Dell XPS 15 (9530) Flawed mSATA Setup

So, NewEgg has this on sale today, using coupon code EXLWWWP29 , for $229.49 (free shipping and no tax for me anyway) - sound like a good deal?  Amazon hasw it for $260.

 Crucial M550 CT512M550SSD3 mSATA 512GB Mini-SATA (mSATA) MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Hi Bill,

I came across your post while looking to troubleshoot a problem. My new XPS 15 9530 seems to have only 8GB of SSD although it's spec'ed to have 32GB. Does the type of partitioning you explained above justify that only 8GB are visible with any disk management utility? Why don't I see the other 22GB dedicated to Rapid Storage?

Thanks,

Takis

Space dedicated to Rapid Storage does not show up on diskmgmt.msc

That is normal; don't worry about it.

If you remove rapid storage, then you can repartition your SSD if you want.

If you want to check your hardware, use HwInfo64 or something similiar.

Thanks Bill, you are the man! I've asked many people who work as computer technicians (including a bunch of people at my local Best Buy's Geek Squad) and nobody knew that! It was a life saver.

Having the intention to upgrade my mSATA to a Samsung EVO 250GB myself and after reading almost the whole post, I haven't seen two major questions being addressed:

1) Will the mSATA disk swapping void the Dell warranty?

2) How can you transfer all the HDD partitions to the new SSD, and is there a reason to do so (e.g., for using the Dell Diagnostics and Windows Recovery)? My HDD came with six partitions (one EFI, two OEM, two Recovery ones, and the primary C:) and have no idea what they are used for.

Thanks again for your valuable help. Dell should employ you for all the info you give for free:-)

1) I really don't know -- you could ask Dell -- I believe it would only void the warranty on the mSATA and a 32Gb one is cheap enough to replace.

2) I never could figure out how to do this to a smaller SSD. And I was too lazy to do a clean Windows install, as its a huge time commitment to reinstall everything the way I am used to using it. So I just spent the extra $ to buy the 1TB EVO and just cloned the disk.

If you figure optimistically you can do a clean Windows install in 8 hours, and value your time at $30 per hour, then its a wash getting the 1TB EVO vs the 250 GB EVO. Plus your old HDD becomes your backup or extra storage space and you will have a better laptop.

My XPS came with 4 partitions on the HDD: 500MB EFI system partition; 40MB Dell Diagnostics; 490 MB Recovery; 930 GB for C: Don't know why yours is different.

As for being employed by Dell (or anyone else) I would make a lousy employee. I'm too opinionated. I've been self employed for 30 years and would never consider anything else.

Swapping out the drive won't void your warranty as far as I know... you can just swap it back in when you do a warranty claim.  Well, that's what I would do ;)

I'd use a tool like ACRONIS TRUE IMAGE to move partitions around.

That said however, really depends on where you want to land.  The OS is currently installed on the HDD, not the SSD.  I'm planning soon to replace my SSD with a 512 model and will move my OS to that that drive.  That processes involves shrinking the "C" drive to fit onto the SSD, and prob goes without saying that the current size of "C" cannot exceed what ever size the new SSD is.

What I'll most likely end up doing is to pull both drives, install the SSD, setting it to the boot drive, and then will install a fresh copy of WIN 8.1 onto it.  Once all that's golden, I'll install the HDD and use it primarily as a backup / storage drive.

Should also be pointed out that my current 32 SSD, I ended up reformatting it to serve as a BIG swap drive... Well it's a little more than that, but point is, I no longer has any of the stuff on it that Dell installed.

Points I've raised before... Rapid Start will NOT work if you use a password on your drive, and since I use my laptop for work (ie, I keep sensitive data on it), I use passwords)... So, the Rapid Start issue (not working on a 32 gb SSD when 16 gb mem installed), not working as advertised, was a non issue for me.
 

Thanks Bill.

Here's what I got back from Dell, after an hour on the phone with a tech agent, who had to do remote control of my machine to see the disks. Initially they were telling me I should ask Best Buy because they ship the laptop with only two HDD partitions!!!

1. Swapping the 32GB mSATA voids only the warranty on that part. Of course, as you said, I can always restore it in case I need to use the warranty.

2. Besides the four disks you mention I also have a 7.79GB, which she said is Dell's Recovery Partition, similar to the one you can build on a flash drive with Dell's Backup and Recovery s/w. The 40MB, she said, stores the IRS technology software; I am not sure if what you said (DIagnostics) is the right one. The second recovery partition (750MB for me) is the Windows pre-installation environment; I am not sure what exactly this means.

Overall, my question is if I will need to clone/create any of these partitions on the new mSATA or they are unnecessary. If I don't, will I be able to use the Dell Recovery Partition to recover the mSATA OS, in case the system crashes, or I will need to use the USB-created recovery?

Finally, she said that the USB disk that Dell sends is exactly the same recovery disk that you create on the flash drive using their software. She also said that you can do a Win 8.1 clean install with this. However, it is not clear to me why I need this disk drive, if it's the same created by Dell Backup and Recovery (also contained in the 7.8GB partition!)

Thanks for your help! Self-employment is definitely better... I was just praising your helpfulness:)

I'm pretty sure you will officially lose all warranty as soon as anyone other than a certified Dell tech opens that case - considering that touching anything while you are (unknowingly) electrostatically charged might kill some circuit component somewhere... Ironically, when they came out to fix mine, none of the techs used any of those protective wristbands or similar...

Of course the question is if they would ever know that you had opened it (especially once one of their techs has opened it before)...

I've seen manufacturers use a spray that is visible under a black light, to help them identify if any of the screws were "touched".

Even better, in the excellent novel "Battlefield Earth" (not the movie which imho was junk), they used a spring mechanism within the uber device that would short out the circuit boards is said device were opened improperly.  Don't think Dell quite does that yet, at least not on a device that isn't "classified" ;)

No personal experience, just an assumption.

If they told you that and you want to be sure, I would at least inquire with Dell per email, so you have something in writing...

M.S.A.

I specifically asked the Dell technician what happens if I replace the mSATA and she replied that this part will not be covered by warranty, but it will NOT void the warranty of the whole machine. Do you have personal experience about a laptop not being covered or you are assuming it won't?

Anybody else who upgraded their system and happened to need the warranty after that?

One thing also to consider...

Certainly, they won't warranty an "after market" item, like a user installed mSATA drive - that's a given.

And although they'll still warranty everything else, if it is determined (rightly or wrongly) that the mSATA was defective and caused other electronic within the laptop to break, they won't warranty that damage.

That's to say, if the mSATA blows up, or causes an overload to the rest of the system, you've lost your warranty on any parts that are affected by the mSATA issue.

Heck, if you system just breaks, and Dell would have to replace the unit entirely, Dell might blame the mSATA, even if that really isn't true, just to avoid replacing the unit.  I don't think Dell would do that mind you, but it is possible...

HI,  How to create recovery Disk in Dell XPS 15 9530? 

Can any one guide me please.

Sorry to hijack this post but it will not let me post a new question as mine already exists apparently - I did search first 

Hi I have completely formatted my 512 SSD  using Diskpart I have a recovery CD iso which I have put onto a USB stick when I try to run the recovery program full recovery including partitions it gets to 6% and then fails 

I have installed win 8.1 and can see the program has created an efi 300mb,  recovery 99mb and the rest is the C drive 

I would like to factory reset the laptop with original partitions is this possible with the recovery image or will it keep failing as I have completely formatted the drive ?

thanks

http://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/rapid_start_technology_user_guide.pdf

I found this site helped my problem with my 9530 with setting up rapid start after having new motherboard and power connector fitted, message was rapid start technology not enabled