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2023707
How to install SSD for Inspiron 14 3452?
Hello - I think I'm in over my head here. I just bought the Inspiron 14 model 3452 laptop, with 32GB eMMC hard drive. I opened the back of the case, thinking it would be relatively easy to install an SSD drive. However, all I see is an empty slot for the HDD with no pins for the SSD to go into. Not sure if there is something else I need to be opening? I couldn't find any instructional videos, and am afraid to do much else with this. Please help, obviously I am a novice when it comes to these things. I have previously used an SSD drive as an external storage option, but wanted to install it within the laptop this time around.
Thank you in advance!
jareza
3 Posts
10
December 7th, 2015 13:00
It amazes me how little information there is on the web regarding this matter: I bought this machine for light use since my main laptop is going through a repair process.
I saw this on the black friday deals for 160 taxes included and took the plunge... I thought to myself: I will upgrade the HDD with a 250 gb drive I have lying around and I will bump the ram to 4 gb.
To my surprise:
There is 1... yes ONE RAM SLOT. and there is an opening for the HDD but no cable. Upon further investigation I came to the conclusion that it is indeed not possible or viable to upgrade the storage on this machine. yes I stripped the computer down to its motherboard and its like they took the insides of a windows 10 tablet and put them on a laptop case.
So, I had a few spare parts lying around and I had an 8gb SO DIMM that I decided to try:
Worst case scenario: The bios will bump the RAM down to 4gb as its as far as it goes.
Best Case scenario: The bios will recognize the 8gb.
To my surprise it did work with the whole 8gb... its a vast improvement but not stellar.
So here are some thing you can do to make this laptop usable:
1.-Get a 4gb or 8gb SO DIMM, (go with 8 if you don't care about warranties, those are for losers anyway)
2.- Go to windows media creator (on the internet) and do a clean windows 10 install. too much bloatware installed on this humble machine.
3.- Buy a 64 SD card and install apps in there.
and there you go voila! a 160 USD laptop with a 30 dollar dimm upgrade and a 64 gb sd card to work its magic.
Hope this helps
Best Regards!
Harlezy
2 Posts
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February 19th, 2019 09:00
Jarezas 3 step solution shared on 12/7/2015 worked for me. Thank you very much indeed.
ejn63
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August 21st, 2015 06:00
The only type of drive this system will take is a 2.5" -- hard drive or SSD. There is no slot for any other media type (mSATA, M.2/NGFF, etc.).
The "e" in eMMC stands for embedded - these are soldered into the system board, not socketed. They're not upgradeable or user-installable.
ejn63
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August 21st, 2015 07:00
The installation is the same for an SSD as for a hard drive - it goes into the 2.5" hard drive slot.
< >
Page 18, above. If the mounting kit (brackets/interposer/screws) isn't in the system you will need to purchase that from Dell.
chiaja
4 Posts
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August 21st, 2015 07:00
Thank you for the reply. Yes I mow the eMMC is embedded onto the board. For the SSD is there an instruction video for installation? All the videos I found were systems with an HD already installed.
SlavikUser
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September 8th, 2015 18:00
hi, but how can I order the mounting kit, hard-drive cable and interposer from Dell?
ejn63
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September 9th, 2015 05:00
In the US, call Dell Spare Parts: 1-800-999-3355
vrm71
1 Message
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September 22nd, 2015 07:00
any update on this? I also have this laptop and did not see anywhere to connect the hard drive underneath the panel?
chiaja
4 Posts
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September 22nd, 2015 07:00
I was told to call tech support.... The manual in the link above doesn't help at all unfortunately. I haven't had time to call support yet.
serper
1 Message
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September 24th, 2015 18:00
I opened the cover of my Inspiron 15 3452, and found no latch on the motherboard for the ribbon to go to. So itb appears to be some part that was not soldered on, is this something we can do? I looked at the pic from
the service manual and the latch part does not exist on, pleas look at the picture I took,
http://postimg.org/image/pviivn9k1/
It clearly shows missing latch for ribbon, missing sata port assemby, brackets, etc. Is this still possible to upgrade w a little soldering?
Loren
ejn63
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September 25th, 2015 16:00
No -- if the connector isn't there, the only way to do the upgrade is to replace the mainboard with one that has a connector for a 2.5" drive. The system supports either eMMC or a hard drive -- it will not support both (i.e., if you wish to have a hard drive, you'll be installing a mainboard that does not support the eMMC).
surya.mehetre
4 Posts
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December 4th, 2015 15:00
I also tried to upgrade same machine, I did chat with some dell n best buy guys, no clear picture from anybody. I think its attached with motherboard so we have to remove the emmc and get wires and connectors etc and then replace with HDD.. OMG lots of stuff already... let me know if anybody find anything simpler..
surya.mehetre
4 Posts
0
December 8th, 2015 12:00
Thank you Jareza, you posted what I exactly wanted to know.. Cool..
Just need the link to purchase 8gb ram which is compatible:
I found one :
www.amazon.com/.../B006YG8X9Y;qid=1449606339&ref_=sr_1_3&sr=8-3
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006YG8X9Y?keywords=ram%20for%20laptop%20ddr3l%208gb&qid=1449606339&ref_=sr_1_3&sr=8-3
surya.mehetre
4 Posts
1
December 8th, 2015 12:00
Thank you Jareza, you posted what I exactly wanted to know.. Cool..
Just need the link to purchase 8gb ram which is compatible:
I found one :
www.amazon.com/.../B006YG8X9Y;qid=1449606339&ref_=sr_1_3&sr=8-3
jareza
3 Posts
4
December 8th, 2015 13:00
Thats the one you need.... just please, keep your expectations low.... REAL low... people need to know that the computer is limited by its processor...
its like screaming to a 5 year old computer for not keeping up with today's standards....
Once you assimilate this, you will then appreciate the true value of this laptop.
it CAN keep up with today's standards just not as fast as one would like to.
a couple of other tips I can share:
1.- When doing the windows 10 clean install if you are tech savvy, erase the recovery partition... after erasing, create a new one and merge said partition with the main partition...you will gain 1 gb of precious storage space. If you are afraid of wanting to go back, before doing this, create the USB media recovery that comes with your dell... it will take forever, but thats up to you.
2.- Get a class 10 SD card and use it to install your apps and windows updates. One thing I forgot to mention is that this computer is unusable out of the box, because the newest windows 10 update requires more free space than the one physically available on your computer. Using the SD card will let you update the computer as needed.
3.- fondle around with the intel graphics chip and go wild... avoid using any "battery saving settings" this will only slow down the computer... just put it on over drive. you will always have a snappier response from it if you dismiss any battery saving settings.
hope this helps!