Inspiron 5676, adding a second SSD

Question

Good morning! I recently got a Inspiron 5676 with Ryzen 7, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD+1TBHDD. I want to add another 1TB SSD to it or maybe just replacing the HDD with a SSD.

Based on what i see from the device manager, the 256GB SSD that comes with it is a Toshiba NVME. Does that mean the second SSD can only be a SATA? If i have to go with a SATA, can I add a 1TB SSD? Or does it only support up to 256GB?

I have not opened the case yet but based on what i read from this forum there is only 2 slots for SSD in this PC, one NVME, one SATA.

Thanks in advance!

RoHe · Accepted Answer

Check out the specs for this model.

They say it has "two PCIe/SATA M.2 2280 slots for solid-state drive". (And read this KB article too). Further down in the specs it says:

Two M.2 2280 solid-state drives:

SATA AHCI 6 Gbps - Up to 512 GB
PCIe NVMe up to 32 Gbps

So you may be able to use two NVMe SSDs, with no max size specified, but Dell may have only validated this system with SATA SSDs up to 512 GB. That doesn't mean a 1T SATA SSD won't work, but Dell won't guarantee a 1T SSD will work in that slot.

moonjinji · Answer

Thanks for the explanation! I think SATA SSD should work for me (photo editing) just fine. Save some $$ too~

AsianRetroGamer · Answer

My 5676 came with a 1TB hard drive..I just bought and installed a 1tb M.2 NVME drive but it doesnt show in the file manager. Am i missing something?

savvy2 · Answer

do like all others do, buy it from a place that takes returns with NO FUSS. (newegg.com?)

try it and if works ok good.

if not send it back. (loop until pass)

in the end , there is no other way, dell nor any OEM tests any single PC on all SSD media of off all sizes , all makers and for sure not every year for 20 year?, (what I call the big dream)

good luck to you ,there many be someone here with exact PC and exact BIOS version that has done this.

pondering ….. age matters and all that....

manual show, slot 17 shows, m.2 SATA but why in the world would 2018 made PC limit it to 512GB.?

my wild guess, is that was the largest M.2 dell had that day this PC was designed, and made say in 2017

sitting on the shelf just that sized drive M.2, (but gee why would 1TB fail.?) why not just give it a whirl.... you tells us.

Tangent513 · Answer

@AsianRetroGamer,

Nearly a year ago you posted:

"My 5676 came with a 1TB hard drive..I just bought and installed a 1tb M.2 NVME drive but it doesnt show in the file manager. Am i missing something?"

As I was about to go down the same path, did you get a resolution on that ?

Thanks.

leutzdave · Answer

M.2 #1 SATA SSD M.2 #2 PCIe/NVME SSD Both connectors are 'M' Keyed

leutzdave · Answer

Can a Dell representive please give an explanation as to why both connectors on the motherboard are keyed for type M (PCIe/NVME style) when clearly designated on the motherboard that connector #1 is SATA and connector #2 is PCIe/NVME?

MBlasta · Answer

I am also having the same issue.....I can not get get NVMe SSD to be recognized by file manager or in the BIOS. I have tried turning off Secure Boot but still no joy................. Help Please

RoHe · Answer

@MBlasta - If you also have an Inspiron 5675, look at the motherboard image here.

Did you plug the NVME SSD into slot #7 or is there really an M.2 slot header directly above #7? Slot #7 is only for a WiFi card. The only M.2 slot for an SSD that's marked on this motherboard image is #16 for an M.2 SATA SSD.

Reboot and tab F2 to open BIOS setup. Look around for either a SATA Operation or SATA Mode setting. Is it set to RAID or AHCI, but do not change it. Just exit setup without making saving any changes...

MBlasta · Answer

Hi Ron,

My 1st Samsung 1TB SSD boot drive is in the on that is not labeled, but visible, on the MB image and is between the WiFi card and the Memory slots. The silkscreen says M.2 2 and the one labeled on the MB image below the PCIe /Graphics slot is silkscreened SATA M.2 1 That's the spot I am trying to add another 1TB SSD in. Other posts in the forum say they both have single key MVMe connectors, which is true and the new one fits

In BIOS, SATA operation is set to AHCI and does not allow it to be changed(unless another option needs to be changed to allow that).

RoHe · Answer

The SATA M.2 1 slot may not be wired to work with an NVME SSD, even if it fits into that slot. It may only work with a M.2 SATA SSD.

If SATA Operation is set to AHCI, that's ok. If it was set to RAID, that might have explained why the new SSD isn't visible, especially since it's a Samsung NVME SSD. So we can forget that setting.

Electronics_By_JB · Answer

@RoHe​  I recently purchased one of these. The specifications and the labeling on the motherboard are accurate (consistent with what you have posted). First I tried putting 2 x 1TB WD Black M.2 NVMe SSDs in there - only the one plugged into the M.2 NVMe showed up (the one in the M.2 SATA port did not show up in Disk Management. I then put a 1TB WD Black M.2 NVMe SSD and a 2TB TeamGroup M.2 SATA SSD in there and everything appeared in Disk Management. I was able to initialize and create a 2TB volume out of the 2TB TeamGroup M.2 SATA SSD with no issues - so your conjecture that the 512GB one was probably just the largest at the time is consistent with my experience. Hope this is helpful to the next person that purchases a Dell Inspiron 5676! <Private data removed from public view. DELL Admin>

JoeyStyles · Answer

@AsianRetroGamer​ Hello to help everyone in these chats. i did the following upgrade to the Dell Inspiron 5676: Ryzen 7 2700x 3.7GHZ 32GB Ram 3200 Emtec 1 TB NVME Gen 3 2280 M.2 on slot #2 Cause slot#1 is only for SATA M.2 version 2280  installed a 1 TB Toshiba SSD kept the stock video card as is. Attention in the Bios Deactivate the following: Security Tab: Computrace Firmware TPM PPI Bypass UEFI Firmware Boot Tab: Delete everything from the 2 File Browser section. Make sure all is cleared. once done switch the boot list option to LEGACY not UEFI. On the Boot Tab select M.2 as your boot start up.your good to go. once done you can go to computer management then go the the disk management to setup other drives

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Inspiron 5676, adding a second SSD

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