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1 Rookie

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13 Posts

1020

February 20th, 2022 06:00

Dell Inspiron 3671 SSD Full

I have a 250GB SSD, but now it's full. Could someone please tell me what my options are and direct me to any particular product(s)?   Thank you!

4 Operator

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5.6K Posts

February 20th, 2022 19:00

The reason I suggested the Sabrent enclosure for the cloning is so that it is one step and done. It is easier in my opinion especially for a novice.

Clone to the larger NVMe SSD in that enclosure.

Remove the smaller NVMe SSD from your 3671.

Take the larger NVMe SSD and put it into your 3671.

No fiddling around with Macrium USB flash drive etc.

Take the smaller NVMe SSD and put it into the enclosure. Now you have a 256GB external hard drive.

1 Rookie

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13 Posts

February 20th, 2022 06:00

Thank you so much for your reply, fireberd!

I don't know if it's what you're looking for, but the SSD is PC SN520 NVMe WDC 256GB, according to the device manager. Does this help?

9 Legend

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33.4K Posts

February 20th, 2022 06:00

That size SSD can be inadequate.  I would recommend at least a 500GB SSD.  I have 1TB SSD's in my desktop.

There are several options for SSD drives, you didn't detail what type you have "M.2" or 2.5" SSD but I would go with a M.2 2230 or 2280 NVMe SSD.

More info on what you have and we can suggest a method for copying your existing drive data to a bigger one.

As far as brands, Samsung is popular as are Crucial and SK Hynix (one brand Dell uses).

 

9 Legend

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33.4K Posts

February 20th, 2022 08:00

This requires another drive (usb connected) that you can make a full "disc image" (all partitions) of the existing drive using the free version of Macrium Reflect to the external drive.  Also create a bootable WinPE rescue flash drive with Macrium.  Remove the existing M.2 drive and Install the new NVMe drive.  Boot with the Macrium flash drive and "Restore" the disc image to the new drive. This is my preferred method.

Considering the extra flash drive and external storage drive for the disc image, it may be less expensive to buy the new flash drive and pay to have it installed and the disc image restored to it.  I would guess places such as Best Buy would do it.

 

 

 

 

4 Operator

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5.6K Posts

February 20th, 2022 10:00


@JoMama47 wrote:

Thank you so much for your reply, fireberd!

I don't know if it's what you're looking for, but the SSD is PC SN520 NVMe WDC 256GB, according to the device manager. Does this help?


You can clone your 256GB to a larger one.

It looks like you have a Western Digital. https://www.westerndigital.com/products/internal-drives/cl-sn520-nvme-ssd

If you want, you can buy the Western Digital 512GB one or buy 1TB and 2TB ones from Crucial https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/dell/inspiron-3671

To clone your 256GB , you can use one of these  https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Type-C-Tool-Free-Enclosure-EC-SNVE/dp/B08RVC6F9Y/  which can later be used as an external USB hard drive

 

10 Elder

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45.2K Posts

February 20th, 2022 18:00

@JoMama47 - Do you have a big internal HDD in this PC, in addition to the 256 GB SSD?

If you do, have you moved Windows default folders onto that HDD to free up space on the SSD?  You could also uninstall some of your apps currently on the SSD, and reinstall them, but direct their installations onto the internal HDD. That might save you from having to upgrade the SSD.

If you still want a bigger SSD, you don't need an extra enclosure to do the cloning, as long as you have either an internal HDD or an external USB HDD.

If you have an internal or external HDD, use something like Macrium Reflect (free) that @fireberd recommended to image the current SSD and save that image either on your internal HDD or on an external USB HDD. To save space on the HDD, set Macrium to use maximum compression when it creates the image. And also set Macrium to validate the image as soon as it's made.

Then, swap the new SSD into the PC in place of the old one. Now use the (Macrium) USB recovery stick that you will create with your imaging software to move the image from the internal or external HDD drive onto the new SSD.

NOTES:

  1. If BIOS is set to RAID now, you should change that to AHCI before imaging the SSD. It's not hard, but this has to be done in the right way to avoid problems. We can post details, if you need them.
  2. Since the new SSD will be larger than the existing one, you will need to expand the size of the C: partition on the new SSD to use all that extra space. Exactly how you do that depends on which imaging software you use.

1 Rookie

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13 Posts

February 28th, 2022 05:00

Thank you so much for your help! I'm going with your suggested solution because it seems to be the easiest way. I appreciate everyone's contributions!

 

1 Rookie

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1 Message

April 16th, 2025 17:25

I have this problem too!

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