Inspiron 3891, installing an additional 1TB SSD

That is the PCIe x16 slot for a video card.

JOCEAN is spot on again.

the slot can be thought of as a portal to high speed PCIe lanes of cpu.  Besides video card it can also be used for a second high speed PCIe m.2 ssd via adapter.

Exactly what type of SSD card do I need (perhaps 1Tb capacity ) to be installed in Dell Inspiron 3891. There is a spare long Blue slot, but the M.2 SSD cards I have seen online do not seem suitable e.g. they seem to be flat lying or vertically mounted with respect to the motherboard. Can anyone  put me on the right track ?

Go with a 2280 (80 mm) SSD. The shorter 2230 (30 mm) SSDs typically have the chips very close together so there's less air circulation, resulting in higher temps...

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@RBEGr wrote:

There is a spare long Blue slot...

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Just to let you know, that long blue slot is a PCIe x16 slot for an optional graphics card.  That's something totally different.  Not related to the SSD at all.

Also, you say "an additional SSD".  Do you have one in there already?  If so, that's already in the only M.2 slot available for an SSD in that machine.

There's no place for a second one.

The only other M.2 slot on that board is used for the Wi-Fi card.

You can add an actual hard disk drive.  Dell even supplies the additional cables to connect it with inside the case - a power cable and an SATA cable.   That's what I did in my son's 3891.  A 3.5" drive can mount vertically on the inside of the front grille of the chassis, which puts it behind the front panel of the PC itself.

Hello again

Thank you for the above. I have just added an adapter to the long blue slot on my Dell Inspiron 3891. The adapter fitted snugly. There is the fitting / space on the adapter for an M.2 SSD maybe the 2230 or more likely the 2280. Before I splash out £50 - £100 on such an 1Tb  SSD,  I would like to know if it is likely to work ! It would give me more space to add to the 1Tb HDD and the 256 on the existing SSD in the M.2 slot.Any views would be welcome.

Hello again,

                      Thanks for the above info about the blue slot on my Dell Inspiron 3891. Opinion seems to be divided as to whether it is possible to use this slot for anything other than a graphics card. Anyway at no great cost I have snugly fitted an adapter card into the blue slot. So far so good….. next step would be splashing out £50 to £100 on a 2280 SSD card to fit into the adapter, giving me 1Tb of extra storage.

the question is will it  work, ( see attached labelled photo )

Will an SSD with the adapter in the blue slot work ?

Intel has designed for it to work (x16 lanes for GPU and x4 lanes for storage) with SSD in mind, the question is rather whether Dell has put any of their specific restrictions and perhaps if there's automatic bifurcation in place (to divide x16 into x4x4x4x4 config) on BIOS level if needed.

By the looks of it - M.2 storage slot conductors seem to lead towards chipset, therefore this slot is unlikely to occupy CPU PCIe lanes, consequently x16 blue slot is highly probable to have CPU-bound PCIe lanes (Inspiron 3891 B560 PCH has only x12 lanes anyways MAX as per Intel specification, your model uses 7-to 9 out of 12 {depending on whether CD-card reader is USB or PCIe}) without any concurrency (so no other storage devices are in use via CPU directly).

Thanks very much for this. As with so much in life the solution is never so straight forward. I have been trying to get Dell itself to give me a straight yes it will work or no it will not work. I can’t get through to anyone in Dell with enough knowledge to answer the question. You have done your best for me. For this I am grateful but can you suggest a way forward if I persist with the blue slot ?

  I realize that I can get a 1Tb M.2 2280 SSD card to replace existing 256 SSD. But this latter is carrying Windows 11 so I imagine that transferring Windows 11 may not be so straight forward. Any views ?

Hello there,

I would like to install a M.2 1Tb SSD maybe a 2280 card onto my Dell Inspiron 3891. Following one Community members advice I have snugly put an adapter card into the empty long blue slot on the motherboard. Before I splash out on a 1Tb SSD M.2 card which I think will fit I want to know will this new arrangement work. Any expert views will be welcome.

Dell won't say "Yes/No" because Dell never tested/validated a config like that. They only test with or without a GPU in the x16 slot.

So unless somebody else has shown this works, it's up to you to find out. And, it may or not work depending on which adapter card and SSD you installed.

It's straightforward to image your 256 GB SSD onto the new larger one. You can use Macrium Reflect (free) to create an image containing  all partitions on the existing SSD and save that image on an internal HDD, if you have one in this PC, or on an external USB drive. Be sure to select Macrium's option to validate the image immediately after it's completed, and -if necessary- increase the compression rate to Max, so it uses the least amount of space on the drive where you're storing it. (Using Max compression does take somewhat longer.)

Then use Macrium to create the bootable USB you'll need to do the next steps:

1. Swap in the new 1T SSD, and set the old one safely aside, as a backup
2. Plug Macrium USB into PC with power fully off
3. Power on and tap F12 to open the menu
4. Select menu option to boot from USB

When Macrium loads, select the image file wherever you saved it. The only thing different now is you should to move each partition in the image one at a time, rather than all at once, moving C: partition last.

You want to expand the C: partition to use all the extra space on the new SSD, or it's wasted. Only the last partition moved can be expanded. And that allows you to assign all the available empty space remaining after the other partitions have been copied, to C:

When that's done, exit Macrium and unplug the USB.  When you boot up again, it should automatically boot from new SSD with all its extra space available.

NOTE: If you have an internal HDD (D drive) in this PC, you probably should move all Windows Default folders onto D drive to free up space on the SSD (C:), even if you keep the 256 GB SSD. And some apps can be uninstalled in Windows on C: and reinstalled and stored on D drive to free up more space on the SSD.

Can't comment on the success/failure with either of those components.  Sometimes, seemingly identical components from different OEMs work or not work in a x4 slot where they're typically installed. So using an x16 slot just adds more unknowns to this issue.

Would an easier solution just be to install a large, eg 4T, SATA HDD or SATA SSD,  to replace an existing smaller SATA HDD (if you have one) or to add a new drive?

As an example, Crucial offers up to 4T SATA 2.5" SSDs that are compatible with the Inspiron 3891.  They come with the adapter tray to install it in the 3.5" drive bay.  Other OEM SSDs should also work. So compare price/GB, warranty, reviews, etc. to find one that suits your needs.

NOTE: SATA SSDs are more expensive than SATA HDDs, but they are faster...

Please don't keep posting the exact same question. This has been discussed extensively in one of your other posts on this topic...