New Inspiron 3650 - how to add an SSD

Thank you Osprey4, really appreciate it. Dell makes it really hard to get this information. The sales guy told me on chat that I don't need a power cable, just a data cable :)

Any how, the thread you mentioned helped a lot. To summarize, we need a 2.5" caddy, data cable and a power cable, which can either be an extension cable to the existing power cable (SATAP1), or a new cable to go in the motherboard slot 7 (SATAP2) shown in the service manual.

Part numbers:

Caddy: X9FV3
Motherboard SATAP2 power cable: GP2JM

Extension cable: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0086OGN9E/ref=ox_huc_add_on_msg_title_1?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Someone wrote a nice article on what they did step by step: https://garyjohnson53.wordpress.com/2016/05/06/dell-3650-add-a-drive/

Where did you get the 2.5" caddy? I couldn't find them on the dell site to purchase and other places like Amazon or Ebay charge about $20....

Call Dell sales and order using the part number above. It's $4.99, I ordered two just in case I decide on two SSDs some day.

Yes PP,

I was able to order the above parts and install the SSD successfully and is running blazing fast. I ordered a 240 GB from amazon and seems to be running very well. Order any that you like from the reviews.

Video Card Upgrade (GPU)

I went one step ahead and also upgraded the video card. I did a lot of research and finally decided on an EVGA 750ti SC 2GB (115$ from Amazon). It runs really great, quiet and stable on the small 240W power supply on this Dell. Anything higher and you would need a bigger power supply, also which doesn't fit in the small case. So I feel I have maxed out this box as much as I possibly could.

Hope this helps.

Hi - I have been trying to get Dell place an order on the Bracket - but they claim to be out of stock.

The sales rep has promised me call back as and when they have it in stock.

I found the below on Amazon -"2.5" SSD HDD Caddy Bay Hard Bracket Drive For Dell OptiPlex 3040 5040 7040 MT Inspiron Vostro 3600 3650 3653 X9FV3 FR40K/R9PXF " - Does this help the cause?

Thanks,

PP

HI OSPREY4, I just ordered a new set of insprion 3650. Can I have the OS reinstallation link you mentioned? Thanks

FYI: "Someone wrote a nice article on what they did step by step:"

page not found.....

Is it possible that i can use both SSD and HDD in a single machine

As far as I can find, no one answered the original question, except yes.....and where to find parts.

I found it difficult to make Samsung's Pro 850 256G SSD to work on my 3650....even using their cloning software.  Yet once I finally stumbled onto the right answers it was simple......and YES, you can keep the old Hard drive and have the SSD too.  Maybe there are other ways, but the following worked for me:

[BTW, I shouldn't have to tell you that your old drive can't be cloned if it's bigger (data stored on it) than the SSD. If you need to remove personal data and just leave your software and operating system, then you may be small enough. (256G can hold a lot of software) You can put your personal data back when you erase the operating system off your old drive and reorganize it as a data drive.]

1.  Install the SSD using the information in this thread, using new SATA data and SATA power cables.  Make sure the Data Cable is plugged into SATA P2.

2.  Start the Samsung cloning software.  In a couple of steps it will ask you if you want to download the latest version (be connected to the internet).  Click yes, then once it loads, it will restart the cloning software.

3.  When the clone is made, the software tells you to remove the old HDD and reboot......DON'T!  Instead just reboot with both drives plugged in.  It will boot on the old drive and the SSD will not show up in "My Computer" because the Samsung Software Cloned it as another C: which windows 10 doesn't tolerate. (if you remove the old drive the SSD will cause a boot error...)

4. Having booted up into the old drive, right click the Window Icon (lower left screen) and at the menu click Disk Management.  The resulting display shows both drives and an error on the SSD. (because it is also C:  )

5.  Right click somewhere on the SSD description...the resulting menu...click change Drive Letter....change it to something besides D: which is usually your DVD.  I changed it to F:  Xout and go to the "file explorer" folder, click on "This PC" and you will now see two drives.....C: your old drive, and F: the new SSD.

6. Now power off ....... open the case.....disconnect the Old drive's Data cable and plug the SSD's data cable into it's place.  Don't plug in the old drives Data Cable yet. (You want the computer to see only the new drive so it will name it C: and boot with it..........and it will.

7.  Reboot.  The SSD is now king! and will be EXACTLY a clone of your old drive. 

8.  Now plug in your old drive's data cable into SATA P2 and reboot.  Now you have both drives....but the computer boots to the SSD.

Thanks, Grwast, for your instructions.  Unfortunately, when I did step 8, my 3650 re-recognized my HDD as C: and my SSD as F:.  I tried to reassign my HDD as another letter but Windows would have nothing to do with that request.  I tried going into my BIOS to redo the boot order and ended up having to disable Secure Boot in order to get into the Legacy options to reorder the boot sequence. My SSD wasn't in the list and when I tried to back out, I somehow hosed things up and couldn't get past the Sign In screen.  Fortunately, I was able to get back into the Legacy BIOS screen (the old F12 process) and re-enable the Secure Boot and get things back to point A, HDD as C: and my SSD as F:.  Any ideas on how to switch them?  I suppose I could connect my HDD to another computer using the clone cable to USB and format it.  That way, when I put it back in my 3650, Windows would have to recognize the SSD as the only usable C: drive.

5/14/18 Update:  My other computer would not recognize my HDD using the clone cable so I was unable to format it.

stuck on step 5 - it will not let me rename the drive.  I have not found any other information for this either.  Does anyone have any other links to things that were successful?