Latest steps to install an SSD in an XPS 435MT (Windows 7 64-bit)?

Hi Chris,

Installing Windows 7 on an SSD is no different than installing on a regular hard drive. Windows 7 does have a native driver that should recognize your SSD. I've done a clean install on my slightly newer Studio XPS 8100 and had no trouble whatsoever. No, the BIOS does not have AHCI, only RAID, but the SSD will still run considerably faster than a mechanical hard drive. So I'll take issue with the comment in the other thread that, "The difference in speed in this case would hardly be noticeable." That's completely wrong.

Cloning your existing drive might work, and since your OS is in good shape, that's the first option to try, but cloning Dell system drives is problematic due to the diagnostic and recovery partitions.

Thanks, Osprey! Since I'll first attempt to migrate my Windows 7 installation to the SSD (using a tool such as Paragon), should I first still at least run Microsoft Fix It 50470 (even if I don't install the Intel Matrix Storage driver)?

Here's my plan: Connect the SSD to a USB-to-SATA kit, copy my HDD's Windows 7 install to the SSD, swap the HDD for the SSD, and then attempt to boot off of the SSD. If it doesn't boot, then I'll revert to the HDD, run the Microsoft Fix It, copy the installation to the SSD again, swap for the SSD, and attempt to boot off it again. Does that sound reasonable?

BTW, I notice that the 'negligible performance improvement' comment came from a Dell representative--in response to the original poster saying that he saw no performance improvement with an SSD. What do you think his poor performance might have been attributable to? Would his simply changing the BIOS to 'RAID' (and, perhaps, running the Microsoft Fix It and/or installing the Intel Matrix Storage driver) have resulted in substantially better performance?

Thanks for that. If I'm searching correctly, according to the Intel Download Center the latest version of the Intel Rapid Storage Technology RAID Driver is version 13.2.4.1000. Does that sound right to you? Obviously, I'll be installing this after running the Microsoft Fix It but prior to the reboot to change the BIOS to RAID.

I'm curious; what would be the result of my making these changes and then rebooting into the existing (SATA) HDD? It seems to me that it would boot without difficulty; i.e., these changes could be made at any time, regardless of adding an SSD. Is that correct?

On the other thread, someone commented that my internal DVD drives may no longer work when the BIOS is changed to RAID. What do you think?

Osprey: In your initial response, you said: 'Cloning Dell system drives is problematic due to the diagnostic and recovery partitions'. While I continue to prepare to do the migration to an SSD, I noticed some oddities about the partitions on my two HDDs. Although my system is working well, note the partitions, according to Windows 7's Disk Management app:

Disk 0 (Dynamic)
47MB OEM Partition
D: 10GB NTFS
D: 455GB NTFS
All three partitions are healthy; however, I'm unsure why D: is listed twice. When I explore either D: partition, I see the contents of the 455GB drive -- so the first D: is a mystery.

Disk 1 (Basic)
100MB NTFS
C: 698GB NTFS
Both partitions are healthy.

Is it significant that my Windows partition is on Disk 1, not Disk 0? I'm unsure what process the system uses to label Disk 0 vs Disk 1.

BTW, the boot menu displays the two HDDs, the two DVD drives, "Diagnostics", "Boot to Utility Partition", and " ". Regardless of the HDD I select, my Windows 7 environment loads (correctly). The diagnostic and utility items likely represent the 47MB and 100MB partitions. Perhaps this 'clutter' is from various installs I've done over the years.

Any suggestions on how to proceed? With or without the SSD, is it important to retain (and perhaps migrate) the Utility and/or Diagnostic partitions?

(I considered posting a new message for this but figured the answers might be specific to my planned migration to the SSD.)

Thanks for the info regarding not needing to retain the recovery and diagnostic partitions.

I think I'm actually making some progress. I ran the Microsoft Fix It, rebooted, set the BIOS to RAID and verified that my C: HDD was still the boot device, let Windows detect the (now RAID-like?) devices, rebooted, installed the Intel RST, rebooted, and am now copying my C: HDD's contents to the SSD using EaseUS's free 'Migrate OS to SSD' utility.

I'll likely still re-install Windows 7 from scratch but I'm interested to see how far I can go with the migration.

Question for you: I have four data cables attached to my motherboard; one to my C: HDD, one to my D: HDD, one to my SSD, and one to my DVD-RW. Does it matter which cable is connected to which device, from the motherboard/OS point-of-view? After making some minor cable adjustments, Windows 7's Disk Management now app lists my C: HDD as Disk 0, my SSD drive as Disk 1, and my D: HDD as Disk 2. If this is incorrect, I'd like to fix it sooner than later.

I believe all ports are STAT 2, so it should not matter.

I'm not sure what's going on with your hard drive. Your disk 0 has the Dell utility partition, but I'm not sure whether that 10GB partition is recovery or what. But your OS is installed on disk 1. It seems maybe you reinstalled Win 7 since you got the system. So cloning I do not believe is going to work. You're going to have to perform a clean installation.

It is not important to retain the recovery or diagnostic partitions. They just take up space on the SSD.

[Re-posting, since I'm suddenly getting a message about requiring moderator approval...]

I seem to have reached an impasse. I copied my (bootable) C: HDD's contents to the SSD, disconnected the C: HDD, verified the BIOS' Boot Device Configuration > Hard Disk Boot Priority has the SSD as the 1st Drive, and verified the Boot Device Configuration has the SSD as the 1st Boot Device; however, the PC fails to boot from the SSD. Instead, after the Intel Matrix Storage Manager appears, an odd message appears almost immediately:

CD-ROM Boot Priority ..No Medium

No boot device available
SATA 0 : None
SATA 1 : Installed
SATA 2 : Installed
SATA 3 : Installed

I'm unsure if SATA 0 displaying as "None" is significant.

The Windows Repair Disc doesn't list any operating systems to repair. It seems that the migration process is not leaving the SSD in a bootable state.

UPDATE:  I unplugged the data cable from the SSD and connected the cable that had been attached to the C: HDD. Now the message says SATA 0 is installed but SATA 2 is None. The PC still refused to boot. I have since reconnected the original data cable to the HDD and am successfully booting off of that drive. The Disk Management applet, however, is now hanging attempting to connect to the Virtual Disk Service. I also can no longer access my data D: HDD; it gives me an 'access denied' error, even though I'm logged on as an admin. I forgot how much I hate upgrading hardware.

I seem to have reached an impasse. I copied my (bootable) C: HDD's contents to the SSD, disconnected the C: HDD, verified the BIOS' Boot Device Configuration > Hard Disk Boot Priority has the SSD as the 1st Drive, verified the Boot Device Configuration has the SSD as the 1st Boot Device; however, the PC fails to boot from the SSD. Instead, the Intel Matrix Storage Manager appears and is quickly replaced with an odd message:

CD-ROM Boot Priority ..No Medium
No boot device available
SATA 0 : None
SATA 1 : Installed
SATA 2 : Installed
SATA 3 : Installed

I'm unsure if SATA 0 displaying as "None" is significant.

The Windows Repair Disc doesn't list any operating systems to repair. It seems that the migration process is not leaving the SSD in a bootable state.

I gave up trying to migrate my Windows environment to the SSD. I disconnected the two HDDs (OS, data), set the BIOS to RAID, booted off the Windows 7 install CD, and installed Windows 7 to the SSD. It's very fast! I've installed all of the Windows Updates. Next, I'll be installing the Intel RST. Prior to my giving up on my original Windows install, I installed the Intel RST and saw its system tray icon and UI. Since I'm not using RAID, can I ignore the Intel RST (after installing it, of course)?

I'll remove the smaller HDD from the chassis and use the free space to mount the SSD. Unfortunately, the 435MT chassis doesn't use drive bays, per se, to hold the HDDs--instead, the bottom of each HDD is connected to the chassis by way of four screws; i.e., no drive mounting kit. Unfortunately, the SSD cannot be mounted in this way, and I haven't been able to find any SSD conversion kits that would work. Any suggestions on how to mount the SSD?

I'll connect the remaining HDD, format it to eliminate the mysterious partitions, configure Windows to use this drive for Windows Libraries, and then restore my data from backups. Lastly, I'll install all of my apps.

Sounds like progress. Good to hear!

I've got my SSD mounted in a spare 5.25" bay using the kit described in my Wiki article. Take a look at that.

I advise removing your SSD and mounting your HDDs and using a utility like DBAN to format them:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/securely-wipe-your-hard-drive-with-dariks-boot-and-nuke-dban/

Otherwise you might setup a dual boot from the original install on the original HDD and the new install on the SSD.

Once the drives are securely wiped, add your SSD and boot. Open up disc management and initialise your hard drive(s).

You can make a new recovery partition of your clean installation using Dell Backup and Recovery but the recovery partition will eat up space on your SSD.

Since I don't have a spare 5.25" bay, I mounted the SSD in one of the vertical bays (HDD0). I used two plastic zip ties to secure the SSD to the bay. Not pretty, but it works and doesn't deface the SSD.

I posted my experience with SSD on this system here:

en.community.dell.com/.../20741647