XPS 8950, adding SSD

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@atlantic965 wrote:

 

XPS 8950

1. PC SN530 NVMe WDC 256GB (238.47 GB)

2. Should I forget about SSD? 

3. I am tempted to put a 4tb SATA in it but am told will be much slower.  Thought?

 

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1. Yeah, 256gb is pretty small for a C-Drive. 512gb is minimum now-days as that will hold all Windows-11, Apps, and programs. Even 2-3 large games.

2. No.

3. A 4tb spinning-HDD as your C-drive will be very slow (compared to the 256gb NVMe-SSD you have now). I think like 20-times slower transfers.

@atlantic965 When I look at the specs of your system, i5 CPU, 8 GB of memory, and no discrete graphics card, I assume you are not a gamer and not using your computer to do tasks that require high-speed storage.  Based on those assumptions:

1.  The WD SSD will work, but that SSD is an upgrade, not just in storage capacity, over your current SSD. There are probably less expensive options such as the Western Digital 500 GB WD Blue SN 570 which is more comparable, in performance, to the SSD you now have.

2. You can clone your current SSD to your new SSD. Your XPS 8950 has two M.2 slots so you can install both SSDs. I don't know about WD, but some manufacturers offer cloning software as a free download or you can use Macrium Reflect Free Edition. Make sure you clone all the partitions of the old SSD and expand the OS partition to use the additional available space on the new SSD.  Before you boot your new SSD you need to remove the old SSD or you have to boot using the F12 Boot Menu to select which SSD to boot from, the reason is if you don't remove the old SSD, you will have two bootable devices.

3. Yes, I think you should forget about upgrading the SSD. Your 256 GB SSD has enough space for the OS and applications. Windows 11 takes less than 20 GB. My OS and applications take up less than 128 GB. Going back to the specs of your system, what you lack is additional storage space. I would put in a 4 TB SATA HD. Yes, a spinning HD is slow but I doubt that is going to make much difference based on the specs of your system.

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Your 256 GB SSD has enough space for the OS and applications.

I would put in a 4 TB SATA HD. Yes, a spinning HD is slow but I doubt that is going to make much difference based on the specs of your system.

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@atlantic965 

Yes, this would work also.

But instead of a 4tb spinning-HDD, I would suggest a 2tb SATA-3/600 SSD. The extra speed will help offset the lower-end speed nature of the machine. Plus, a SSD will run cooler, be more reliable, and last longer.

@atlantic965 It is true that an SSD is more reliable and will last longer, but a  2 TB SSD will cost as much, if not more than a 4 TB HDD (although the prices of Western Digital Black 4 TB HDDs are confusing on Amazon). If you are concern about HDD speed get a 7200 rpm HDD (WD Black) vs a 5600 rpm HDD (WD Blue). As far as running cooler, my 500 GB SSD runs at the same temperature as my 7200 rpm 2 TB HDD, but obviously, the SDD has a lot less mass so it generates less heat.

I used  Macrium Reflect Free Edition and it did the cloning but now my 500Gb drive thinks it is 256GB .  I  cannot figure in bios to make the 500GB drive the bootable one either.

@atlantic965  Sounds like you didn't increase the size of the C: partition when you moved the image onto the new SSD. Unless you do that, all the extra space is wasted.

You will need to transfer the image onto the new SSD again, but this time move each partition in the image onto the new SSD, one at a time, saving the C: partition for last. And then use Macrium to increase its size. Only the size of the last partition on the drive can be expanded...

If the original boot SSD is still connected,  Windows will always boot from it. So once you've re-imaged the new SSD with expanded C: partition, reboot PC and tap F12 to open the boot menu. Select option to boot from your new SSD. Confirm that it boots properly from the new drive, the extra space is available and Windows and apps all work ok.

Then, either remove the old SSD and store it safely, or boot from the new SSD via F12 ,and use Windows Disk Management to initialize the old SSD (ALL FILES DELETED!) so you can use it for routine storage or backup. 

I see you are right. I was hoping to keep 256gb drive as a slave drive though. One last thing when I clone my drive I lost 117 GB drive. It is supposed to be only 17.88gb. Maybe I would be better off  downloading Win 11 and doing a clean install?

Another thing I have noticed my ONE DRIVE where I keep massive files seems to be on my C: drive. I thought supposed to be on the cloud?

@atlantic965 The actual files are in the cloud. The OneDrive folder is a link to those files in the cloud. If you right-click on the OneDrive folder and select Properties you should see the Size and the Size on disk. Some of the files in the OneDrive folder could reside on the C drive or other drives because they are backed up to the cloud, for example, my Documents folder is backed up on OneDrive, shows up in OndDrive on C drive, but also resides on my F drive.

XPS8950 is PCIe 4.0 so WD_Black 750 is too old,  you can try WD_Black 770 or even 850.

WD has a nice software Acronis True Image 2021 (downloadable from WD website, 800 MB if I recall).  You can install your new SSD in slot 2, and run ATI from old SSD in slot 1.  It will transfer everything.  You don't even need to initiate and format your new SSD.