There is a some inaccurate information on how to upgrade the Dell XPS 8900 SSD on the web, so I thought I would quickly write up my experience.
I’ve had my Dell XPS 8900 for a few years now and the primary storage is out of space. But other than that it is still a decent machine.
The XPS 8900 has an M.2 / SATA slot. So it is not a NVMe capable. More information can be found in the XPS 8900 Service Manual here.
My machine came with a Lite-On 256Gb drive and I have replaced it with a [aawp link=”B07822Z77M” title=”1TB Samsung 860 EVO M.2″] but there are other sizes which might suit you better.
[aawp table=”11346″]
I wanted to clone my existing SSD to the new drive and Samsung provide easy to use data migration software with their SSDs.
The problem is because the existing drive is in the internal m2 slot there is no way to clone the drive without additional hardware. So I also bought this external [aawp link=”B01N4EUXCU” title=”Transcend M.2 Drive Enclosure”]:
[aawp box=”B01N4EUXCU”]
I put the new Samsung SSD in the external enclosure and then connected it to the USB 3 port on the front of the Dell XPS 8900 and ran the transfer, it took about 40 minutes to finish.
Once it was complete I installed the new drive in the machine:
I put the original drive into the external enclosure to make use of it again.
Overall this is a quick and easy upgrade to perform., the most difficult part is sliding the graphics card out of the machine. Any m.2 sata SSD should work and there are cheaper options than the Samsung available.
Can you install an NVMe drive in the Dell XPS 8900?
The procedure above is quick and simple to do, but the performance of the SSD will be limited by the SATA interface. If you want the best performance from your XPS 8900 use an NVMe drive connected to a spare PCIe slot.
Although the XPS 8900 does not have an NVMe slot, it is capable of booting from one. I used this cheap NVME to PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter from Amazon with a Samsung 970 PRO 512GB and got some impressive results:
Here is the benchmark results of the Samsung 860 on the internal M2 slot:
As you can see, the NVMe drive provides a huge performance increase over the SATA based M2 slot on the motherboard. The other advantage of this approach is that you do not need to remove the graphics card in order to install it, here is the card:
It also comes with a heatsink which I put on before putting it into the machine, below the graphics card:
This is a cheap and easy way to give a performance boost to an older machine, let me know your results if you try it.
Mezza says
Great information! Thanks Paul
Michael says
Wow, I followed your exact instructions and it worked like a charm. I went from 256GB to 1TB SSD in my Dell XPS 8900. I was on pins and needles as the new drive booted. Dealing with the graphics card wasn’t too bad. I was a little unsure running the Samsung software to clone drives because it said to stop all applications. I just made sure no programs were running and all has gone well so far. Thank you so much Paul for your clearly written instructions.
Neil Mohan says
Hi Paul. “some inaccurate information” is an understatement! I’ve been researching this topic for a couple of months, and I’m more confused now than I was when I started…until that is when I found your blog. Thank you for being so concise and making it simple.
I do have a couple of questions. The XPS service manual refers to SSD and SSD board. Do I need to purchase both those things separately? Then there is confusion if M.2 SSD with both A & B keys would work with this system. I’m looking at upgrading to the Micron MTFDDAV256TBN as my boot drive. Will this model work? I would greatly appreciate any advise. Thanks in advance for your help.
https://www.amazon.com/Micron-256GB-Solid-State-MTFDDAV256TBN/dp/B07BH7FRHP
Pade says
Thank you for the great and easy to follow instructions. My old drive was getting close to failure and I followed your instructions successfully. Getting nearly the same benchmark numbers. Since I had an HHD drive I was able to install in the PCI slot with the same PCI card you used right from the start. I did get an error by leaving them both online when I changed the boot sequence over to the SSD. unplugging the HHD and then booting did the trick and the new closed drive came right up. I am getting the same benchmark numbers using either the short or longer PCI slot. Thank you again, great instructions!
Steve Roman says
Hello, my XPS 8900 did not come with an SSD. I want to install 500GB SSD now but the mother board does not have the screw it needs to hold it in place. Where can I get the screw and what are the specifications? You know size.
Marcel says
Hello Paul
Thanks for the great documentation.
Just one small question: Were you able to clone the NVME disk directly inserted in the PC or did you also need an external enclosure?
Paulie says
Hi Marcel,
You can clone directly to the NVMe disk, but only if your existing system disk is GPT (Not MBR). Then it is fine, you can clone directly.
Marcel says
sorry, what means “GPT” and how can i find it out?
Paulie says
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/84888-check-if-disk-mbr-gpt-windows.html shows you how you can check this.
Marcel Tujetsch says
Great, thanks
Andy says
Just did this upgrade on my XPS 8900 very easy and worked exactly as you said thanks!
Andy says
A little bit more info… I used the exact same NVME to PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter with a Crucial P5 1TB M.2 SSD. Easy install, no issues with graphics card or anything else being in the way. Rebooted to make sure new drive was recognized (it was), then used active clone in Acronis to clone my boot drive (an old WD Blue 1 TB platter SATA HD – yikes!). Once the clone was complete I just powered down, unplugged the old SATA drive, and rebooted. Windows Boot Manager found the new SSD and assigned it as the new C: drive. Power down one more time, re-connected the old SATA HD, assigned the active partition a new letter in Disk Manager, and good to go. I can now reformat the old one and use as extra storage. Easy-peasy, and what a big performance difference coming from a platter SATA drive… Thank again!
Robert says
Thanks for the guidance, but my problems just won’t end. My Dell BIOS was set up for RAID, so the NVMe driver wouldn’t load. I found a work around (using DISKPART in safe mode) that allowed me to change to the ACHI mode, then the NVMe driver installed and Samsung Magician shows it’s now the active driver. Great, yes? Well, no. Anytime I try to change the BIOS from Legacy to UEFI, I get a blue Recovery screen, which forces me to change it back to legacy if I want access to my computer. I’ve cloned my original to the new SSD on the card (using Macrium) but I can’t get my PC to boot on that drive. I’m tempted to try DISKPART to change the new SSD to be drive C: and make it the boot disk, but I’m worried this will not work and then I might not be able to reverse it. BTW, Samsung Data Migration would never work since it doesn’t see the target SSD, which I why I ended up using Macrium. So, I’m stuck and don’t know how to move forward without great risk.
Robert says
After a lot of experimentation, I was able to finally get Samsung Data Migration to see a target, and I initiated it. However, when the PC reboots, I just get a black screen with a cursor (that sometimes shows the activity circle). Nothing I do can bring up the screen. I have a feeling it is booting off the new SSD card, but the video just doesn’t show. (I’m still not on UEFI.)
David Wynn says
My question: if I use NVME to PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter to install an NVMe drive in the Dell XPS 8900, do I need to use the M.2 Drive Enclosure in order to clone OS to the new SSD, such as Samsung Magician (for Samsung SSD) or Acronis (for Crucial SSD)?
Paulie says
Nope, you can transfer internally, no need for the enclosure.
John Freitas says
My existing HDD disk show MBR in partition. Please show me how to clone the OS from it to a new NVME SSD installed with a PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter
John Freitas says
Also, if I choose the M.2/SATA SSD, could I clone the OS directly without the use of adapter?
Paulie says
If you use the M.2/SATA then you can just clone directly (from a hard drive). You can’t clone from an existing M2/Sata because there is only one port internally. But if yours is empty, then you can just clone.
John Freitas says
First, thank you Paulie for the quick response to my questions. The thorough information you provided on installing M2 SSD to a Dell XPS 8900 could not be found any where, even in Dell support web-site.
I have a Dell XPS 8900 with an empty M2 slot and a hard disk drive of 7200 rpm. It has become slow for the past few months. Could you tell me if it’s worth it to upgrade to an NVME SSD or just an M.2/SATA SSD? I don’t use my computer for gaming or media, just regular computing tasks. If an NVME SSD is recommended, and I I’ll need the NVME to PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter, can I transfer directly the OS to the newly installed NVME SSD to make the new SSD the boot drive? I apologize for asking perhaps the same questions, but I’m not a knowledgeable PC user. Thank you again.
Paulie says
If you’re coming from a spinning disk – the SATA M2 drive will seem like lightning compared. Go for it, very easy upgrade.
Lorie Bach says
Dear Paulie. My Dell XPS 8900 has a slot same as the M key socket in picture of this link: https://appuals.com/how-to-check-pcie-m-2-nvme-ssds-compatibility-with-your-pc/
So, can I install a Crucial P5 250GB PCIe M.2 2280SS SSD (https://www.crucial.com/ssd/p5/ct250p5ssd8/ct18191458) to the socket, then use the Acronis cloning software to transfer OS directly from existing HDD to the SSD? Would it be straight forward? Thank you.
Paulie says
Yes, I believe that will work, as it is a SATA SSD.
Bill Betts says
What is the size of the screw used to secure the M.2. My XPS8900 came with out it.
Paulie says
I don’t know the dimensions, but I believe these will work: M.2 Screw Kit
Carlos says
Great info! I have a question. Samsung Magician says my drive has insufficient drive space on the source drive. I cleaned up and deleted approximately 20GB of space, but the “total volume” area in Drive Details of Magician still says Insufficient Free Space, and the used space didn’t change from 179GB to reflect the 20GB of space freed up. Any suggestions?
PS – All of my personal stuff (i.e. pics, vids, etc.) are on a secondary drive.
Andrew Heyer says
I followed your instructions for installing an NVMe drive and it worked perfectly. I used your recommended cheap NVME to PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter from Amazon with a Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD 1TB. Read and write speeds are faster than yours. This breathes new life into an older PC that can now still be useful. Thank you!
Ron says
I got the Samsung SSD 980 drive and PCI adapter and installed them. Cloned the drive, rebooted and came up and ran without a problem. Great instructions. Computer is now really fast with the SSD drive. Glad I did this as I did not want to buy another computer.
Kale says
I bought the Samsung 980 and a PCI-e adapter. The SSD is not recognized in the bios or Windows. I made sure the bios is updated and AHCI is set. I don’t have another M.2 SDD form factor in order to test the adapter. Does it sound like the SSD is bad?
John says
I tried an EVO 990 Pro with the PCI adaper but it would not boot. It recognized there was a mass storage device in slot three. The BIOS was set to RAID instead of AHCI. There was a warning that changing to AHCI could trash the OS and require a re-install. This is my wife’s PC so I don’t want to trash it. What are the chances that the RAID setting is what is keeping this xps 8900 from booting when the the EVO is installed?