Hi Alexanderl2 ,

Welcome to the community.

Yes, there is one mSATA port in it.

Glad to be of assistance.

Thanks & Regards

Dell_Ravi_M

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Hi Alexanderl2 ,

 I am sorry for the incomplete response, I did not read the entire question. 

The Inspiron™ 7520/15R (SE) systems are offered with SATA 2 Hard Disk Drives and SATA 2 and 3 mSATA Solid State Drives. The following hard-drive options are available: 

These systems support the combination of mSATA Solid State Drives with a SATA Hard Drive which enables the use of several technologies found inIntel® Rapid Storage Technology:

Intel® Smart Response Technology: This technology utilizes the speed advantage of SSD in caching where the frequently used information is stored on the SSD instead of the Hard drive.

Intel® Rapid Start Technology: This technology enables the system to boot back with-in seconds after getting into hibernation.

This can be changed from the settings in the system BIOS.

 Here is the link to show you how to  install it on the mobo:

http://en.community.dell.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/3518/1145.MSATA.wmv

Glad to be of assistance.

Thanks & Regards

Dell_Ravi_M

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See section 20 of the service manual.  Yes, there is a significant amount of disassembly work needed to install the card.

support.dell.com/.../om_en.pdf

Hi,

is the msata placed on the bottom of the daughterboad? And is it right that I need to completly disassemble the notebook (including the removal of the mainboard) to install the msata ssd?

Cheers,

O.k. I just disassemled the whole notebook but there is no connector for a msata ssd on the bottom of the daughterboard.

Are there different versions of the daughterboard? Here are some images:

If recent history holds, on most low-end notebooks - not just Dell but others - if you don't order a feature, its connector is usually missing from the system.  So, if you didn't order the system with a solid state drive, the connector for it is likely not in the system.

Give Dell Spare Parts a call.

1-877-766-3355

I didassebled my laptop and I see that I'm also missing the second PCI-e connector as well as supporting chips. That means I have to order a proper daughter card that has 2 PCI-e connectors, or mSata connector. What is the proper part number for such a board if it exists?

Hello guys, I had been looking for this part and calling/emailing DELL for four month.. and finally I got it !

To get the daughter card with mSata here is what I finally did :

- I called DELL and asked to speak with the "Spare Parts" department

  (no need ot explain you complicated situation, just say you need to buy a part)

  (maybe you'll have to wait a long time on the phone, so surf on the net while waiting on the phone,

   and try to call them on a cheap number)

- Ask for the Dell part number "N7JHH" (it's an international reference number, meaning the same everywhere)

- It'll cost 11.5€ (!) - about 15$ (US) and they ship it for free (at least they did for me)

That's it, no more headaches..

well, you still have to disasemble your computer again and buy an mSata drive.. but at least now, you have your SSD drive for SRT caching or to put Windows on, and still have your 750GB or 1TB drive for the data :)

The part for me seem to be shipped by UPS from the Netherland - I live in France - and it should arrive a week after my order :)

(Laptop reference : Inspiron 15R SE 7520)

In case someone needs it, here is the french phone number for DELL : 01.80.60.20.00

Hi Dom,

Thanks for your advice. I have sourced a N7JHH board direct from Dell. 

Once installed do you have any advice for the software configuration to get the caching to work?

cheers

Rich

Hello Rich,

I just recieved my N7JHH board and will recieve an mSata drive (Crucial m4 128Gb - 105€) in the next few days..

No clue yet how to install it differently than a hard drive..

I don't think I'll use it as a cache SRT drive, I want to install it as my boot drive with Windows 7 on it, I think it'll be faster than cache.

And my 1TB HDD will store all my data files..

Dom

Hi Dom

Did your cruical 128gig drive work without issues on them msata board?

Hello, yes. all went well, I now have a dual boot, one with my old 1TB drive, and one with the mSata and it's lightning fast

compared to my old windows. (of course after I'm sure I have everything I need from my old windows - program configurations, etc..

I'll only keep the one booting from the mSata : 15s instead of 60s ! )

Do you guys want detailed instructions for how I did everything ?

I think it would be quite helpful to hear about your drive set-up.

Personally I only got the 32GB drive, so I'm using it with Intel smart response and Intel rapid start. I think it has sped things up a bit, but not that impressive.

If I had thought about it a bit more I would have gotten a bigger drive and used it as a boot drive!

Dear Dom

Thanks for all the the pictures and info ,can confirm what the part number is as you have blurred it out  and also confirm the firmware revision of the crucial drive you purchased

Have you had any problems with the crucial drive see here

forums.crucial.com/.../110572

I hope not but there are number of posts on different websites if you google

Sorry i must be stupid because i do not understand what you mean  "Hello, yes. all went well, I now have a dual boot, one with my old 1TB drive, and one with the mSata and it's lightning fast .... I'll only keep the one booting from the mSata : 15s instead of 60s ! )"

Could you please elaborate

Many thanks