Need help in Dell G7 Laptop - SSD

[oudmaster]

Hi guys,

At the moment, Dell G7 with i9-8950HK has only 128GB SSD, and 1TB HDD

https://dell.to/2I6GnBn


the datasheet of the laptop shows the following options,

http://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/g-series-15-7588-laptop_setup-guide_en-us.pdf

what I want to know is, can I upgrade this SSD 128GB to 1TB one like samsung 960 evo,


and does this 128GB SSD contains only C drive right ?


appreciate your help,

 

[offroadguy56]

That 960 EVO should work fine.

Your options that I can see are:

Use a 2nd computer to clone the data from the 128gb to the new 960 EVO
or
Backup your 128gb to an image. Boot into windows or recovery software with USB and install the image onto the 960 EVO using the laptop itself. You can use your 1TB HDD to store that image of your SSD while you install the 960 EVO.

I've only ever used the first option only for my self.

Good luck.

 

[oudmaster]

thanks a lot for your reply,

one more if you dont mind as it confuses me,

can SATA AHCI and NVMe be plugged to the same M.2 interface ?

 

[oudmaster]

ping

 

[offroadguy56]

Yes. A non-NVME M.2 SSD will work in a NVME compatible M.2 slot.

The M.2 is a connection standard. M.2 and, from what I know, can communicate with the CPU either by PCI-express or SATA. The NVME standard will only use the PCI-express interface.

 

[marioestolano]

My G7 also came with a m.2 SATA (Toshiba 250Gb) and I replaced it with a m.2 NVMe PCIe Samsung EVO 970 500Gb.

The benchmarks apps show an improvement of more than 7x for reading and writing. But, to tell you the truth, the difference under normal use situations is minimal.

Anyway, if you want to replace it, go for G7 BIOS setup and verify if m.2 PCIe is checked in System Configuration -> Drives, and UNcheck SATA RAID option in the setup.

I used Macrium Reflect to clone the original m.2 SSD to other internal (non m.2) SATA SSD, then I replaced the m.2 and then cloned again from the SATA SSD to the new m.2 NVMe. After this, I installed the Samsung NVMe driver, it allowed a slightly better performance than Windows default driver.

When cloning, choose all the partitions from the original SSD, so Windows Boot Manager and UEFI will keep working fine. If the new SSD is larger than the original, after cloning you can enlarge the data/OS partition with miniTool Partition Wizard.

 

[oudmaster]

My G7 also came with a m.2 SATA (Toshiba 250Gb) and I replaced it with a m.2 NVMe PCIe Samsung EVO 970 500Gb.

The benchmarks apps show an improvement of more than 7x for reading and writing. But, to tell you the truth, the difference under normal use situations is minimal.

Anyway, if you want to replace it, go for G7 BIOS setup and verify if m.2 PCIe is checked in System Configuration -> Drives, and UNcheck SATA RAID option in the setup.

I used Macrium Reflect to clone the original m.2 SSD to other internal (non m.2) SATA SSD, then I replaced the m.2 and then cloned again from the SATA SSD to the new m.2 NVMe. After this, I installed the Samsung NVMe driver, it allowed a slightly better performance than Windows default driver.

When cloning, choose all the partitions from the original SSD, so Windows Boot Manager and UEFI will keep working fine. If the new SSD is larger than the original, after cloning you can enlarge the data/OS partition with miniTool Partition Wizard.

thanks for you response,

when you restored the image, did the drivers worked well ?


I am thinking to make image using Norton Ghost with Hiren's BootCD

otherwise, some people advised me to install fresh Windoes 10 OS,

 

[marioestolano]

My G7 also came with a m.2 SATA (Toshiba 250Gb) and I replaced it with a m.2 NVMe PCIe Samsung EVO 970 500Gb.

The benchmarks apps show an improvement of more than 7x for reading and writing. But, to tell you the truth, the difference under normal use situations is minimal.

Anyway, if you want to replace it, go for G7 BIOS setup and verify if m.2 PCIe is checked in System Configuration -> Drives, and UNcheck SATA RAID option in the setup.

I used Macrium Reflect to clone the original m.2 SSD to other internal (non m.2) SATA SSD, then I replaced the m.2 and then cloned again from the SATA SSD to the new m.2 NVMe. After this, I installed the Samsung NVMe driver, it allowed a slightly better performance than Windows default driver.

When cloning, choose all the partitions from the original SSD, so Windows Boot Manager and UEFI will keep working fine. If the new SSD is larger than the original, after cloning you can enlarge the data/OS partition with miniTool Partition Wizard.

thanks for you response,

when you restored the image, did the drivers worked well ?


I am thinking to make image using Norton Ghost with Hiren's BootCD

otherwise, some people advised me to install fresh Windoes 10 OS,

Everything worked just perfectly after cloning with Macrium Reflect, and it was not necessary to create a boot pendrive. Plus: it's free. =) The only driver you'll need to install after cloning is the new SSD one.

 

[oudmaster]

Thank you marioestolano

I have done your advise and everything worked perfectly. I used both Macrium Reflect and miniTool Partition Wizard to accomplish my task.

there is one point I want to ask, does extending C partition this way affect disk performance ??
I have no issue with performance yet, but I anticipate the answer is "Yes", maybe because the merged storage areas are not continuous !!

 

[mario.estolano]

Thank you marioestolano

I have done your advise and everything worked perfectly. I used both Macrium Reflect and miniTool Partition Wizard to accomplish my task.

there is one point I want to ask, does extending C partition this way affect disk performance ??
I have no issue with performance yet, but I anticipate the answer is "Yes", maybe because the merged storage areas are not continuous !!

Hi oudmaster.
Happy it worked fine 4u =)

I believe there's no performance issues extending the C: partition, minitool in fact move the data of following small partitions before extending C:, so it will be single/contiguous. Samsung Magician and other sources advise to leave free at least 10% of the SSD capacity to improve its performance and lifespan. It's the so called 'over provisioning'. I did it, but didn't compare before/after.

 

[hugo.a.garcia.tello]

My G7 also came with a m.2 SATA (Toshiba 250Gb) and I replaced it with a m.2 NVMe PCIe Samsung EVO 970 500Gb.

The benchmarks apps show an improvement of more than 7x for reading and writing. But, to tell you the truth, the difference under normal use situations is minimal.

Anyway, if you want to replace it, go for G7 BIOS setup and verify if m.2 PCIe is checked in System Configuration -> Drives, and UNcheck SATA RAID option in the setup.

I used Macrium Reflect to clone the original m.2 SSD to other internal (non m.2) SATA SSD, then I replaced the m.2 and then cloned again from the SATA SSD to the new m.2 NVMe. After this, I installed the Samsung NVMe driver, it allowed a slightly better performance than Windows default driver.

When cloning, choose all the partitions from the original SSD, so Windows Boot Manager and UEFI will keep working fine. If the new SSD is larger than the original, after cloning you can enlarge the data/OS partition with miniTool Partition Wizard.

 

[hugo.a.garcia.tello]

My G7 also came with a m.2 SATA (Toshiba 250Gb) and I replaced it with a m.2 NVMe PCIe Samsung EVO 970 500Gb.

The benchmarks apps show an improvement of more than 7x for reading and writing. But, to tell you the truth, the difference under normal use situations is minimal.

Anyway, if you want to replace it, go for G7 BIOS setup and verify if m.2 PCIe is checked in System Configuration -> Drives, and UNcheck SATA RAID option in the setup.

I used Macrium Reflect to clone the original m.2 SSD to other internal (non m.2) SATA SSD, then I replaced the m.2 and then cloned again from the SATA SSD to the new m.2 NVMe. After this, I installed the Samsung NVMe driver, it allowed a slightly better performance than Windows default driver.

When cloning, choose all the partitions from the original SSD, so Windows Boot Manager and UEFI will keep working fine. If the new SSD is larger than the original, after cloning you can enlarge the data/OS partition with miniTool Partition Wizard.

Hello i did everything you said but the problem starts when i uncheck RAID ON , it reboots and says Hardrive not detected 🙁 , i enable it and them i can see my Evo under magician but says not supported also when i try to install the NVME drivers says install NVME , because is not detected any help? D: