Installing a new SSD to my new XPS 8700

Hi THARAKA87,

Here are the answers to your questions;

1. Yes you will have to purchase the 2.5" to 3.5 " mount.
2. In case you are replacing the existing HDD you can use the same cable. IF not you will have to purchase one.
3. If all the power cables are used on the system you would have to use the power splitter cable.
4. Change the SATA OPERATION to AHCI in the BIOS(F2 During startup). Also you would have to format the 1TB HDD and then install the 8.1 on the SSD to make it a bootable device.

Hi THARAKA87, Here are the answers to your questions; Yes you will have to purchase the 2.5" to 3.5 " mount. In case you are replacing the existing HDD you can use the same cable. IF not you will have to purchase one. If all the power cables are used on the system you would have to use the power splitter cable. Change the SATA OPERATION to AHCI in the BIOS(F2 During startup). Also you would have to format the 1TB HDD and then install the 8.1 on the SSD to make it a bootable device.

Thank you very much Ashwin for the quick reply.

Actually I need an elaborated answer on how to install win 8.1 on ssd while keeping old 1 TB hdd as secondary drive.

I saw some steps to perform this job in this forum, as below;

1) Request the re installation media here

2) Go into BIOS (F2 at boot) and "change the SATA operation mode in the BIOS from IRST to AHCI."

3) Insert DVD, reboot

4) At the Dell Logo press F12 and do a clean install to the SSD off of DVD media based on these instructions

5) Reformat the storage drive (which Dell currently has the OS on)

6) Manually install all the missing drivers

Pls confirm whether these steps are correct or not.

Is there any other successful methods such as cloning, so that we won't have to search for all driver softwares?

1. Do I need to purchase 2.5" to 3.5" Internal Hard Disk Drive Mounting Kit for this purpose?

I didn't. I mounted mine with two screws in the second 5 1/4 drive bay. It isn't going to go anywhere unless I drop the case.

2. Do I need to purchase additional SATA III cable?

Yes. a straight-straight 16 inch worked well for me.

3. Do I need to purchase additional power cables or not?

No. There are extra power for SATA devices on the stock PSU. 

4. What is the correct method to install Windows 8.1 to this SSD?

I reinstalled from scratch but I've also used on other systems a free software package called easeus

http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/home-edition/

super easy to use.

BACKUP your data first.

Hi Tharaka87,

The steps you shared are perfect. However if your system did not come with RAID/mSATA configured. The SATA operation will be in AHCI itself.

One of the forum members made a wiki on performing the upgrade yesterday:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/w/desktop/11319.xps-27-one-2720-replace-32gb-msata-for-250gb-msata

4. What is the correct method to install Windows 8.1 to this SSD? I reinstalled from scratch but I've also used on other systems a free software package called easeus http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/home-edition/ super easy to use. BACKUP your data first

Hi Dan-H,

Thanks for your solutions.

Can you please explain on following,

1. How did you installed Win 8.1? using dell supplied media or using your own method

2. How did you obtain correct mother board drivers?

Tharaka

Hi Tharaka87,

1. You can refer to the link http://dell.to/1DDKCOf  for the windows installation.
2. For the drivers go to our support website http://dell.to/118xDVy and then enter the service tag of the computer and then click on Drivers & Downloads. It will list all available drivers for different operating systems.

Hi Tharaka87,

I'm in exactly the same position as you. If you have managed to successfully migrate Windows 8.1 to the SSD, I would really appreciate it if you post back with an update and elaborate on the steps that worked for you. Thanks!

Hi Tharaka87,   You can refer to the link http://dell.to/1DDKCOf  for the windows installation. For the drivers go to our support website http://dell.to/118xDVy and then enter the service tag of the computer and then click on Drivers & Downloads. It will list all available drivers for different operating systems.

Hi DELL-ASHWIN,

This is regarding your link on windows installation. 

When I go to the 'Windows 8 Upgrade and Installation Instructions' page its first step is 'Insert the Windows 8 DVD into your optical drive and restart your computer'. My questions are,

1. Is this the same recovery DVD that I get from  'Request the re installation media here' or any other?

2. Can i proceed a clean windows installation with dell supplied recovery DVD?

3. Pls confirm the above details are the same for windows 8.1.

4. Is there any other method to download Win 8.1 from microsoft site (bootable) and install with received KEY?

Thank you loads.

Tharaka

Hi THARAKA87,

1. Yes it is the Factory Image restore USB/Disc.
2. The restore USB/Disc would restore the system to factory image.
3. Yes the steps remain the same for Windows 8.1
4. As the system comes with a default OEM Windows license where the product key is embedded in the motherboard. The retail download will not help you.

4. The new retail downloader will work with the OEM BIOS SLP key providing the correct edition is selected:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-microsoft-windows-and-office/download-microsoft-windows/download-windows-8-1-retail-and-oem-iso/

Thanks for that link! I am assuming a user can just use this to create the installation media in lieu of ordering the discs from Dell.

Also, since I am planning on installing a new ssd in my brand new XPS 8700, just like the OP, I was wondering whether it wouldn't be simpler just to clone the hard drive to the SSD? It seems like cloning is less painful.

From a general perusal of the forums, it sounds like a lot of users have issues with installing drivers if a clean install of Windows 8.1 is undertaken. I would think that by this iteration of Windows, the hardware components would be automatically identified and the appropriate drivers would automatically be installed by Windows 8.1! However, I am led to believe that you have to physically download all the requisite drivers from the Dell support site after the clean install. Am I correct in this assumption?

To the OP, I would love to get some feedback on your experience so far. Thx!

Hi GUPSGUPS,

We would like to know if you are configuring RAID on the system? Your system must have the feature to have the configuration set up. You can instead, install the OS on the SSD and use the system normally.

As for the driver, yes you would have to install the drivers from our support site after the installation of windows 8.1

Hi Dell-Ashwin,

Thanks for your response!

I wasn't planning on configuring RAID on my system. As I understand it, the steps for cloning are :

1. Add an SSD on a free SATA port and then use cloning software to mirror the HDD to the SSD.

2. Disconnect the original HDD, connect the SSD to SATA port 0, enable AHCI in the UEFI/BIOS and reboot

Am I missing something? Why would I need to configure RAID?