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March 11th, 2026 16:48
Adding a second SSD for storage to a Latitude 5550
I bought a Latitude 5550 with a 500GB SSD drive from the Outlet last year. Probably should have waited for one with more storage, but oh well, I figured I could always add a second SSD for storage. I'm at the point where my storage is 80% full, so now's the time.
I Googled "How to add a second SSD to a Dell latitude 5550", but the results seem to point to upgrading the OEM SSD, not adding a second one. I assume it's about as straightforward as adding a different main SSD, just in a different slot? Is configuring the second SSD for simple storage also easy? My old Vostro 430 Desktop was the last PC I added a second storage drive to LOL!
ejn63
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March 11th, 2026 17:12
The system will take two M.2 drives -- two 2230 or one 2230 + one 2280 (the latter increases the potential capacity)(.
Storage documentation here
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/latitude-15-5550-laptop/latitude-5550-owners-manual/storage?guid=guid-0023fe20-0140-405b-85cd-a43d6a822184&lang=en-us
noonin
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March 11th, 2026 23:09
@ejn63 Thank you! Mine has a 2280. What's the difference between it and a 2230? Is it just a matter of pulling the battery and popping in a new drive?
(edited)
ejn63
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March 12th, 2026 13:10
The difference is the physical size -- 2230 is 30 mm in length, 2280 is 80 mm. There are capacity limits on 2230 drives that don't apply to 2230 due to the added board size, which can accommodate more flash chips.
You can add another drive using the instructions in the service manual. Then open the disc manager and initialize the new drive. Once that's done, Windows will see it as a separate drive letter.
noonin
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March 12th, 2026 13:45
Great, thank you! I appreciate the help :-).