XPS 8900, M.2 SSD, upgrade compatible

Review the first six threads here.

NVMe SSD upgrade for Dell XPS 8900

I thought I would add to this post in case there is anyone else who, like me, wishes to give their XPS 8900 a mid-life upgrade by fitting an SSD system disk.  I used a Samsung 970 EVO 500GB NVMe PCIe SSD.  The XPS 8900 motherboard will boot from an NVMe PCIe SSD, but I recommend updating to the latest UEFI BIOS first (2.4.0).  The 8900 M.2 NVMe motherboard slot is only PCIe x1, and so it is essential to use a PCIe add-in card for the new SSD in order to benefit from the full PCIe x4 speed.

I wanted to keep the existing 2GB HDD for data, and so did not wish to disturb its SSD cache acceleration (32GB SSD set up as RAID 0 with the HDD in Intel RST).  I therefore left RAID on in the BIOS, as an SSD is plug-and-play with RAID on using the native Windows 10 Intel RST driver.  The only downside is that you cannot use Samsung’s driver or Magician SSD management software (both require the BIOS to be set to ACHI), but in my view this is not an issue unless you are a demon gamer and wish to wring out every last drop of performance.

The procedure I used was as follows, derived from a number of different sources:

1. Backup the system in every way!
    - create & test a new Macrium Reflect Rescue CD
    - ensure you have a Windows 10 Recovery USB Drive
    - defrag HDD

2. Fit SSD card in PCIe slot:
    - Samsung 970 EVO 500GB NVMe PCIe SSD on Lycom DT-120 add-in card
    - use slot 23 (or 24) on illustration in Dell Service Manual (both are actually wired x4)
    - depending upon clearance from graphics card fan (24 is tight)
    - (N.B. these slots are labelled 14 & 15 on the illustration posted in some other threads)

3. Clone HDD to SSD using Macrium Reflect:
    - Macrium Reflect > “Run as administrator”
    - N.B. disable antivirus & online backup first!
    - also disconnect from network & set power to “High Performance”
    - adjust OS (C: ) partition size, but keep partitions in the same order
    - (the contents of my HDD comfortably fitted onto the SSD, making this straightforward)
    - after cloning put text file on desktop of HDD that says “This is the old HDD”

4. Set BIOS (F2 just before Dell splash screen):
    - to make SSD the boot drive C: (boot drive is automatically assigned C: )
    > Settings > General > Boot Sequence
    > set SSD as 1st Boot device (i.e. above “Windows Boot Manager”)

5. Check system is booting from SSD:
    - desktop text message from 3 above (“This is the old HDD”) will not be there!
    - size of C: drive should be size of SSD
    - as shown in File Explorer, Disk Management (right-click Start), and Macrium Reflect

6. Run for a while to ensure all is well:
    - check TRIM is turned on for SSD
    - also turn on System Restore for SSD

7. Format HDD when sure SSD is OK:
    - use DISKPART from Command Prompt to clean HDD & remove EFI boot partition
    > re-initialise, format & name HDD D: as “DATA”
    - this will result in failure to boot!
    > run Macrium Fix Boot Problems from Rescue CD to re-create Boot Configuration Data
    > move data folders to HDD

This upgrade has resulted in a terrific increase in the speed and responsiveness of the system, with a much shorter boot time, and is highly recommended!

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@Vic384 wrote:

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Another downside is over provisioning the SSD; not sure how to do this without Samsung Magician or how other manufacturers over provision their SSDs.

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You just leave some (raw, un-partitioned) space at end of SSD (usually about 10-20 gigs).

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@Tesla1856 wrote:

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@Vic384 wrote:

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Another downside is over provisioning the SSD; not sure how to do this without Samsung Magician or how other manufacturers over provision their SSDs.

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You just leave some (raw, un-partitioned) space at end of SSD (usually about 10-20 gigs).

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True, and if you didn't plan ahead to do this, then you would have to use Disk Management to shrink a volume to create the unallocated space for over provisioning.

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@Vic384 wrote:

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@Tesla1856 wrote:

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@Vic384 wrote:

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Another downside is over provisioning the SSD; not sure how to do this without Samsung Magician or how other manufacturers over provision their SSDs.

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You just leave some (raw, un-partitioned) space at end of SSD (usually about 10-20 gigs).

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True, and if you didn't plan ahead to do this, then you would have to use Disk Management to shrink a volume to create the unallocated space for over provisioning.

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Correct.

Just wanted to share that I installed a Samsung 970 PRO SSD 512 GN M.2 NVMe that I bought from Amazon and it worked just fine. I installed directly in the slot on the XPS 8900 motherboard. According to Samsung Magician Software the Seq Read was 847 MB/s, Write was 812 MB/s, Random IOPS Read 203125 and Write 155029.

I later on installed the Dual M.2 PCIE which I bought from Amazon and put the M.2 SDD in that card.

As you can see from below print screen it seems to be the way to go instead of using the built in M.2 slot on the motherboard:

Thanks for a very clear instruction.  My XPS 8900 has an add-on 32 gb msata in M.2 slot which does the cache.  I have added a 2.5 in 2TB sata as the main OS.  Lots problems to dissociate the cache drive after the fact.  I managed to make it work.  However, I didn't notice too much of improvements in terms of speed.  From what you have described here, it appeared that a m.2 NVME with a adapter could be added to the space 24 (slot 3, per XPS 8900 service manual on Page 16-17).  Could you confirm that? As well, do you see a significant speed increase?

I am thinking of getting  the following items.  Will they work?

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07MFZXR1B/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&psc=1

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01FU9JS94/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&psc=1

Thanks in advance