SSD in an Inspiron

Hi MJP,

The Dell recovery utility is not going to work, as you have found. You'll need to use another tool, such as EaseUS. What else have you tried?

Of course, one option is to call Dell and get a Windows 8 disc and install manually. I suspect had you tried that, you'd be done by now.

Thanks for the reply Osprey4. I actually used EaseUS initially and then bought Paragon drive copy after EaseUS failed me. I tried a handful of other free programs, but no luck. In most cases, the programs indicated a success, but the laptop would not boot from the drive.

I also got the recovery USB (which contained the recovery utility I also tried) from the second customer support agent I spoke to, who assured me it was "installation media" and that I could perform a "fresh install," which would allow me to control the size of the partitions to my liking. He told me it would be on a USB, so unless he was massively confused he may have just been trying to end my call by lying to me. I requested a Windows 8 Disc and he told me I wouldn't need one, because the USB would do the job. This was after the first agent went to "research my problem" and then hung up.

If Dell will give me a windows 8 install disc, I would like to know who specifically I can talk to to get it or where online I need to go to do this. Obviously this would probably solve my problem, but after calling customer support and wasting hours of my time getting the runaround, I had assumed this was not an option.

Any idea if I would have more luck cloning to a 1 TB SSD?

Thank you, 

-MJP

-[AMIN NOTE: Post Edited per TOU Violation] -believable! I popped the USB key into the laptop so that I can give you a step by step explanation of what goes wrong and when, and this time it worked! After all this time, I almost can't believe it. I have no idea why it failed the other several times I attempted it previously, but it doesn't really matter now that it's up and running. This is awesome.

For your information though, in case others have a similar issue and wish to put in an SSD: the USB device I received was 8 GB, and had the Dell and Microsoft logos on it, as well as a "Mentor Media" logo (A company with which I am not familiar). On the other side, "Windows 8 for Dell" is printed, along with a tracking ID. The software on it does 3 things: checks the health of the drive, attempts a repair, and then re-installs the OS (something which had not worked for me until this very moment, for reasons entirely beyond me). Count this as a confirmation that this method actually works though - this USB key can and does  contain the ability to install the OS to a smaller SSD.

Maybe it was because my computer was back in UEFI mode (I changed to legacy at one point to expand my boot medium options), or maybe it was because the SSD was being finicky - or maybe it was a mix of the changes I made to the computer and the SSD, who knows. Just recommend to people in my situation to try using this (or I'm sure the disc) in UEFI mode, and emphasize that although it is repair media, it is install media as well.

Thanks for your help and time Osprey4 - I know my solution was more random than anything else, but I am sure the disc would have done the job just as well, and I didn't know how to get it- so thank you!

Excellent. Glad that worked. Yes, I think if the original set-up is UEFI, you must restore in UEFI mode.