Precision 7510 Touch Screen Laptop - Shouldn't operating system be on the SSD?

Windows 10

You don't normally see many 7200 RPM SSDs ;)

The system probably came with a 32 GB mSATA which was changed out.  The install may have been done incorrectly, so a picture of your disk management window showing the graphical presentation and info might help.

The 7200 refers to the SATA...

Is the disk management screenshot I attached what you are looking for?

The System Tab says this is operating as a 64bit system.

The unit was sold as a "new in 2016" model so I don't know why it would have "older" hardware in it.

Please advise.

Thank you for your help thus far SaltGrass!

Don

The mSATA drive is being used as a data drive with the normal install being on the HDD.

If you wanted to put the install on the mSATA, that it could be done.  Since the SSD is smaller than the HDD you may be limited, but a recovery drive might be able to do it or a third party imaging utility.

What is your hesitation with using the SSD as the boot drive? How much room does the Windows 10 operating system take up?

The Precision 3500 I previously bought & returned had only a 256G SSD. So to me the SATA drive was pretty inconsequential. Could the 256SSD be a reason the 3500 ran slow?

This sounds like a lot of hassle. Perhaps I should just return the unit. I've only had it 5 days.

Why have an SSD for just data & waste the speed.

Others have said the unit was set up wrong & this should be a on-site warranty issue. Your thoughts.

If 256G is too small to be boot disk, what minimum size SSD is necessary?

I really was expecting this to be "turnkey" at this price.

The fact the SSD is smaller only relates to moving from a large to smaller drive.  The drive is large enough for Win 10 by far.

Not all SSDs are alike.  You may have one which is limited in performance.

If you want to check if the 250 GB drive is slowing things down, remove it and see.

You can do a clean install to the SSD if that is acceptable...  It would be best to remove the HDD if that is what you are going to do.  You can put it back later but you need to clear off the boot capability and probably reformat it after the new install is stable.

How can I tell if this 256G SSD has limited performance?

The other 256G SSD was on the Precision 3500 unit I just returned, because it had other issues, but also cuz slow & ran hot. So removing it is not applicable I upgraded to this 7510 expecting the upgrade & doubling RAM would resolve slow, stuttering issues.

What is a clean install? & How difficult is it to do?

Other persons, & even in the Dell desktop system community, indicate the SSD should have had the operating system installed on it at the factory.I don't want load all of my programs & data again, just to remove them if have to return unit.

You can look at the specifications for the drive.  Read/Write speeds and other info can be compared to see if that one is up to speed.

If the system is refurbished, the prior owner may have changed out the drive.  But I agree, if it came from the factory that way the OS should have been on the SSD.

A clean install is not that hard but it seems you don't have much experience with such things.  It might be best to take it to a shop to get it done.

As far as running slow, it may be related to something beside the current install configuration.

If that is a Samsung PM951 PCIe NVMe then there is not a performance problem.

The situation with that drive needs to be handled by someone having that system or knowledgeable about that system, which I am not.  Getting a M.2 PCIe drive to be usable, as a bootable device, may take some special procedures.

These are the specs from the marketing label.

256GB PCIe M.2 NVMe Class 40 SSD (Samsung PM951) + 500GB SATA 7200rpm Hard Drive

Can you tell read/write speeds from this? If not, where can I find rewrite speeds?

If yes, where does this SSD rank in terms of current r/w standards & is it suitable for our purposes as a boot drive. Is this unit up to speed.

As the terms of return require returning in original condition, shouldn't this be the original factory configuration? As such, shouldn't this be a warrantied service?

Is the "M.2 PCIe drive" old, discontinued &/or unusual technology?

Is it uncommon to use this SSD as a boot drive?

Shouldn't this be warrantied service? I have run this unit through Dell Auto-Detect, Do you have access to that information?

This Samsung drive is an OEM unit - built for sale to computer manufacturers.  It is not sold at retail to consumers.

Specifications:

www.samsung.com/.../MZVLV512HCJH

Was this a purchased from the Dell outlet, or from another vendor?

It was sold by another vendor on ebay best.computer.buying representing this was refurbished by Dell & shipped to them from Dell to them in a sealed box.

Since Dell doesn't actually do the refurbishing (it's handled by US arms of Foxconn, Quanta, Compal, etc. -- the very same vendors that build the systems in the first place), I'd place that claim as suspect.

If you are looking for a factory-configured system with the OS on the SSD, contact the EBay seller to return the system and exchange it.

So that SSD isn't original Dell installed equipment &  won't work as a boot drive; therefore I have to start from scratch?

Lets say I'm willing to take it in the shorts... How much would a Dell 256G or 500G SSD that will work for my purposes cost?