SSD Questions on New Computer

Hey guys. Went to the repair shop and this was interesting. I mentioned that i wanted to have the SSD put in and the slower hard drive taken out. The guy told me that I have to have windows 10 installed thus a new copy. I had thought i didn't have to buy a new copy since well this new laptop is windows 10. He did say that if i remove the hard drive, then i don't have windows 10 anymore. I said so does that mean i would have windows 7? I do not recall what he said here. I had said when i asked online, people mentioned to me its not possible to install a copy of windows 7 on the new laptop since its one OP per system.


He had mentioned that i have to have some sort of windows installed because taking out the hard drive and removing it, would remove the OS. This was until he asked me what is the name of the computer system and i told him its a dell xps 15 9550. He then checked this with his computer and was surprised that this computer had 2 different hard drives... ones a 32gb ssd and another is a 1tb hard drive. He said he wasn't aware Dell even did this and said most laptops don't have 2 hard drives which i agree since most laptops its one hard drive. When he noticed that and opened up the laptop, he saw 2 of those drives and said I didn't need to install a new copy of windows 10 because he was removing the 5400 rpm hard drive which does not contain windows 10. Windows 10 is on the 32gb ssd hard drive. Does that make sense or not? He said its so rare to see laptops like this and i agree i don't know many laptops that are like this.


But if i only had 1 hard drive spot there and its the 1tb 5400 rpm, does anyone know if he removes it and put my samsung 250gb ssd... would i need to have a new copy of windows 10 installed? That wouldn't make sense since i already have a copy on the laptop right? That was very strange unless i heard wrong from you guys and mentioned something else? Someone mentioned that yes you might have to buy a new copy of windows 10? Or was it windows 7?


Here is what is strange. A few years back my old asus laptop. It had windows 7. It had a 5400 rpm hard drive. I needed to replace it with an SSD. This SSD was brand new i bought. I asked a friend of mine if he knows how to replace hard drive with SSD and said its very simple. He opened up my asus laptop pretty easily and put the new SSD in. I then recalled powering it up. I believe when i do this and the SSD is new... that I did NOT have to enter my name and all that information after putting in the SSD? It was a few years back but i just don't recall i had to do that.


Also after he replaced my hard drive with my SSD, we checked the my computer and it showed like 115gb free out of 232gb on the ssd hard drive. I asked could he delete everything off since everything in there i already saved to my external hard drive? But most importantly i want to have everything cleared so i could have this hard drive empty? He did this by plugging a cd rom device and did a few things. At first he thought it didn't work then he plugged something else in. He then said he have to open my laptop again to do this until he checked the my computer and all of those files were deleted. So i have like 230gb free out of 232gb on the SSD. On the 32gb ssd, i believe theres like 3gb free since most of it uses windows 10 right?


Does anyone know what method he used here when wiping my SSD? Im pretty sure he used a program that did this. He went to the partition section i believe and did this. Well he did but then maybe went to something else and thought it didn't work but it did. Is this the clean install method, image/clone method or is it the just erase SSD method?


What confuses me a lot was he mentioned if i didn't have 2 hard drives on this dell laptop, then him putting the ssd in would require me to install a fresh copy of windows 10.

ignatzatsonic said:

see comments

paulyjames said:

Hey guys. Went to the repair shop and this was interesting. I mentioned that i wanted to have the SSD put in and the slower hard drive taken out. The guy told me that I have to have windows 10 installed thus a new copy.

Phooey.

Why would you trust this guy?

Did you misunderstand him?

Does he think that if the hard drive in the new Dell quit after a week that you would have to buy Windows again?

Apparently he does...........if that is what he said.



people mentioned to me its not possible to install a copy of windows 7 on the new laptop since its one OP per system.


Nobody here said that. You can buy Windows 7 and install it on any PC you want.


He had mentioned that i have to have some sort of windows installed because taking out the hard drive and removing it, would remove the OS.


Taking out the hard drive removes the hard drive.

No more.

No less.

Either you don't understand what he said, or he's lying, or he is hopeless.

When he noticed that and opened up the laptop, he saw 2 of those drives

Did you personally see 2 hard drives--one you could hold in your left hand and another you could hold in your right hand?

Or did you see one piece of hardware containing "two drives"?

Or are you relying on what he said he saw and you may not know what he actually meant?

There is some chance this laptop does in fact have 2 totally separate and discrete hard drives, but we haven't seen any evidence yet.


and said I didn't need to install a new copy of windows 10 because he was removing the 5400 rpm hard drive which does not contain windows 10. Windows 10 is on the 32gb ssd hard drive. Does that make sense or not?

It doesn't make any difference. You don't need a new copy of Windows 10 regardless of whether the Dell has 1, 2, or 13 hard drives.

He said its so rare to see laptops like this and i agree i don't know many laptops that are like this.

What does he think is rare:

1: a laptop with 2 discrete and totally separate hard drives, each with a separate drive bay?

or

2: a laptop that has a hybrid drive with a spinning portion and a so-called "SSD"portion?

We don't know which of those you have.

As far as I know, neither is "rare". Possibly uncommon.



But if i only had 1 hard drive spot there and its the 1tb 5400 rpm, does anyone know if he removes it and put my samsung 250gb ssd... would i need to have a new copy of windows 10 installed?

What have we already told you? It doesn't matter if the new Dell has 1, 2, or leventy leven hard drives.

That wouldn't make sense since i already have a copy on the laptop right?

You are correct.


Someone mentioned that yes you might have to buy a new copy of windows 10? Or was it windows 7?

Windows 7.



So i have like 230gb free out of 232gb on the SSD. On the 32gb ssd, i believe theres like 3gb free since most of it uses windows 10 right?


Huh???


Why didn't you totally replace whatever hard drives were in the new Dell with your old SSD. And not use this 32 GB thing at all?

Why do you need to use this 32 GB thing, whatever it is, at all?

Did you leave the store with the original Dell hard drive in one hand and the laptop in the other? Or is the original Dell hard drive(s) still inside the new laptop?

Your Windows installation will likely grow to more than 32 GB

How much free space do you see on the so-called C drive?





Does anyone know what method he used here when wiping my SSD?

Did you ask him?

Is this the clean install method, image/clone method or is it the just erase SSD method?

Why not ask him?

What confuses me a lot was he mentioned if i didn't have 2 hard drives on this dell laptop, then him putting the ssd in would require me to install a fresh copy of windows 10.

Repeat: Phooey. If by "fresh" you mean "pay for a new copy".


It's not clear to me what you walked into the shop with.

It's not clear to me what he did.

It's not clear to me what you told him you wanted.

It's not clear to me what you walked out of the shop with.

Did he TOTALLY remove any piece of hardware from that machine and where is that piece right now?

Im pretty sure the guy didn't understand that there were 2 hard drives there... which is why he said this.

I dont think i misunderstood him. Im pretty sure it was because he thought only 1 hard drive there. But if that was the case, then im not sure why he suggested this.


XPS 15 9550 High Performance Laptop | Dell


Looks like the 2nd option... 1tb 5400 rpm and 32gb ssd. I seen how the inside looked. It looks like 2 hard drives i believe.


Well he said this was pretty uncommon i believe. Because im sure most laptops he looks at doesn't contain 2 drives like this.



So i have like 230gb free out of 232gb on the SSD. On the 32gb ssd, i believe theres like 3gb free since most of it uses windows 10 right?


Huh???


Why didn't you totally replace whatever hard drives were in the new Dell with your old SSD. And not use this 32 GB thing at all?

Why do you need to use this 32 GB thing, whatever it is, at all?

Did you leave the store with the original Dell hard drive in one hand and the laptop in the other? Or is the original Dell hard drive(s) still inside the new laptop?

Your Windows installation will likely grow to more than 32 GB

How much free space do you see on the so-called C drive?


The windows 10 is stored in the 32gb ssd.

The original 1tb Dell hard drive he took it out and i have that with me. The 250gb samsung ssd is in the laptop. The 32gb ssd that is in the laptop is still there. He did not take that out.

The 32gb ssd, theres around under 30gb used so basically 2gb free. The 250gb samsung ssd... shows 232gb total and 230gb free.

Yes i know computer came with windows 10. I might have said something wrong which may be the reason he said i need to buy a copy of 10 but im pretty sure i mentioned i want to swap the hard drive with the ssd hard drive.


I also have a bit of an issue here.


I downloaded a few videos online. So there previously was about 2gb free out of 28.7gb on the OS C Drive. In the New volume D drive, theres 230gb free of 232gb. Thats the SSD.


Well i downloaded a good amount of things and i got a message that my hard drive was getting low in space and it ask me to choose between manage storage or cancel. I clicked cancel. As the videos continued to download, it stopped. As of now it shows 3.67mb free of 28.7gb free on the OS C drive. So basically it stopped because theres not enough storage right? Im downloading some 80mb videos with youtube video downloader. So how do i go to the New Volume D drive now since anything i download, i have to download it to the D drive since im out of space on the C drive? I assume i have to get to the manage hard drive part and can someone tell me how do i do this?


Yes the OS is on the 32gb drive 100 percent. He confirmed it. And yes he swapped the 1tb hard drive with the 250gb samsung SSD. He asked me why i wanted to do this since i would be going from 1tb to 250gb but i told him is because SSD is very important and I don't need 1tb of space. What do you mean losing all the heat that hard drive makese?


Well he had wiped everything in the ssd already after he put the ssd in. Yes i believe it was disk management.

ignatzatsonic said:

see comments

paulyjames said:

Im pretty sure the guy didn't understand that there were 2 hard drives there... which is why he said this.

If he did not figure that out within 5 minutes of looking at it, he is not competent. I have no idea what he saw or what he did or what or when he believed anything.

I dont think i misunderstood him. Im pretty sure it was because he thought only 1 hard drive there. But if that was the case, then im not sure why he suggested this.


XPS 15 9550 High Performance Laptop | Dell

that link does not work for me.



So i have like 230gb free out of 232gb on the SSD. On the 32gb ssd, i believe theres like 3gb free since most of it uses windows 10 right?

The windows 10 is stored in the 32gb ssd.



The original 1tb Dell hard drive he took it out and i have that with me. The 250gb samsung ssd is in the laptop. The 32gb ssd that is in the laptop is still there. He did not take that out.

I'll take your word for this for the moment subject to new information: The machine originally had 2 separate drives. A 32 GB SSD still in the machine and a 1 TB drive that you have totally removed.

Why would you want to have Windows on a 32 GB SSD with only 3 GB of free space---when you have a separate SSD with NOTHING on it that you could use??? Your 32 GB SSD is nearly full.

I have no idea why you didn't tell him to clone or image or clean install Windows 10 to the 250 GB SSD.

You've got a bum installation if what you say is true---a very very small SSD that's nearly full and a big SSD that is empty.

Windows 10 should be on the big SSD.

Unless of course you are wrong.

What makes you think that this machine now has 2 SSDs in it?? Rather than one 250 GB SSD with a small partition containing Windows 10 and a larger partition that is nearly empty?


Post a screen shot of Windows Disk Management.

He did not open the laptop up first. I had described that i wanted ssd put in and the 1tb hard drive taken out.


Specs are


6th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-6300HQ Quad Core
Windows 10 Home
8GB
1TB 5400RPM Hard Drive + 32GB Solid State Drive


I'll take your word for this for the moment subject to new information: The machine originally had 2 separate drives. A 32 GB SSD still in the machine and a 1 TB drive that you have totally removed.

Why would you want to have Windows on a 32 GB SSD with only 3 GB of free space---when you have a separate SSD with NOTHING on it that you could use??? Your 32 GB SSD is nearly full.

I have no idea why you didn't tell him to clone or image or clean install Windows 10 to the 250 GB SSD.

You've got a bum installation if what you say is true---a very very small SSD that's nearly full and a big SSD that is empty.

Windows 10 should be on the big SSD.

Unless of course you are wrong.

What makes you think that this machine now has 2 SSDs in it?? Rather than one 250 GB SSD with a small partition containing Windows 10 and a larger partition that is nearly empty?


Post a screen shot of Windows Disk Management.



Okay im very frustrated now. I downloaded a bunch of videos and now my OS C drive is nearly full. Its 3.67mb free of 28.7gb and its asking me to manage storage because im running out of space. I cant even finish downloading it. The other hard drive is called New Volume D Drive. That has 230gb free of 232gb.


Okay what you say makes a lot of sense. I had thought well once the OS C drive gets full, then anything i download would go into the new volume D drive. But thats not how it works?