Dell XPS 17 (L702) not seeing Samsung SSD?

I have a Dell XPS 17 (L702) and it's still in good shape. I just bought a Samsung EVO 850 SSD for it (500gb) and the first step is to connect the SSD to the computer via the SATA-USB cable so I can copy the hard drive to the SSD with the included Samsung utilities.

Argh, my Dell is not seeing the SSD, nor is the Samsung software. Is the BIOS incapable of supporting the SSD? Could the new SSD and/or cable be bad? I am seeing the red light on the cable illuminate so I assume something is getting through? Disk management sees the SSD (I think, hard to tell) but I cannot seem to do anything with the SSD there so that Windows (Win10, btw) will see it.

Any ideas?

 

I'm so glad that you already know to go to Disk Management. That makes things so much easier!

In any case, try going to Disk Manager to create a partition on the SSD, formatting the SSD, and assigning it a drive letter. This will be a good quick diagnostic step to see if the SSD itself is working.

Next, try connecting the SSD to a machine without using the SATA-to-USB cable. If you have a desktop machine, mount the SSD internally. If you only have a laptop, you will need to install the SSD into your laptop and test using some bootable software (I'd recommend a Windows Setup USB drive, or a freeware disk utility like GParted or Clonezilla). This is another step to verify that the SSD itself is working.

If you have another SATA-to-USB mounting cable or dock, then try using that to see if the SATA-to-USB cable you were using is defective.

Ultimately, your options will most likely be this:
*) If you have a bad SSD, get a replacement unit.
*) If the SATA-to-USB cable is bad, then get a replacement unit (they aren't expensive).
*) Or, if you have a desktop computer and the SSD itself is functioning, then just mount both your SSD and laptop mechanical HDD to that desktop system, and use the desktop system to do the cloning. You can entirely sidestep the need for SATA-to-USB that way.

 

Interesting trouble shooting exercises this morning. I plugged the SSD (via the SATA-USB cable) into my other laptop, a 6 month old Asys G751. Again it did not see it in Windows but did see it in Disk Manager, so I formatted it and gave it a volume name ("SSD") and then it DID appear in Windows Explorer.

Now going back to plug it into the Dell POS that I am trying unsuccessfully to resurrect, it DOES now see it in Windows Explorer, and it even see the small text file that I copied onto it with the Asus.

But Samsung Magician and Samsung Data Migration software tools insist that there is no SSD drive connected to the computer, despite the fact that Windows Explorer sees it just fine.

Anybody need a paperweight or bookend formerly known as a Dell L702? argh................... And of course Dell is less than helpful themselves via tech support.

 

Sounds like a USB issue on your Dell L702. Perhaps you don't have the right USB drivers installed?

In any case, I'd also suggest you try another cloning tool, like Macrium Reflect or Clonezilla. The bad news is that this is becoming a pain-in-the-rear to get working. BUt the good news is that you only need to do it once.

 

Update on this: the cable obviously worked since it worked on my newer Asus laptop, so just for kicks, I went through the effort of actually installing the SSD into the second bay of the Dell. *NOW* the Dell sees it, the Data Migration software worked fine, all is cool. Just something about the USB connection that the older Dell did not like, but there may be life in that Dell yet.

Thanks for the assists!