Reinstalling OS to a new SSD on M6800

Hello,

I have an M6800 on its way, and an SSD to reinstall to when it arrives, but it's my first laptop and I'm not super computer literate so I have a lot of questions about what I'm supposed to do. I've read the reimaging manual and it's only intimidated me more, since it seems this is very different to a normal computer

My goal is to get the SSD into 'HDD bay 2' which is the permanently installed one, remove the HDD in 'Bay 1', which is the swappable bay, install and setup the computer with the OS and everything on the SSD, and use bay 1 as a removable storage bay in future- so I will put the HDD back in bay 1 once I am done w/ windows on bay 2, and it can sit as a storage drive for now.

My issue is, this imaging guide: Manualsand Documents for Precision M6800 | Dell Australia

Seems to imply that I need to install firmware and such before I can install the OS, which I don't understand, because how am I supposed to get the drivers onto the computer without an OS to execute them?! Also - on another note, how do you install firmware to a computer in the first place?

So the process seems to be:

1) Remove old HDD
2) Install new SSD in Bay 2
3) Get into BIOS and change boot order <- DON'T KNOW HOW - Since when I tried on an inspiron the only way to get into BIOS seemed to be after OS was installed, with no OS how can I change the BIOS?
4) Install a bunch of Firmware and drivers <- DON'T KNOW HOW - How do I get them on the computer, and how do I install them, with no OS?
5) Install new OS
6) Install other drivers
7) Reinstall old HDD in Bay 1

I need help -

 

3) Get into BIOS and change boot order <- DON'T KNOW HOW - Since when I tried on an inspiron the only way to get into BIOS seemed to be after OS was installed, with no OS how can I change the BIOS?

I assume you use a DVD to install system. In this case, at the beginning of booting (just when the screen is turned on and start to display), press F12. There will be a menu to ask from where to boot. Choose DVD rom.

4) Install a bunch of Firmware and drivers <- DON'T KNOW HOW - How do I get them on the computer, and how do I install them, with no OS?

In my M6800 there is a DVD come with drivers. Otherwise, go to dell website, and under service, there are driver downloads. One tricky thing is that you need to choose correct drivers. For example, wireless drivers could be Dell or Intel ones, depending on which hardware you ordered. You may need to check your order detail (I remember on the website there may be a option to determine the drivers automatically, but I haven't tested that)

 

1) On the Inpsiron I used recently, the 'F12 for setup' button didn't work on boot, seemed to be locked out by Dell, is it maybe unlocked on the M6800 or something?

2) I so understand drivers and how to install them once windows is on - it's just, apparently, there is 'firmware' that needs to be installed before the OS is even on. What's that about?

 

1) Inspirons and Precisions don't use the same BIOS IIRC, the Inspiron one is AMI based and the Precision one is Phoenix based, so the key used to get into the boot menu and/or BIOS might not be the same. F12 definitely gives me the boot menu and access to BIOS on my M6700.

2) The firmware is your BIOS, there might be an up to date version, but you definitely won't need it to install your OS, so just go ahead and install.

 

We know you need help but there's no need to panic. Just relax and we'll take it one step at at time.

Just keep in mind that there's lots of knowledgeable folks here and they help me get though it when I was in your shoes a little under a year ago, and they can help you too.

There's still a lot I don't know but I'll bet that whatever your issue is, I can relate.

Just remember, when migrating your data Acronis (and others) is your friend.

 

Ok this sounds good I just found another Dell source that says you *don't* need to worry about firmware, so it's good to have it confirmed here.

Will try getting into the BIOS like that when it comes! Should be tomorrow

 

Exactly. This is not hard at all. The key is to NOT boot the laptop from its built-in hard drive when it arrives, and instead immediately create an image of the hard drive using any of probably a dozen or so disk imaging programs. I have used Acronis in the past, which is not free, but there's a number of free alternatives as well. Your procedure is then as follows:

- On a different computer, create bootable media (a USB stick, or a bootable CD/DVD) of the disk imaging program you have chosen.
- Boot your new laptop from the media you have created. Note that access to the BIOS and boot options is NEVER locked on any Dell machine. Just make sure you know the key to press to get to that menu, so that you do not accidentally boot from the hard drive.
- Create a disk image of the hard drive onto an external drive. Alternatively, you could already install your SSD, and then directly mirror the built-in HD to the SSD.
- Swap out the SSD for the HD.
- Boot the laptop from the SSD. You're done.

The advantage of this procedure is that you'll have a laptop that behaves exactly, in every way, as if it had come with the SSD from the factory.

 

Not sure how well mirroring will work with the SSD being in a different slot to the HDD?

As long as getting into the BIOS isn't an issue (which it is on an inspiron 7537, have to restart into it after getting into win 8) and I don't need to install that firmware stuff, then I should be good just installing normal drivers as I do with a desktop.

 

It will work perfectly fine. What it will do is create an exact copy of the HD. What "slot" the drives are in is entirely irrelevant. By the way, I was suggesting to install the SSD in the primary bay, currently occupied by the HD the laptop comes with. Not that it matters too much, but there's no reason to put what will be your main drive in the secondary port.

I find this extremely hard to believe, to the degree that I would say that what you're saying is impossible. You have to be able to access the BIOS even if there's no hard drive, or an entirely empty drive in the laptop.

You don't.

Sure, you can always do that. However, it will be much, much more work, and require a lot more expertise which, by your own admission, you do not seem to have. In addition, at least in the past it used to be the case that not all of the features that are contained in the factory image a Dell ships with are available if you install the OS yourself. I remember one of my machines that had a nice integration of the user and service manuals in the Windows help system, which was not available in any download available from Dell. Certainly nothing essential, but nice to have nevertheless. Finally, it also used to be the case that Dell's factory images often contained a few minor tweaks that also were not available as separate downloads. Whether or not this is still the case I don't know.

Bottom line, unless you made a conscious decision of wanting to do a clean Windows install in any case, going the disk imaging route I suggested is by far preferable to reinstalling Windows. However, if the latter is what you want, then all you need to do is swap the SSD in the for the HD, put the HD in one of your secondary ports, and install.

 

Hoping to be able to swap the HDD at a later date.

I couldn't get into it on my own, so I googled the laptop and found out that it was only accessible from within windows. When I pressed delete/F12 (or whatever the two shortcuts were) it was completely ignored by the laptop.

In fact, when I made it unbootable by some bios changes, I was unable to return to the BIOS for that reason - only way to fix it was to remove/replace the battery to reinitialise the BIOS

I don't have the expertise to guarantee that there isn't some work around to get to it in the event of no HDD (personally I found it incredibly silly that Dell had protected it for the same reason you mentioned), but I couldn't find one - you are welcome to look it up and let me know if there is another way.

Edit: http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...dell-inspiron-7000-series-60.html#post9477898 <- that post is how I figured out how to get into BIOS on the 7537. I had the same problem as the person that poster is quoting.

I wouldn't mind not having some of the bloat ware

Although I am not sure if it is the case or not, I am hoping most of the good stuff comes on the OS and drivers DVD that I *think* comes with Dell computers.