12.7 works properly!!

I just need to know if this slot from bluray is SATA 2 or SATA 3 connection.

Someone know about this?

I spoke with the Dell parts department. It sounds like the part# that now matches my model, Inspiron 15R SE that contains the mSata port is N7J97. This must be a new part, as searching for it on Google provides absolutely nothing.

It is on back order she said.  Argh.

I have called Dell and as of right now, the part # for the daughter board WITH mSata has been deactivated. I am inquiring more information.

Hi Nklees,

If you want to fork out the $80+ or whatever for the N7JHH part that likely you can only get in the UK, wait for it to be shipped, etc... go for it if you can find it. You have to tear your computer apart to not only install that part, but also to install the mSata SSD in that location.

I hopefully will get my mSata to Sata drive enclosure today, and I will replace my 750gb 5400rpm drive with it this evening. I will update if all goes well, how the computer recognizes it, etc.. because I think I am supposed to enable the Intel Smart Response boot option as well.

I purchased 3 caddys.    An mSata - Sata 2.5" enclosure, a OOP -> SATA caddy (12.7mm) for the 750gb, and a slim dvd external enclosure for the Optical drive I will be pulling out.

All of that after shipping and tax I believe was about $60 if that.

I am surprised you were able to place an order. I was told, on the phone by a rep, that part of "deactivated" and she referenced a whole different part #.  But I was told the deactivated stock count was 0.

So you ordered a computer without the port then? I purchased the $690 listed price 15R SE.

I have no clue if you will get it or not. Good luck though.

Hi Majorchamp (Or anybody there), I'm about to do the same you did.  It's very helpfull that you've posted this information.  Is there any news about N7J97 part? Is N7JHH still usefull for my 7520 cause I've just bought it?

Greetings to everybody

Thanks

@Anshul Garg

solution = buy a caddy 12.7 and replace for the bluray drive.