Dell Inspiron 15-5510/5518 (2021) - SSD and RAM Upgrade Guide 

Very helpful video. You might not have to pull the battery cable if you enter service mode first. Unplug the AC adapter with the computer off. Hold the B key and press/hold the power button for about 3 seconds (wait for Dell logo). Then confirm you want to enter service mode. This will prevent anything from powering up. To reverse, plug in AC adapter and turn on.

Without this video I would have never found the secondary slot, and would have never figured out that the 2230 slot could be easily converted to a 2280. Thank you a lot 😁

Bruce, a million thank you's! I ordered this laptop and a long M.2. NVMe at the same time. According to the Inspiron manual, you can only put a short (2230) NVMe in that M.2 slot. You are the only to show us that there is an extender under the primary M.2 slot. I switched them and it worked. I was worried that I would have to change the boot order in the BIOS, but I did not have to change anything. I was on the cusp of returning everything, but you saved the day. You rock!

Great video. Straight to the point; answers the question most asked when considering which laptop to buy. Voice is clear and easy to understand; pace is perfect.

As I have a RAM upgrade coming in tomorrow for this laptop I though it would be useful to watch this video in advance, in case of surprises. However, I was surprised to see that there are two m.2 slots and even one extendable to a 2280 size as they are more common. Made me very happy for future upgrades. I'm very glad I watched this video. Thanks!

Thanks to your guide, I looked extremely cool and impressive in front of my husband who noted how quickly I changed out my RAM and added a new SSD. 😎

Thanks for the video! Just did the SSD + memory upgrades after watching it. Very helpful! Someone suggested entering service mode instead of pulling the power cable, and I second that, not only because it avoids any possible damage to the connector, but also because the "service mode" that the computer boots next offers very handy on-board system diagnostics for the upgraded parts (the memory test is very good!). Thanks again!

was thinking to get an inspiron 15 was just wondering how upgradable that laptop was! the video answered everything :)

I opened my 2021 Dell Inspiron 15 to upgrade the RAM from 8 to 16 GB. I saw the 2230 and wondered if I should go through the trouble of re-imaging this on to another 2230 with more capacity and then landed on your video. Now thanks to you, I moved that to the second slot and put in a new 2280 to end up with a much more useful laptop. Thanks a lot!

Thank you for the awesome video! With your help I opened the cover and replaced the thermal paste (now thermal grizzly) on my Inspiron 15 with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U in it. In the past I got crazy 100 °C just by watching videos?? And now I am at 70°C at full load (Heavy Load Benchmark), I can really recommend it guys!

I can tell you that in mine, the 30mm NVMe was mounted there close to the fan, and nothing was mounted in that little 30mm slot on the right. I simply moved that screw clip mount back to the 80mm position and put in my 1Tb NVMe.

Thanks for the video.. I have just ordered an Inspiron 15, with a 512GB SSD. I was wondering if it supported another SSD.. and boom I found your video showing that it does.. Now I can't wait for my Inspiron to be delivered

Excellent instructional video and very helpful. One thing I like to add is that it may be helpful to mention the next step after the SSD installation. Usually the initialization of the new SSD is required. Thank you so much!

how big a Ram was in a laptop and how big did you put there?

Works fine - Hynix now is on channel 2 and on channel 1 is Samsung 2TB M.2 PCIe Gen4 NVMe PM9A1 OEM and RAM- now is 32GB. Speed on Hynix is the same as it was (3,5GB/s by CristalDiskMark 8,0,4 64b). Samsung is a little bit slover (3,4GB/s). Temp on Hynix was 20-36 (temp1) and 34-49 C degree (1 test CDM). Now: 30-49 and 32-69 respectively. Samsung is a little hoter: 30 to 56 - temp1 and 32-69 temp2. Second test on samsung: 57 and 70. Thanx for video.

Great video, helped me to upgrade the exact same model of laptop that I own.. Thanks!

Thanks! Wanted to see if there were any surprises with this model before cracking it open, glad to see it's straightforward.

Awesome, I didn't know that this notebook has two SSD slots, thanks, very helpful video

Thank you!!! I followed all steps and I can managed to change RAM and position of SSD.

Thanks for the detail video, I'm user of Dell from past 25+ years, Dell always made their components replacement very simple, from when did they make it so complicated?

Much helpful! Keep up the good work 🙂

Very well structured to the point video, thank you 🙏

TNX for the manual.

Very useful! Many thanks!

Awesome. Great explanation, thanks

Hi James. Great video mate👍 I got a question regarding swapping the original ssd into slot 2, will the laptop still recognise the original ssd as C:? even though it’s been moved to slot 2? As it’s got the OS installed on it. Or do I need to clone the original ssd onto the new ssd first?

How big Ram was in notebook?

Was your laptop manufactured in Malaysia?

I just got my 5510 after watching some of your upgrade videos, and was wondering if you have to do anything after you moved the "C:" drive to the second port and added the new SSD?

Well done, but aren't you supposed to discharge any remaining power in the system by pressing the power key for 5 secs after disconnecting battery terminal??

Cool video, very good explained. Thank you so much.

Instead of making the end user move the 2230 nvme drive to the other slot, it would have been so much better if they had done that to begin with.

Thanks for the informative video. Kudos:)

Parabéns, muito obrigada!! Me ajudou muito ❤️🇧🇷

Great video…thanks. I’m planning to do virtually the exact thing you portrayed in the video. I’m going to add a 1TB ssd to the existing 256gb ssd that shipped with. Will any installed software on the original ssd still be accessible after adding the new 1TB ssd? Thanks in advance.

thank you very much for this video !!! you helped me so much

Thank for you video !!!

Hi, I have the same laptop and did the following as part of upgrade: Original SSD (Samsung PM991A / 2230) moved from slot 1 to slot 2 New Samsung 980 SSD installed in slot 1 In original configuration, with only slot 1 occupied, Crystaldiscinfo showed that it was getting the full Gen3x4 speeds. After above upgrade was done, slot 2 seem to be running at Gen3x2 even though the SSD is capable of Gen3x4 Slot 1 continues to work at Gen3x4 with new SSD Do Dell laptops generally have different channel availability for different NVMe M.2 slots? Any workarounds to get Gen3x4 on both slots?

Thank you for the video!

woah you can upgrade the 5518!! what's the maximum ram a 5518 can take? do you know the srgb rating? can you do a review of this laptop? It's selling at a reduced price, some people say the battery isn't great, one person had wifi issues. would love a review!! The internet esp youtube is so bad with reviewing laptops sold in the UK. If you start reviewing you could make a mint!

did you copy the old ssd to the new one before the swap?

very cool

This is odd: I scanned my laptop using Crucial's system scanner. It says that Crucial does not make compatible Memory for the Dell Inspiron 5510. I scanned my laptop using CPU-Z and it confirmed that my computer contains RAM: 2 x 4 GB DDR4 3200 MHz CL22. Crucial makes this type of memory:Crucial DDR4-3200 8GB SO-DIMM. Should I install it or is something else incomaptible? What say you? Thanks again and great channel!

Huge thanks!

Which m.2 ssd port is primary and which one is secondry

Can you please upload a video on how do we install windows for this laptop, along with the Bios explanation

What is the maximum ram the 8 gb ram model can be upgraded to? Pls answer, I am planning to buy one.

Super explanation👌

Great work. Btw if I do the same thing like you (move disk C: to 2nd ssd slot), will I lose windows license and will have any impact on all installed apps (games,...) in disk C: ?

Thanks a lot!! 감사합니다!! ありがとうございます！！

Great Video. I have the same laptop confirured with 2 x 4GB of RAM, same as yours. Can I replace just one SO-DIMM with an 8GB for a total of 12 GB or do they both have to be the same?Thanks

After put the SSD 2230 to the second slot, do you have any action to do on the computer ?

Hi James, thanks for your video, it is very good. Can I choose which slot instal de ssd memory card with the OS ? Regards,

Nice work

Hey so I just added an M.2 2280 in this same exact model laptop, and moved the 2230 M.2 over to the other slot. Now my laptop won’t even turn on? I put the laptop in maintenance mode before I started (holding down the ‘B’ key and power button) and I plugged the power cable into the laptop once I was done, which Dell said had to be done to get it out of maintenance mode. But now it won’t turn on at all no matter what I do

Excellent video. I am ready to install my new 1x16 ram stick, but could you tell us all which ram slot is A or 1, and which is B or slot 2? Thank you.

Perfect, thanks a lot. :)

nice video! factory pcie ssd slot is 4.0 or 3.0? in i5 11320h specs it says it has two pci slots, gen 4 for cpu, gen 3 for chipset

Will warranty avoid after ram ubgrade Can I put 16 gb +4gb ram Total 20 g Will it support

My screws of same laptop are missing. Can I buy screws separately and of which dimensions

Helpful thanks

Is this guide same for the Dell Inspiron 15 5518, I was opting for a 5510 but it was only available in the online store so I got a 5518...

Is your laptop Bottom Side completely flat, mine feels rounded or swollen around Inspiron branding?

Thanks a lot, it's very helpful, is it possible to have a tutorial on keyboard replace ? Thanks a lot

Great Video! One question: What Is the Number of this model? My model Is 6N8XY Thx for the answer! 😊

Thanks a lot !!!!

Obrigado pela dica !!

How does one separate the base without having any of the little plastic retainers/clips to break off. I had 2 to break on me.

How do you make sure it still boots from the older drive

Hello i don't know if you can help me. But i switched the main drive to the smaller spot as shown in your video and cloned it to a new 2280 1TB SSD to expand the storage and also put windows on 1 drive. However my computer does not load windows from the new 1TB drive. The machinecan read that the drive is there but it can't load windows from it. I also tried wiping the new SSD and it was fine for both (reading & recognizing that it's a second storage drive). I'm so frustrated and don't knwo what to do. I would very much like to uprgade my main SSD from 256GB to 1TB with windows on there so i could just have one drive but i can't seem to catch a break. Any advice would be appreciated.

thanks for the video.....I have the 5510 that has mechanical disc , what is the best method to clone towards SSD?

The Indian variant of the above laptop is mentioned that it has only 512 GB capacity of the 2280 type hard disk. Does it mean that I can't use two 2280 drives?. There is no new mSATA (you call it as 2230) listef in the amazon India website. What to do?.

Thank you very helpful. WD blue SN570 will support or not. Because I have same laptop

Where would i get a battery replacement for this model Dell?

Excellent

Hello James, I am writing today because I have a problem with my Dell Inspiron 5510 laptop. I changed the SSD by relocating the main unit to the other slot as you do and then I placed the 2 TB M2 MVme SSD unit, Western Digital Brand, screwing it in after placing the mounting bracket. The problem started with it sending me messages that one of the hard drives is in danger, the message seems quite strange to me, it asked me to install Intel Optane Memory and Storage Management and it tells me that my system is not prepared for Memory Opt in because the hard drives do not meet the requirements and there is no valid hard drive in the system. What can I do with this issue? Is my laptop at risk of stopping working? I use it quite a bit and the only thing I wanted was more capacity to save files. The seller told me that it was compatible, so I don't understand why those notices appeared. The only thing I want to find is a solution to make it work normally. Very good video and with the translator I was able to look well to update it. There was no problem with the RAM memory and I was able to update it normally. Greetings from Argentina and I will wait for the response. Thank you This is the model of the SSD Western Digital, it's compatible?www.westerndigital.com/en-us/products/internal-drives/wd-green-sn350-nvme-ssd?sku=WDS250G2G0C

Great video, it will help me a lot. I would like to ask a question if possible. Here in Brazil Dell says that to use two SSD, both will have to be two of the same format or 2230 or 2280 you use a 2230 that comes with the notebook and add another 2280. Does it generate any problem? Dell here informs that it cannot because the 2230 is class 35, and the 2280 is class 40. can you clear this doubt for me?

I have it. Does it take 16gb ram? I have 1x8 gb already ; intend to install an additional 1x16 gb

Dear Brue, your SSD & RAM video is very informative & cleared many doubts. recently, I purchased the 5510 with 512 GB ssd 2230 inbuild. but I want to install SSS 240 M.2 2280 in my 5510 dell laptop. can I install it ? will it create any problem if 2230 install in one slot and 2280 installed in second slot in same laptop? all driver will support ? pls help

Is there any issues with relocating the drive with the operating system to another slot? When starting is the computer able to find the correct drive after it has been relocated to another drive?

Hi! can you please tell me if that laptop is made of aluminum? or just plastic

Is there anything that needs to be done in the BIOS once the new memory stick is installed (assuming new memory is DDR4 3200 16gb)? E.g. on my desktop PC, I had to change a setting in the BIOS to allow the upgraded RAM to run at its advertised speed.

Dear James, thank you very much for the great video in which describe the process in detail. I have just one question. I have bought an Inspirion Dell 15 Plus with 16Gb (2x8Gb). Is it possible to upgrade it to 32Gb? With best regards.

If you insert an additional SSD and move the short original one to the short slot, how does the system know which one needs to be used for the boot drive?

when i change to the ssd, do i setup win again?

I thought there will be two fans , being Nvidia inside but why it has only one fan.

won't all the data from the laptop be deleted when I add 2 ssd disks?

Please tell which is the best "SSD" suitable for dell 5510 (i5) to upgrade ?

Does this support NVME PCIE 2280 SSD?

Mine is overheating, I would like to change the cooler for a bigger one. Anybody knows a model that would fit?

hello, do you know what the CL for the ram is in this device? im looking to upgrade from 16gb to 32 in hopes to up the integrated graphics as well as simply be able to do more, do you happen to know the CL for the ram tho?

is gen 4 nvme support to dell inspiron 5510??

I bought this laptop of its i3 varient yesterday and I am little dissatisfied for its booting time which is usually taking 15-20 secs.I researched about it and got to know that processor is good but the SSD which has used in this laptop is bad which causes slow booting.So I want to completely remove it's old SSD and add a new SSD (Samsung 980 pro 1tb SSD).My question is, will be any issue by this upgradation of laptop?And after removing old SSD,will all the windows boot file erase and I have to install windows again? actually I am new in tech field,so if you got my questions silly then please excuse me. And if anyone knows something regarding my question then please reply me ASAP.It's an emergency situation

Hlw sir... I purchased this one with i 3 variant... Now I want to add another 8gb of ram and a ssd in the second slot.. If i purchased from outside it will cost me only 120$. I contacted dell customer service, they told me that for both 8 gb ram and 500gb ssd it will cost 160$...but they are not telling which company parts I will get. What should I do?

Hey Thank for this helpful video. Can you tell me how much ram I can use in this model 5510 and how much ssd m2.?? Thx

so the original ssd is a 2280 but you can put it in the second slot wich only takes 2230? is that right or am i not understanding something?

Can u please disassemble the dell Inspiron 15 5515 ryzen 5 5500u 15.6inch laptop please see? I want to see is there any extra slot for ram expansion?

Hi Sir Which is stock ssd company wd Or samsung. I was buy that model m. Board has PCle gen3×4 port but changing m. 2 PCle gen 4.0 ssd (WDSN850 black) so that change will customize or not.

Can we use hdd with 256gb ssd in this at a same time? Slot available for hdd?

Is dell inspiron 5510 can be upgraded with a HDD