Can I add another SSD to my laptop?

Hey there. I stumbled upon a deal for a 500GB SSD ( ). I’m currently running a Dell Inspiron 17 ( https://www.bcgroup-online.com/lapto...y0a58ea)-34192 ). The specs match what's listed online perfectly, except I only have a single 128 GB SSD installed; back when I bought it, adding a second drive was out of my budget. Now that I actually need more storage, I'm wondering if it's worth installing a second 500GB SSD, or if I should just grab a 500GB 7200rpm HDD instead. Price isn't the issue here—I just want to know the performance gap. I'll mostly be using this for game storage. I realize this laptop wasn't built specifically for heavy gaming, but it works great for me 🙂. Also, is there any real difference between an SSD meant for a laptop versus one for a desktop? If there's a better way to handle this upgrade, I'm all ears. Thanks! 🙏

Laptop Specs:
Screen 17.3" diagonal FHD IPS UWVA anti-glare WLED-backlit (1920 x 1080)
Processor Intel ® Core i7-6700HQ (2.6 GHz, up to 3.5 GHz, 6 MB cache, 4 cores)
Memory 16 GB DDR4-2133 SDRAM (2 x 8 GB)
Storage 1 TB 7200 rpm SATA + 128 GB SSD
Graphics Card Nvidia ® GeForce ® GTX 960 m (4 GB GDDR5 dedicated)
Operating System MS-DOS
Optical Drive DVD-RW
Network Accelerometer Integrated 10/100/1000
Gigabit Ethernet LAN
Intel 802.11ac (2x2) Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth ® 4.2 Combo (Miracast compatible)
Slots
1 HDMI
1 headphone/microphone combo
1 USB 2.0
2 USB 3.0
1 RJ-45
1 multi-format SD card reader
Webcam Dell Webcam
Audio Dolby Audio; Dual speakers
Battery 6-cell, 62 Wh Li-ion
Physical Specs 2.85 kg

Your laptop has one m.2 slot (housing that 128GB SSD) and one 2.5" SATA bay where your HDD lives.
You can't shove an HDD into an m.2 slot, so swapping the current SSD for an HDD isn't an option—not that you'd want to kill your speed anyway.

Look, instead of messing with the current drive, just grab a new m.2 SSD like the one in your link. You just have to verify if that m.2 slot supports NVMe or if it's restricted to SATA. If it's SATA, you'll need an m.2 SATA SSD; they look identical to the NVMe ones, but the standard is different.

You can actually pop in an SDXC card up to 2TB, too. I mean, sure, it won't outrun an NVMe drive, but it’s definitely kicking more butt than a standard SATA drive.

Might even work with an SD card if the hardware plays nice.

True, you can pop an SD card in there, but the speeds are basically on par with an HDD. Plus, once you look at the prices, they're getting pretty close to what an SSD costs, so I'm not sure why anyone would bother. Either way, it's going to be slower than any actual SSD you could throw at it.

Just pop out the optical drive and swap it for a SATA3 ODD caddy—then slide a 500 GB SATA3 SSD right into that slot. That’s how you end up with three drives in your laptop. If you actually find yourself needing DVDs later, you can just toss the old drive back in or grab a cheap external one online.