XPS 8940, adding bootable PCIe SSD?

Question

Looking for some advice on the following scenario (*I'm generally pretty tech savvy/capable and not afraid to try to do things myself, but I haven't added PC components before, and haven't installed an OS onto a drive in almost 10 years):

Just got a good deal on a XPS 8940 for to use as an extra PC station in the house, however it's being shipped with a standard 1TB HDD, and I'd like to add a SSD AND make it bootable so we can hop on the PC quickly (because basically it will be used for quick tasks, in and out etc). So...

1) It appears I could add a Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD via one of the available PCIe slots...correct? Any compatibility issues with either installation or making it bootable that someone has run into?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07M7Q21N7/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

2) From what I've read, I'll need an adapter like this one below...any other recommendations or issues anyone foresees?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JKH5VTL/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A3F3TWMW51FQC7&psc=1

3) Any step by step guides for setting up the new SSD and making it bootable would be appreciated. I've found some here and there already but if anyone happens to have experience with a recent XPS tower/Samsung M.2 SSD it would great to hear about. Remember, this PC will be brand new so I don't need to copy anything over from the existing hard drive.

Thanks for any and all help!!

Vic384 · Accepted Answer

@greatdane1588 You don't need a PCIe adapter, the XPS 8940 has an M.2 NVMe slot. See the Setup and Specifications. and the Service Manual.

Answer to 3). Use Samsung Data Migration to clone the HDD to the Samsung SSD, When cloning is completed and before booting the SSD, remove the HDD. If you wish to use Samsung Magician and the Samsung NVME driver you will have to change SATA Operation mode from RAID to AHCI. Do the change to the SSD after cloniing. Here is the procedure: http://triplescomputers.com/blog/uncategorized/solution-switch-windows-10-from-raidide-to-ahci-operation/

Note that the BIOS change of SATA Operation from RAID to AHCI does not occur until step 4 of the procedure.

If you wish to use the HDD as additional storage, you have to reconnect the HDD, boot using F12 to make sure you are booting from the SSD, then reinitialize the HDD using Disk Management or DiskPart. Here is the DiskPart procedure: https://macrorit.com/partition-magic-manager/initialize-disk-gpt-mbr-from-cmd-diskpart.html

When using DiskPart make sure to use the 'list disk' command to identify the HDD, and the 'select disk' command to select the HDD to reinitialize.

greatdane1588 · Answer

@Vic384 these guides help, thank you! And thanks for the clarification on the open M.2 slot, I think I misread the spec doc last night.

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XPS 8940, adding bootable PCIe SSD?

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