Can I add an SSD as a Boot Drive and also keep the Original 3.5" Toshiba HDD inside the case for its storage (Inspiron 3668)?

My Inspiron 3668 came with a single spinning 3.5" HDD and I have bought a Crucial 2.5" SSD (MX500) which I would like to use as the Boot Drive whilst keeping the original 3.5" Spinning Toshiba exactly where it is; in its 3.5" drive bay (just for its 1TB of storage).

On checking the manual, I see that my Inspiron 3668 happens to have two empty 2.5" drive bays "in waiting".

I have no direct hands-on upgrading experience and so I would like to ask if adding the SSD into one of those 2.5" bays and keeping the original 3.5" spinner exactly where it is, makes sense, or if there is some (general PC upgrading) detail that would cause serious issues (ie. problems)?

Inspiron 3668 Inside

So just to clarify, in the case of my PC, would the following plan make sense...

1. Add the Crucial MX500 SSD into one of the 2.5" drive bays, finding cable to attach.

2. Start up the PC and use the cloning software offered by Crucial to duplicate the existing Toshiba HDD to the new SSD with both drives now resident within the case.

3. Change the boot sequence in the BIOS so the PC starts from the new SSD and remove any reference to the original HDD from this boot sequence list.

4 Can I then make use of the original HDD as storage, or would there be an issue with it being configured, in itself (formatted), as a bootable drive?

The advice that I've come across so far (Crucial, YouTube and Dell) seems to be focussed on a common senario of using the new SSD to physically replace the existing HDD (which would also require a frame to fit the smaller SSD into the larger 3.5" bay and also a special SATA to USB cable for cloning).

I would very much like to keep my 3.5" Toshiba "spinner" inside my PC if that is possible (1TB of storage).

I've not done physical upgrades before so your advice would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

Posted at 10:30 PM  (UK)