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Lauraact

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Lauraact

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October 15th, 2021 10:00

G5 5090 Additional SSD

I have a G5 5090 with an SSD of 100GB. We have a lot of programs downloaded and the disk is almost full. Is it possible to change to a bigger SSD or to add an additional one? We have a hard disk that we use for Data, but I read that most programs should be on the SSD.

  • RoHe

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    Posted October 15th, 2021 12:00

    Since you only have one M.2 NVME slot for an SSD, you can image all partitions on the existing SSD and save that image either on your Data (D) drive or on an external USB drive. You can use software like Macrium Reflect (free) or other imaging software of your choice. Then swap in a new NVME drive and copy the image onto this new SSD. 

    You will also need to create a bootable USB stick using whichever imaging app you pick, because you'll have to boot from that USB stick in order to copy the saved image onto the new SSD.

    NOTES:
    Some SSDs (eg, Samsung) want BIOS to be set to AHCI, rather than RAID which is Dell's default setting. So you need to change that setting before you image the existing SSD. BUT, you just can't change that setting in BIOS. You have to configure Win 10 before changing BIOS or PC won't boot and you might lose all your files.

    You will also have to increase the size of the C: partition on the new SSD during the imaging process to be able to use all its extra space. Exactly when/how you do that will depend on the software you're using.

    BTW: Not every app has to be on the SSD. You can uninstall some of them, and reinstall them on the D drive when the installer asks where you want the app.

    And you can move Win 10 default folders onto the D drive to free up space on the SSD. And if you're using the Firefox browser, you can move all its folders to D drive too.