Precision 7560 & 7760 Owners' Thread

Thanks for your suggestion. Just to clarify, I meant that I was looking for another drive as a possible future replacement drive IF the Micron 2300 512GB NVME that Dell supplied with the 7760 computer goes bad...

BTW, are you referring to https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-MZ-V8V1T0B-AM-980-SSD/dp/B08V83JZH4 or to https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-PCIe-Internal-Gaming-MZ-V8P1T0B/dp/B08GLX7TNT

 

The Samsung drive would be fine for this. You can clone the Micron drive to any NVMe drive; there is no reason that your backup also has to be Micron. Samsung 980 Pro is the fast one (second link).

 

Thanks for your recommendation for the 980 Pro, I guess the 980 Pro is out of stock at Amazon since it is more popular.

I noticed in prior posts that you guys are using Clonezilla for cloning…are there any basic instructions for Clonezilla for someone that is not a super-techie? If not, can you guys recommend any other software to clone my C drive?

 

Another question: I need another Power Adapter for the 7760... Dell wants $140: https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/del...-meter-power-cord/apd/450-ahhe/pc-accessories. Do I need to buy the Dell Power Adapter for $140 or can I find a cheaper Power Adapter somewhere else?

 

You can use a PA-9E 240W adapter. That's the older style Dell 240W brick, used with Precision 7720 and older. It is larger than the one that comes with the 7760, but works just as well. You can find them for pretty cheap on eBay and such. (I do recommend that you take care to get a genuine Dell one.)

 

Thanks...

1. I have Power Adapters for the Precision m6600...would those m6600 Power Adapters work the exact same with the 7760 as the $140 Power Adapter?...is there any advantage to getting a newer Power Adapter?

2. Another question. I miss the ability to use F5 (one key touch) to "Refresh" a page or folder. Is there any key available to reprogram for a single key "Refresh"?

 

1. You can use Precision M6600 240W adapters with the 7760. There is no downside (other than their larger physical size). Similarly, your Precision 7760 power adapter will happily power your Precision M6600.

2. Press Fn+Esc to toggle the behavior of the top row of keys. You can set it such that F5 for refresh can be one press (and then you will have to use the Fn key for volume control, Home/End, etc.). Alternatively you can just remap a different key to F5. Some options for tools that can do this are SharpKeys and Microsoft PowerToys.

Unfortunately, the "CE" and "+/-" keys are not really available for remapping. The "CE" key is functionally "F9", and the "+/-" key is functionally "Delete". Attempting to remap those will also remap the "real" versions of those keys.

 

So, it turns out that after more detailed investigation, the damage to the ribbon connector is an issue because when typing on some keys, they do not produce output on the screen. However, plugging in a USB keyboard does work fine when typing.

So, it looks like I will need to figure out how to get a replacement keyboard for the laptop with the damaged ribbon connector.

 

For my personal 7760, I am planning to install Fedora Linux on it while retaining Windows 10 on one of my 4 SSD drives. Currently, I have 1x 2 TB Samsung 980 Pro PCIE4 drive, 2x 2TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus PCIE3 drives and 1x 250 GB drive with Windows 10 installed that came with the machine. I would like to move Windows 10 to one of the 2 TB PCIE3 drives and then run Fedora Linux from the other 2 2TB drives and the 256 GB drives. At some point, I will probably upgrade the 256 GB drive if I decide I need more Linux storage. I would also like to switch the BIOS from RAID to AHCI/NVME before getting Windows 10 installed on a 2 TB drive and doing the Linux install. I am thinking about two approaches for doing this but am not totally clear on how to do either and so wanted to ask for advice and guidance.

1. I could migrate my current Windows 10 and BIOS config to AHCI/NVME and then use Clonezilla to copy the Windows 10 install to one of my 2 TB drives. However, looking back over the 108 pages of this thread, I have not yet found detailed instructions on how to switch the BIOS to AHCI/NVME and then get Windows 10 to boot. If I could do that part successfully, then I think I could follow the instructions below to copy my Windows 10 install over to another drive.

https://www.techradar.com/how-to/how-to-clone-your-hard-drive-with-clonezilla

2. Another option is that I could just switch the BIOS to AHCI/NVME and then reinstall Windows 10 on the 2 TB drive where I want it. However, over the last several years, I have only installed and used Windows 7 and Windows 10 in a VirtualBox VM and so I feel a little uncertain about how to make sure I really get a good Windows 10 install with all the drivers I need, etc. I did get a media copy of software when I ordered the laptop but I am thinking that probably only includes Dell software. I am comfortable with being able to burn a Windows 10 ISO to a DVD drive as I have done that before.

With that in mind, what advice would you give about how to get to the Windows 10 configuration that I want?

 

If you are already booting into windows, here are the steps to switch from RAID to AHCI in the bios

1. Suspend BitLocker
2. From the desktop, hold "Shift" while selecting "Restart" from the start menu.
3. A boot options menu will appear.
4. Select “Trouble Shoot”
5. Select “Advanced startup options”
6. Select “Startup Settings”
7. At the Screen “Restart to change Windows options such as:” Select “Restart”
8. The system reboots
9. At the Dell logo, hit "F2" to go to BIOS and change the AHCI/RAID mode. Then exit the BIOS.
10. When Windows starts, it will show the "Advanced startup options" menu; Select safe mode.
11. After Windows boots to safe mode and complete loading, reboot - to normal mode.