Micro Center SSD won’t work in my computer?

Niel

I have a Dell Inspiron 3471 (Windows 10 [64-bit]) – just a simple computer. It has a regular old RAID hard drive.

I bought a Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD at Micro Center and they agreed I simply install it in the empty slot, use the Samsung software to clone my hard drive, and change the BIOS to boot the SSD.

But I get an error message that I can’t clone unless my hard drive has an AHCI driver. And you can’t install an AHCI driver unless you have an AHCI hard drive.

I found how to change the hard drive to AHCI.

My instructions say the AHCI driver will install automatically. But I don’t see that an AHCI driver even exists for the Intel 300 Series Chipset Family.

Is the AHCI driver sitting on my computer and will install automatically?

Or where can I download the AHCI driver so it’s ready to be installed?

If none of this will work, will Micro Center take back the SSD and sell me one that works?

TSKyleH

Hello @Niel , thank you for contacting us on our community. If I understand your message correctly you mentioned the previous drive using RAID. This would mean that any cloning would require software to be able to support RAID configurations. You may change the boot up process in the bios to use ACHI instead of RAID, which would then allow you to use the Samsung software, but I suspect it wouldn't be able to clone the original drive then. If you do proceed to use ACHI, this normally requires windows to be reinstalled on the computer, since the drive is clean this wouldn't affect any data on the other drive, which could be disconnected during the process for the best data protection.

Once you install windows using ACHI any drivers needed would be provided by the windows setup. If you would like information on reinstalling windows we do offer a great guide on doing a clean install using a flash drive at https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/2288/how-to-perform-a-clean-install-of-windows-10.

Niel

Thanks for the quick response!

(I want to clone so I don't have to install all my programs again, losing their preferences, plus so I don't have to restore my data backup. I believe cloning will work, as RAID and AHCI are controllers and proprietary data not recognized by each other, such as Windows vs. Mac.

If I understand you and my instructions correctly,

1) change the current RAID HDD to AHCI (*see below)

2) the AHCI driver will install automatically because multiple drivers from Intel for its 300 Series Chipset Family are sitting on the computer per normal procedure by chip companies

3) install onto the HDD the Samsung_NVM_Express_Driver_3.3 for the new Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD I bought at Micro Center when the employee said it would work

4) clone the HDD (which is now recognized by the Samsung SSD Data Migration v.4.0 app) to the new SSD

5) change the boot drive to the new SSD

*Additional instructions: http://triplescomputers.com/blog/uncategorized/solution-switch-windows-10-from-raidide-to-ahci-operation/

If none of this will work, will Micro Center take back the SSD and sell me one that works, hopefully easily?

TS_EmileC

@Niel You got it. Once you do this, please let us know if this worked.

Niel

Still can't get it to work.

I easily changed to AHCI. But the computer doesn't recognize that there is even an SSD slot, even though there is one to which I installed the SSD (and made sure, twice, it was seated, locked in, etc.

I booted to a USB stick with Wiindows and it doesn't see an SSD drive. I went into the BIOS and where it should show a drive on board (System Configuration / Drives), it shows only SATA-0, SATA-1, SATA-2, AND SATA-3. The Inspiron 3471 Service Manual says there should also be: M.2 PCIe SSD-0. It also says that under General / Device Information, it should show "M.2 PCIe SSD-0 -- Displays the M.2 PCIe SSD information of the computer."

Now, still in the BIOS, in all the windows, there is a button to "Restore Settings." If that is a global button that will restore ALL settings, that sounds dangerous. But if it works only for settings in the current window, then maybe doing it in the System Configuration / Drives window will restore visibility of the M.2 PCIe SSD-0 (although I don't know why I would have ever turned it off).

However, there is also the following possibility I found that may or may not apply: The M.2 SSD slot might be only for a SATA M.2 SSD. The Samsung 970 EVO is a NVMe M.2 SSD.  If so, I’ll need to return the SSD you sold me and get a Samsung 860 EVO (or any SATA SSD) in M.2 format. But this is a solution I found that doesn’t have a follow-up saying it worked. Then again, I would think the BIOS would show the slot whether or not something was in there.

TSTDavey

@Niel do you have an additional drive installed with the Samsung Evo SSD (ex., 2 drives installed) when installing Windows?

Niel

Really, I have to start with continuing to compliment Micro Center for quick responses here.

The answer to the question of whether I have an additional drive installed with the Samsung Evo SSD (ex., 2 drives installed) when installing Windows is: kind of. I have the hard drive that came with the computer, but I'm not trying to install Windows per se. My hard drive has Windows already. What I'm trying to do it install the SSD, clone the current hard drive to it, then boot to the SSD and stop using the hard drive.

TSTDavey

@Niel okay understood. Have you changed the boot option in the Bios from UEFI to legacy and then tried to boot from your SSD?

If not try that. If need guidance on that, let us know what motherboard you have so we can know what bios you are working with.

Niel

Yes.

Are you sure I don’t need a SATA SSD instead of a NVMe SSD?

Further research has uncovered that the Dell Inspiron 3471 takes a M.2 2230/2280 SATA SSD. It uses AHCI, which I’ve already switched to, up to 6 Gbps with a capacity up to 512 GB. It would show up in the BIOS as M.2 PCIe SSD-0.

So my guess above says I need to return the SSD you sold me and get a Samsung 860 EVO (or any SATA SSD) in M.2 format. 

TSTDavey

@Niel The Dell Inspiron 3471 has a m.2 ssd slot, the Samsung EVO is installed in the M.2 slot correct?

Take out the other HDD that came with the computer and try to just boot to your cloned m.2 SSD (Use only 1 installed drive).

Niel

Yes. I had to get a SATA SSD. And that worked.

Solution: Get the SSD that works for your computer: Either SATA or NVMe.

After installation, the old hard drive continued as the boot drive even when the boot sequence was changed in the BIOS. Instead of unplugging it, I disabled that SATA port in the BIOS. Now it boots to the SSD.

TSTDavey

@Niel okay glad you got it to work.