XPS 8940, SS hard drive is starting to fail

There won't be one simple answer that can resolve your current issue.  Review these discussions and you may find suitable resolutions for your slow boot and non-boot issue.  As well as the methods being used by others for cloning, replacement of boot drive.  https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/search?q=xps%208940%20boot%20drive%20replacement

As mentioned, this is not a simple procedure (I did not review the link posted to find if there is an exact match). Reason being there is only a single SSD M.2 slot on the motherboard. see the pinned FAQ post and select the XPS8940 and scroll down to the picture of the motherboard and #15 is the SSD M.2 slot.

Since there is only one SSD slot, you'll have to make a physical back-up of the SSD and that would require another drive and a back-up program to do that. Macrium Reflect has a Free Trial version (https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree) and does do 'Cloning'. Acronis, the back-up program I use, also has a 30 day free trial (https://www.acronis.com/en-us/products/cloud/trial/). It also does cloning. That is from the image saved of the drive, they can restore that image to a NEW drive and even a larger one in size using the bootable media.

The  time I did do it, it was to make the boot drive an SSD (non-M.2 one) by adding an SSD to the PC. Original one still was in working condition, but done to speed up the PC. So my task was easier in that I still had the old boot drive in the PC to fall back on if something went wrong. However, all I had to do was run Acronis from a USB drive (bootable), find the image I wanted to use, and point it to the new drive and it worked fine other than in my case, I did have point BIOS to the new boot drive.

I suspect you might not have another drive though. This can complicate things. First you'd have to put the back up program somewhere, the SSD is OK, but if it is failing, it might not work, so on a USB drive probably then. First step it to create the programs boot drive and test that it does boot (use F12 when booting to select that USB drive and it must be plugged in before powering on) after you create it.

Not sure if cloning requires the new drive to be formatted or not, and if it is not, that would be another step here, and I think the booted back-up program can do it?

However, the first task is to create the image. Then Clone it to the new SSD. You will need either a 2nd drive or USB drive, and that USB drive has to be large enough to hold the SSD drive. Didn't mention the size of the SSD (you can buy a larger one to replace it, back-up program will work fine for that, just can't be smaller) but the back-up although smaller, it must fit. I'd say a back-up would be 50% of the 'used' area of a drive.

If you do not have another hard drive, I'd suggest buying one and installing it, both the hold the image and the program. It is possible (not sure) that you can burn the image to a CD/DVD (if you have the drive) though which would have enough space for the image.

I am surprised you are still on W10 though? Next year it will not be supported any longer? Free upgrade is still available (https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/get-windows-11), you might want to consider this after cloning probably. W12 is coming soon as well.

I have NEVER cloned a drive though with only a single drive in the PC. I have used Acronis (many years ago) to replace the boot drive though. I did have another drive on the PC though and I was running Acronis on that PC routinely and had the image already. It at the time was a 'simple' task. Acronis has a 'boot recovery' USB thumb drive that one creates (as does Macrium Reflect).

Problem here is you have to be able to both install the program and have a storage area for the disk image.

Another possible solution that might be 'easier' is to buy a standard SSD and mount it into one of the drive bays. Then use a program (not sure if Macrium or Acronis will do direct drive to drive cloning?) a program to clone the drive over and then in BIOS point to that new drive as the boot drive. However, this page (https://www.pcworld.com/article/2210819/how-to-clone-a-hdd-to-an-ssd-for-free-on-windows.html ) will give you the steps to do that

I wonder though if there could be a 'weak' battery in the 8940 causing the problem? PC is probably 2 years old or more? Might want to replace the battery and see if that helps first? Also, Crystal Disk Info shows the condition of the SSD. I got my 8940 late 2021 I recall. Used every day basically and I have 80% margin: 0;">

It counts down to Zero and at 10% it is considered to be ready to be replaced. However, I have more than one drive, programs and data as well as the swap file are not on the C: drive unless it is forced install to C: like some programs do, or program data is not able to be redirected off of C: thereby reducing disk access on C:.

Of course, anything can fail, so it could be an SSD issue, and age or use related. Worth checking though with Crystal Disk Info to be sure? As you can see above, errors are counted, and if you have many, then yes, the drive is failing.

Thanks so much for the quick response! I retired last year from the defense world, I had noticed how much sooner SSD HD would fail vs the old fashion spinning HD, This PC is barely 2 years old. In this particular PC I do have an SATA 1 TB Spinning HD for data. Do you have any ideas how to migrate my current SSD contents (OS & other installed SW to this spinning HD? I'm not a fan of SSD HD at all

To answer your battery question, I measured the voltage while still installed in the MB, it measured 3.08 VDC WRT to chassis

@Dannykman​ 

Voltage doesn't count as much as current. Not under load voltage will be higher.

The battery would need to be replaced soon, so replacing it now would be an easy step to make sure it wasn't the problem. If it were, even a new SSD would have a problem.

While I basically agree it might not be, it also could be a battery issue.

Here is what Dell has to say about the battery ==> https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000135183/how-to-replace-a-cmos-coin-cell-battery-on-your-dell-desktop-computer

From it:

===============

CMOS battery life varies based on the usage and environment of the computer (usually around 2-3 years). The most common symptom of CMOS battery failure is incorrect or slow system date and time in the BIOS, loss of BIOS settings when the computer is powered off, time-of-day clock stopped error message and so on. If the CMOS battery is out of charge, the BIOS settings will be lost when the computer is powered off. You will prompted to reset the time and date when you power on the computer. Sometimes the loss of BIOS settings may prevent the computer from loading the operating system.

===============

Although you might see other symptom like clock slowing down, etc.

@Dannykman​ 

I do have an SATA 1 TB Spinning HD for data. Do you have any ideas how to migrate my current SSD contents (OS & other installed SW to this spinning HD? I'm not a fan of SSD HD at all

i was not advocating moving the C: drive contents to the other drive, but buying another drive. Suggesting an SSD, and they are basically 'good' enough vs. an M.2 SSD in terms of speed. However, in real time use and 'feel' any speed differences may not be noticeable. I can vouch for this. I use/run MS's Flight Simulator. A large program that takes a lot of space and loads a lot of data. I first installed it to a SATA HD... and it was SLOW loading, but I never actually had operational issues for the most part, but I suspect there was some. My 512GB SSD C: had a lot of free space so I moved it to there. Then the C: had started to run out of free space, so I bought a 'cheap' 1TB 2.5in SSD. Use it solely for the Flight Sim:

M:\>dir
 Volume in drive M is Drive_M
 Volume Serial Number is EAD2-0324

 Directory of M:\

06/12/2024  07:19 AM    <DIR>          Program Files
06/18/2024  07:51 AM    <DIR>          WindowsApps
06/12/2024  07:21 AM    <DIR>          WpSystem
06/12/2024  07:21 AM    <DIR>          XboxGames
               0 File(s)              0 bytes
               4 Dir(s)  783,414,976,512 bytes free

Still the program does have some files on the C:, but over 200GB's of free space on C: was made available.

The whole point I want to make, the program runs the same, to me, on the 1TB SSD that is a SATA drive.

Here is what Crucial has to say about the differences ===> https://www.crucial.com/articles/about-ssd/m2-with-pcie-or-sata

Do you have any ideas how to migrate my current SSD contents (OS & other installed SW to this spinning HD? I'm not a fan of SSD HD at all

Now back to the original request.... what to do and how to do it.

Me, if it happened to me, I'd back-up/image the full C: as fast as I could do, before the possibility of total drive failure would happen. The buy an M.2 SSD of same size or larger and then CLONE it over. Now 'cloning' sometimes is done from a working drive to another, or from a saved back-up.

Two different methods... and to me, the easiest (assume the present drive is STILL completely readable and operational) is to do the clone from the failing drive to the new drive. There ARE some steps on must take to do this. Like assign a drive letter to the new drive so it could be cloned too... then remove the old drive, change the new one to C:, and might need to make a BIOS boot order change to make sure the proper new drive is selected.

If you want to clone to a NEW M.2 SSD, then again, you'll need one of the many back-up programs that support cloning. Do the back-up, remove the OLD SSD, put in the new one, boot the back-up programs recovery 'disk', usually a USB flash drive. Locate the source image and target drive (disk drive letters could be different that the OS sees them, you need to determine the actually source file and target drive) and do the clone.

That will bring over EVERYTHING....

Now, if you want to move it all to the PRESENT HD you have, FORGET ABOUT IT... It is NOT bootable, and you need some underlying partitions and data to be put on it... and this might (if done wrong) cause LOSS of all data on it already. Yes, it could be done, but the safest way would be MORE work than just getting a NEW SSD and SATA HD/SSD.

I would RATE in terms of ease, getting a SATA SSD, installing into the 8940 empty bay (should have a 'blue 2.5in' in one bay to mount that SSD in. Format it if need be, and with the M.2 SSD still in the PC, use CLONING S/W to clone the M.2 SSD to the new SSD. I'm not too sure how to make the BIOS see the new drive, there are instructions with the Cloning S/w that should cover this.

Other way, use the Back-up s/w Cloning feature. Back-up the present SSD (all partitions and data, full drive method). Take the failing one out, put the new one in, boot the back up programs bootable media you created, and clone the image to the new SSD. Poof, all done.

If you REALLY wanted to use the present HD to hold everything, it would require more steps... 2 back-ups, both drives, but the complete C: drive and only the Partition(s) on the HD drive. Then use the Clone feature to put C: entirely on the HD drive. Once done and it is bootable, then SHRINK the drives Free Space to the space plus some extra to hold the Partition(s) you had for the other back-ups (by Partition). Then use Disk Management to CREATE in the UNALLOCATED space on the old HD into a Partition(s, if there were more than one before), assign it the old drive letter, and then using the back up program, the old partition.

This is more work than the first way, and does require some amount of skill/confidence to do that.

@Dannykman​

from the defense world, I had noticed how much sooner SSD HD would fail vs the old fashion spinning HD,

This 'data' is probably meaningless... although true,  it has probably more do to how used, how often the drive is written to or read.

Real life at home vs. a 24/7 constant read/write doesn't compare.

Let us assume I have only 3 1/2 or even 2 years of use on the drive.. Lost 20%, and this PC is used all day long (on, can't relate even hours to disk access) and I've lost 1/5th of the drive's life. Let us assume I have the PC for 3 years and lost 30% even... well, that means 9 years before I might have an issue (yes, it could be sooner). Will I even have that PC then? Me, I doubt it.

Case in point, I've got an XPS8700 now sitting idle as a back up... a SSD put into it, some time after purchase (I don't remember when) and my wife is on an XPS8500 (13 years old I think?) that has been upgraded with more RAM, new video card, and a C: SSD (6 years ago I think and still going strong).

I would not worry about SSD life, but then again, why did your SSD 'fail'? Too heavy usage or defect?

Update: Got the PC to boot (Still very slow) I ran crystal disk, for my SSD - a couple times all came back at 100%

More info: when the PC does NOT boot: Power on button is illuminated steady. Power supply LED is on green steady. Chassis & CPU fans on. Pressing and holding Power button does NOT turn PC off, have to unplug line cord. when I plug back in, same symptoms. I hear the SATA drive move the heads to track 0? when the  PC WILL power up, when I plug it in, the power supply LED & Power button Light for a second or 2, then go out. That's when The PC will come up, but boot very slow. I can perform "warm resets"(Restart) & PC will come up every time (Slowly) I'm starting to lean towards your thoughts about the battery. I've seen other items that when the battery gets near 3 or lower, weird stuff happens. I'll look through my stuff, 2032 I use for something else in my collection. I sincerely appreciate your time & effort here! Thanks!

How much free space is available on the SSD and HDD?

Is BIOS currently set to RAID or AHCI? (Don't change the setting!)

You might want to reboot and tap F12 to open the boot menu. Select option to run Diagnostics and run all of them: SSD, HDD, RAM, GPU, etc etc, and see what's reported.

Could even be a Windows OS software problem, but rule out the battery and run diagnostics first.

Latest update from the twilight zone: I ran the bios diagnostics, all of them (took over 3 hours!) all looked good. I removed the dimms, gave the contacts the eraser treatment, removed any connectors & reconnected them just to clean the contacts. The inability to boot/start up, happened but not as much. Then slowly, the inability to boot went away, still booted slowly. Yesterday, the PC not only booted ever time but booted up very quickly! Each time today too! CMOS battery voltage has NOT changed at all. I have no Idea if there's something I did or devine intervention! I've copied all the great info you sent me, cause one thing I've learned over the years - electronic items do NOT fix themselves! Thanks so much again! Until next time!

Glad it seems to be behaving again. 

Always possible a Windows update installation was pending and it finally managed to get it done. Something like that could cause slow boots because it tries/tries/tries and eventually gives up and lets the PC boot...

@Dannykman​ 

If you run the Windows Reliability Monitor, it will show 'fails' for installs. I've seen some fail on one day and be installed on the next.

Check this link of info on how to run and understand what you see ===> https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000178177/how-to-use-windows-reliability-monitor-to-identify-software-issues