SSD Questions on New Computer

[paulyjames]

Also if anyone else wants to add to this, please do. This is so frustrating because im suppose to fly out of the country and tried to make sure i got everything set with my laptop few days ago.

 

[paulyjames]

He may never have seen a situation like this, with Windows installed in the wrong place by Dell refurb (on the 32 GB SSD) and may have thought that Dell thought it was correct.


This makes a lot of sense. This is probably the reason why. Oh no im definitely going back to him.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

see comments

But why didn't he recommend or tell me but i have to put windows on the 250gb first before i was leaving?


Do you really think I could possibly know the answer to that question?


does he need to open up my laptop? Or can he just do it like that? And most importantly, do you recommend windows clean install or image/cloning? Does one generally cost more than the other?[

I don't have any more comments on clean versus clone/imaging. That topic was worn out yesterday.

Nor costs.

The drives are in place. I don't see why he'd have to open it up.

 

[paulyjames]

Im confused with that statement. So let say he thought Windows was installed in the right place. So you mean installed where the 1tb hard drive was? Thus if it was, then i would have none of these issues?


I will check back early later on and if anyone else has feedback, please comment on this. I will have to make sure i write everything down necessary so when i go to the repair shop, this can be fixed.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

So does that mean if the 1tb hard drive did not have windows 10 on it, then i have the same issue now no matter what? Im asking the other person on the forum to see if he had windows 10 installed on the 1tb hard drive as well but i have a feeling he will say its only on the 32gb ssd.

I have no idea if the guy on the other forum is right and if your situation is the same. I'm guessing that when the Dell refurb arrived at your house, Windows was on the 32, not the 1 TB. But that's just a guess. It doesn't matter. You need a clean or a clone or image to the 250, using your existing Product Key. Period.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Im confused with that statement. So let say he thought Windows was installed in the right place. So you mean installed where the 1tb hard drive was? Thus if it was, then i would have none of these issues?

What statement?

I don't understand your question.

 

[paulyjames]

Im confused with that statement. So let say he thought Windows was installed in the right place. So you mean installed where the 1tb hard drive was? Thus if it was, then i would have none of these issues?

What statement?

I don't understand your question.

I meant. Windows 10 is installed on the 32gb. Now let say it was installed on the 1tb hard drive instead as it should be. Then if that was the case, removing the 1tb and putting in my 250gb ssd would been enough?

 

[paulyjames]

I asked the guy on other forum this

Was windows 10 installed on the 1tb hard drive or not? So basically Dell screwed up with this whole process by putting the windows 10 OS on this 32gb? If so, why in the world would they do this?

He replied

Because they are f**king useless, refurbs are handled by a 3rd party company who have no idea what the hell they are doing, they just shove a USB stick in with the image and let it do it's thing. They do not have a drive dedicated to the cache drive setup so it puts it on the wrong drive.

 

[paulyjames]

Someone else mentioned


I've had this laptop since may ... just replaced the 32gb m.2 drive with a standard Samsungm.2 256gb evo (not nvme) .. reinstalled windows 10 onto it ... works great and boots up real fast. Didn't even change any bios settings except to disable the 1tb drive.


Well i dont have a m.2 drive as mine is a regular 256gb ssd hard drive. So i cannot do this i believe. So if my ssd was a m.2, would this be more simpler?


Also the other guy mentioned that Dell New Outlet doesn't mean new. Its either refurbished, returned etc. According to the ebay buyer, Dell New Outlet meant either the order was purchased but never shipped or it was shipped and it got returned but it was never opened so it was an unopened return.


However, when i opened the package for this, there was no Box on this laptop. I watched the unboxing video of this laptop and notice there was a box. So is this a clue in that this was not really new? If so, this does frustrate me as Dell outlet new the seller told me it was brand new as bought from dell outlet and its unopened.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

So if my ssd was a m.2, would this be more simpler?

No.

 

[paulyjames]

So if my ssd was a m.2, would this be more simpler?

No.

okay sonic thanks for this information.


The guy knows computers so i have no idea why he left it like the way it did. The thing is had i not downloaded a lot of programs, then i would have not known this until later on. I think he was shocked that he saw there was a 32gb ssd and the 1tb hard drive since hes used to one hard drive only.


Someone on another forum mentioned that no new dell laptop would have a 32gb in and thus its refurbished. Well yes i guess the laptop is refurbished then. The packaging there was no special box. However, the condition of it looks pretty much perfect like brand new. I did pay a little bit less than the regular price though on ebay. However, the reason i bought this laptop was because i needed to get it asap.


Im heading to repair shop to see what he says about this. But just to make sure, i tell him okay my windows 10 didn't get copied to the 250gb hard drive and basically my hard drive is unusable because its basically full. When i tell him this, he should 100 percent know how to do the copy right? Do i need to ask do i need clean install or imaging/cloning? And about 30 minutes this should take right?


I paid $20 for him to replace my hard drive with the SSD and him doing wiping my hard drive so i thought that was pretty good price.


Im not sure how much this will cost but Im just confused why he did not notice this. I mean im someone that isn't familar with computers so is it horrible for me think... okay anything thats downloaded to the computer will go into the 32gb ssd and once its full, anything else is going to the other ssd? Or is my logic bad here? So after he puts windows 10 in the 250gb ssd, what does he do with the 32gb ssd? Does it leave it as is, delete it, take it out? Does taking it out cause issues? Does he have to put the 250gb ssd in the 32gb ssd slot? Also, does he have to make sure the 250gb ssd drive is in the Windows C drive as oppose to the D Drive Volume? Thats what the D drive is called when i click on it.


I have to make sure i have every step written down so when i ask him this, i do not omit anything at all. Sorry for asking this a few times. This is just getting me so frustrated that i have to make sure once he looks over the computer, i wont have any issues afterwards. I will report back once its looked atl.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

see comments

i tell him okay my windows 10 didn't get copied to the 250gb hard drive and basically my hard drive is unusable because its basically full. When i tell him this, he should 100 percent know how to do the copy right? Do i need to ask do i need clean install or imaging/cloning? And about 30 minutes this should take right?

Refer to the script I wrote for your handwritten instructions.

It's not a big deal whether you say clean install or clone or image. Any of the 3 would work.

The point is to get all of Windows on the 250 and none of Windows on the 32.


So after he puts windows 10 in the 250gb ssd, what does he do with the 32gb ssd? Does it leave it as is, delete it, take it out? Does taking it out cause issues?

I don't know if taking it out causes issues. I doubt it.

The point is, you don't want to put Windows on it. You want to ignore it as much as possible. Put Windows on the 250. Put Windows on the 250.


Does he have to put the 250gb ssd in the 32gb ssd slot? Also, does he have to make sure the 250gb ssd drive is in the Windows C drive as oppose to the D Drive Volume? Thats what the D drive is called when i click on it.

The 250 probably will fit in only one spot and that's where he will put it. He should know about that. Regardless of where he puts it, it will become C.

 

[paulyjames]

Hi there thanks. Im writing all that down. So on the 32gb, tell him im pretty sure the windows on this 32gb has to be deleted. Then he should respond with, absolutely right?


Okay so dont take the 32gb ssd out. Just leave it there but make sure it wipes it clean after copying windows 10 to the 250gb ssd first. Well if i didnt ask you this, he might have just left windows 10 on the 32gb ssd as well right? Then its going to be some duplicate and i have even more problems?


Well the 250gb is already in the D Volume Drive spot at the moment. Well the thing is if he has to put the 250gb on the C drive, he will have to take out the 32gb and either put it where the D drive is or take it out.


One last question. So after he finishes this, thus copy windows 10 to my 250gb and then wipes out my 32gb ssd, he should be wiping it clean like last time with the disk management thing like he did with my 250gb ssd? And once he is done, i make sure everything is good when we check the hard drive and the C drive should probably show 28.7gb free out of 28.7gb or something close to that... and the 250gb probably should be something like 202gb free out of 232gb?


I'm heading there very early tomorrow. This has got me so frustrated. I know it doesn't sound that much to you guys but for someone not tech savy, when your computer has issues or your phone has issues, its me very stressed out.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

see comments

Hi there thanks. Im writing all that down. So on the 32gb, tell him im pretty sure the windows on this 32gb has to be deleted. Then he should respond with, absolutely right?

Why tell him that? It's irrelevant.

Go with the script. You want Windows on the 250. Period. When you walk out, you don't care what's on the 32 if Windows is on the 250.


Okay so dont take the 32gb ssd out. Just leave it there but make sure it wipes it clean after copying windows 10 to the 250gb ssd first.

No. You don't care whether he wipes it or not. You want Windows on the 250. You want C is the 250.


Well if i didnt ask you this, he might have just left windows 10 on the 32gb ssd as well right? Then its going to be some duplicate and i have even more problems?

No, you can't have 2 C drives even if you wanted 2 C drives.


Well the 250gb is already in the D Volume Drive spot at the moment. Well the thing is if he has to put the 250gb on the C drive,

What does "put the 250 on the C drive" mean. Right now, C is the 32. You want Windows to be on the 250. At that point, the 250 will become C.





One last question. So after he finishes this, thus copy windows 10 to my 250gb and then wipes out my 32gb ssd, he should be wiping it clean like last time with the disk management thing like he did with my 250gb ssd? And once he is done, i make sure everything is good when we check the hard drive and the C drive should probably show 28.7gb free out of 28.7gb or something close to that

No. When you check Disk Management, C should be the 250 and it (C) should have over 200 free.

The 32 will NOT be C, will NOT be C. You shouldn't have to care about the 32 at all. Never mind it after you get Windows on the 250.

I don't know what the 32 will appear as in Disk Management, but however it appears, I wouldn't worry about it because you can wipe it yourself. If he wipes the 32, that's fine--but that is the least of your worries.

Get Windows on the 250.



... and the 250gb probably should be something like 202gb free out of 232gb?

Somewhere over 200, maybe over 220 free.


How does your written instructions read?

 

[paulyjames]

Okay this is what im going to say.


Tell me if anything i should change.



Hi I came to your place few days ago with my new laptop and i asked for you to switch the 1tb 5400 rpm hard drive that came with the dell xps with my samsung 250gb ssd. You did this and then wiped out the 250gb ssd and told me that was it and im good to go. I found out later on when i started downloading some bigger files, i could not do this due to everything i downloaded went to the C drive which is the 32gb one which only has 28.7gb total. When i checked it after you finished it has 2gb free or so. Then it was close to full and i cant download anything.


I read online that Dell had put windows 10 on the small 32gb thing and that is not what is suppose to be done. Its like an error on dells part. Thus its an error on their part since you cant put a OS on a very small hard drive though i believe this is called a cache?


I was told by others online that windows 10 is suppose to be copied to the 250gb ssd and it should not be on the 32gb ssd. Thus you cannot use the laptop at all because of this.


I was told that there has to be a clean install or clone/image of windows 10 from on the 32gb ssd to the 250gb ssd in order for me to use the 250gb as my primary hard drive. This is what someone told me as the instructions


If clone or image, "I want you to transfer the existing installation now on the 32 GB drive to the 250 GB drive, either by cloning or imaging. Make the C partition on the 250 GB drive as large as possible. Make sure the cloned installation is activated. Make sure the SSD is properly aligned. Make sure I have a working Internet connection. I don't want to use the 32 GB drive if possible.".

If clean, "I want you remove all partitions from the 250 GB SSD and do a clean install of Windows 10 to that SSD and activate it with my existing Product Key. Make the C partition on the 250 GB drive as large as possible. Make sure the SSD is properly aligned. Make sure I have a working Internet connection. I don't want to use the 32 GB drive if possible."


Which of these two options would you recommend? I was told once you do this, then i can use my laptop without any hard drive issues.


Also if you do this, what would happen to the 32gb ssd? Would you wipe it out, not doing anything to do it and leave it as is, do you need to switch the location of the hard drive of this with the 250gb ssd? Or could you just change it around? I was told online this isn't that important but the most important thing is i have to get windows 10 from the 32gb ssd into the 250gb ssd. I was told that if you copy windows 10 to my 250gb ssd... then that should appear as the C drive right?


Also, when you did this, i had thought because it showed around 2gb free out of 28.7gb on the 32gb hard drive, and 230gb free out of 232gb on the 250gb hard drive, anything i download would go to the 28.7gb hard drive and once it runs out of space, anything else that gets downloaded automatically goes to the 250gb hard drive. I was told by someone online that is not right because you need the 250gb as the primary drive.


How does this sound? What sentence would you like me to change if any?

 

[paulyjames]

One last question. So after he finishes this, thus copy windows 10 to my 250gb and then wipes out my 32gb ssd, he should be wiping it clean like last time with the disk management thing like he did with my 250gb ssd? And once he is done, i make sure everything is good when we check the hard drive and the C drive should probably show 28.7gb free out of 28.7gb or something close to that

No. When you check Disk Management, C should be the 250 and it (C) should have over 200 free.

The 32 will NOT be C, will NOT be C. You shouldn't have to care about the 32 at all. Never mind it after you get Windows on the 250.

I don't know what the 32 will appear as in Disk Management, but however it appears, I wouldn't worry about it because you can wipe it yourself. If he wipes the 32, that's fine--but that is the least of your worries.





Is he going to disk management necessary after he is done? Shouldn't him going to my PC which shows the C drive and the other drive with the how many gb free out of GB be enough?


thanks sonic.

 

[paulyjames]

sonic, doesn't a clean install cost a good amount of money though? Does it cost the same or less than installing windows? His prices i had saw are very fair but you do other things like install windows etc, it cost a bit more. I think he charges like $80 if removing viruses etc. However, he doesn't charge anything if he can't fix the solution. The guy is very honest. But im wondering how much this would cost since this is pretty simple. However, if it take 30 minutes... that is pretty long if you know what i mean.


Thanks.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Okay this is what im going to say.


Tell me if anything i should change.



Hi I came to your place few days ago with my new laptop and i asked for you to switch the 1tb 5400 rpm hard drive that came with the dell xps with my samsung 250gb ssd. You did this and then wiped out the 250gb ssd and told me that was it and im good to go. I found out later on when i started downloading some bigger files, i could not do this due to everything i downloaded went to the C drive which is the 32gb one which only has 28.7gb total. When i checked it after you finished it has 2gb free or so. Then it was close to full and i cant download anything.


I read online that Dell had put windows 10 on the small 32gb thing and that is not what is suppose to be done. Its like an error on dells part. Thus its an error on their part since you cant put a OS on a very small hard drive though i believe this is called a cache?


I was told by others online that windows 10 is suppose to be copied to the 250gb ssd and it should not be on the 32gb ssd. Thus you cannot use the laptop at all because of this.


I was told that there has to be a clean install or clone/image of windows 10 from on the 32gb ssd to the 250gb ssd in order for me to use the 250gb as my primary hard drive. This is what someone told me as the instructions


If clone or image, "I want you to transfer the existing installation now on the 32 GB drive to the 250 GB drive, either by cloning or imaging. Make the C partition on the 250 GB drive as large as possible. Make sure the cloned installation is activated. Make sure the SSD is properly aligned. Make sure I have a working Internet connection. I don't want to use the 32 GB drive if possible.".

If clean, "I want you remove all partitions from the 250 GB SSD and do a clean install of Windows 10 to that SSD and activate it with my existing Product Key. Make the C partition on the 250 GB drive as large as possible. Make sure the SSD is properly aligned. Make sure I have a working Internet connection. I don't want to use the 32 GB drive if possible."


Which of these two options would you recommend? I was told once you do this, then i can use my laptop without any hard drive issues.


Also if you do this, what would happen to the 32gb ssd? Would you wipe it out, not doing anything to do it and leave it as is, do you need to switch the location of the hard drive of this with the 250gb ssd? Or could you just change it around? I was told online this isn't that important but the most important thing is i have to get windows 10 from the 32gb ssd into the 250gb ssd. I was told that if you copy windows 10 to my 250gb ssd... then that should appear as the C drive right?


Also, when you did this, i had thought because it showed around 2gb free out of 28.7gb on the 32gb hard drive, and 230gb free out of 232gb on the 250gb hard drive, anything i download would go to the 28.7gb hard drive and once it runs out of space, anything else that gets downloaded automatically goes to the 250gb hard drive. I was told by someone online that is not right because you need the 250gb as the primary drive.


How does this sound? What sentence would you like me to change if any?

You don't need 90% of that.

You aren't going to go in there and recite a 500 word memorized script. You'll get confused and probably confuse him.

Flip a coin right now.

If it comes up heads, tell him you want a clean install to the 250.

If it comes up tails, tell him you want to clone or image what is now on the 32 to the 250.

Or have him flip the coin or make the decision. It's the least of your worries.

Make sure the 250 is C when you pick it up. Have him confirm proper SSD alignment. Confirm that C has at least 200 GB free. Confirm Windows is activated with your own license that you got with the machine. Confirm you have your preferred browser and can get on the Internet.

The rest of it is unnecessary.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Is he going to disk management necessary after he is done? Shouldn't him going to my PC which shows the C drive and the other drive with the how many gb free out of GB be enough?

What?

Be enough for what?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

sonic, doesn't a clean install cost a good amount of money though? Does it cost the same or less than installing windows?


Thanks.

Uh.........a "clean install" is "installing windows". Yes, a gallon of gas will cost you the same as 4 quarts of gas and 16 ounces weighs about as much as a pound.

Why would you expect me to have any knowledge about his prices?