Latitude 5511 multiple Hard Disks

Question

Hi all,

for what you know, it is possible to use an M.2 HD (as primary) AND an SSD HD (ex 1TB) at the same time in this configuration?

https://www.dell.com/it-it/work/shop/notebook-dell/latitude-5511/spd/latitude-15-5511-laptop/n005l551115emea?view=configurations

From the doc thay say:

Your computer supports one of the following configurations:
• One 2.5-inch hard drive
• One M.2 2230/2280 solid state drive

so it doesn't?

Thx

Stefanik

ejn63 · Accepted Answer

From what I can see, it states 4 cell battery. The specs list 3, 4 or 6 cell battery options, but those may not be available in your area.

The manual doesn't make it clear which battery they're showing, but I suspect it's the 3-cell with the drive bay. The 4 cell battery likely partially blocks the drive bay, limiting you to one M.2 2280 drive. If 512G isn't large enough, either look toward a 7000 series model that has that option, or plan on replacing the SSD with a larger capacity one when your receive the system.

ejn63 · Answer

The answer depends partly on the battery you choose. If you choose the larger capacity battery, only an M.2 SSD will fit. With the smaller battery option, there is a 2.5" drive bay.

Whether the mounting hardware is included is open to question - if you want to be sure you can install both drives, order the system with the M.2 and 2.5" drives installed.

Stefanik · Answer

From what i see following the link, the battery is the default one: 4 cells 68 Wh.

I have no option to change it and i don't know if it is big or small. How can i ask them for two hd? Have I to do it in the order page or i have to choose another model? 512 GB seems few to me in such a machine!

Thx

MountainDolphin · Answer

@Stefanik
@ejn63
To be clear, I'm no expert on Dell configurations, but am currently considering the Latitude 5511, and a major question for me is whether two disks are supported, and preferably a config with M.2 NVMe SSD + a spinning SATA disk (large-capacity SSDs are still rather expensive). In fact, I ruled out the 5410/5510/5411 specifically because they don't support two disks.
The natural place to document this would be the Dell Setup and Specifications or Service Manual documents; unfortunately, neither discuss this.

However, after experimenting on the Dell US Business Store,
https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops-and-notebooks/latitude-5511-laptop/spd/latitude-15-5511-laptop/cto3l551115us?configurationid=d7624e64-a17a-4105-acf4-6ff58693abd9
it's possible to customize a configuration to include both the M.2 512GB Class 35 SSD as primary drive, together with any one of three spinning SATA drives as a secondary drive, so two drives are supported (and of course, if so, one can always install a SATA SSD drive as secondary), as long as the battery specified is the 4-cell (68Wh) or 3-cell one. If the 6-cell 97Wh battery is chosen, the configurator allows only a primary M.2 drive & no secondary.

I don't know whether all the mounting HW is included for both drive types if the computer is originally only ordered with one; in the service manual, the M.2 drive is shown with a thermal base plate, and the SATA HDD with something that looks like an vibration isolation cover but isn't discussed:
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/latitude-15-5511-laptop/latitude_5511_sm/installing-the-ssd?guid=guid-c15b3c97-8fbd-43bb-928e-2fec8a82684c&lang=en-us

Incidentally, there's no way to configure the 5410/5510/5411 with two drives, in any combination, AFAICT after well over an hour of trying the configurator.

There is one caveat in having two disks: If a secondary drive is specified, the configurator allows any of the "Class 35" M.2 SSDs as primary, but none of the "Class 40"s.
I thought Class referred only to R/W speeds (and haven't been able to find a definition), but looking at the M.2 SSDs Dell sells generally (not just for the 5511), Class 40 is always in the 2280 form factor, and Class 35 is in 2230.
Looking again at the motherboard pics in the service manual, it looks like an M.2 2280 card might interfere with a SATA disk's motherboard connector. So to be on the safe side, if planning to use both drives together, it looks like a 2230 drive should be used for the M.2 slot (whether configuring it originally, or buying one later).

Dell does sell a higher-capacity M.2 NVMe 2230 drive than the 5511 configurator offers, a 1TB:
https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/accessories/apd/400-BFVW

{Needing to do all this detective work is rather annoying. This stuff should all be well-documented}

Jirina · Answer

I am dealing with the same - I am going to buy Latitude 5511 with the 68 Wh battery, and I found here that there are both space and port for a 2.5" SATA drive.

My question is: does Dell recommend any cable and caddy for this? I found e.g. SATA Hard Drive Cable 78RF8 w/ HDD Caddy ND8N9 for Dell Latitude 15 5511, but since I am located in Czech republic and this product is not in any e-shop here, I would prefer getting it officially from Dell.

nparadiso · Answer

I know this post is a bit old but it looks like the use of the pcie wwan port and the 2280 SSD is possible. Please see the youtube link below but to make it work, though I have not tried it myself yet, is to use a PCIe NVMe SSD with the size of m2 2242. That will properly fit within the WWAN slot.

Hope this helps!

Dell Latitude 5401 - install second SSD into WWAN slot! - YouTube

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Latitude 5511 multiple Hard Disks

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