Upgrading the SSD on my Alienware 17 Laptop

Question

Hello. I just received my new Alienware 17 gaming laptop and so far I'm VERY impressed with its performance. Frame rates are amazing in everything I've tried, and it stays very cool compared to my XPS15 laptop. It has a 256GB "boot" drive and a 1TB 5,400 RPM platter drive for data storage.

I want to upgrade the 256GB SSD to a 1TB SSD. I bought the 1TB SSD and cloned the 256GB to it. I opened up the laptop according to the manual and accessed the "primary" hard drive, expecting it to be the 256GB SSD but instead what I found in this slot is the 1TB 5,400 RPM data drive. Looking into the "secondary" drive bay I see that it's empty. I can't put everything I want to on the 256GB SSD, that's why I bought the 1TB SSD. Where is the 256GB SSD located, and how will I install the 1TB SSD as the primary (boot) drive?

I also plan to upgrade the platter drive to a 1TB 7,200 RPM SSHD (Solid State Hybrid Drive) after the SSD upgrade. I need to upgrade the SSD first though. Does anyone know how to do this?

Thanks for listening, and I'll be happily gaming until I can find an answer.

Best,

Marc

fraserm · Accepted Answer

OK, here's what I decided to do:

Keep the 256 GB SSD m.2 as the Boot drive and for cache. The 1TB SSD replaced the 1TB 5,400 RPM drive as the Primary drive. I added a 1 TB 7,200 RPM SSHD as the Secondary drive. The 1TB 5,400 drive is now surplus, but will be used for other purposes. As an external backup drive, for instance.

All seems to be working satisfactorily.

Thanks for all your input.

Best,
Marc

fraserm · Accepted Answer

Here's what I decided to do:

Keep the 256GB m.2 drive for boot and cache. The 1TB SSD is in the Primary location for my apps and games. I removed the 5,400 RPM drive and put a 1TB 7,200 RPM SSHD in the Secondary location. The 1 TB 5,400 drive is now surplus but can be used for other purposes. All seems to be working satisfactorily.

Thanks for all your input, it's very much appreciated.

Best,

Marc

knightp25 · Answer

the 256 is prob an m.2 drive, not the standard ssd

fraserm · Answer

Thanks, I was just on the phone w tech support and they disconnected me when they found out the new SSD wasn't a Dell. Not a happy camper...

Maybe I can install the new SSD in the Primary slot and disable the m-SATA drive in software somewhere (device manager) and see if it'll boot from the new one. Then I can install the 7200 RPM SSHD in the Secondary slot.

Don't know yet. Several more things to investigate.

M.

CTopher84 · Answer

They shouldn't care at all as changing the HD doesn't void the warranty at all and Dell doesn't produce their own hard drives in the first place. The m2 drive is a Samsung and the regular HD is a Western Digital 5400 RPM so they probably just disconnected by mistake.

Anyways.. If you want to replace the 256 drive, it's an m.2 drive. It looks like a little piece of RAM. See my post here and it will show you what it looks like:

You will just remove that drive AND the 5400 RPM WD (should be a WD Blue drive) and put your 1TBB SSD where the 5400 RPM drive is. I HIGHLY suggest going to the store and getting ~8gig USB3 drive and going to alienrespawn and making a factory restore bootable image. It's a few click process and you'll have a nice factory image that you can boot to and restore. Then you'll just place that USB in and boot to it (F11 when you start) and let it do a factory install. It'll format your SSD and put your laptop back to factory settings. You'll have to reinstall your stuff but it should only be a 1 time process.

Alienware-Franc · Answer

The SSD drives are M.2 drives. If you want to keep the 1TB 5400 rpm drive you would need to replace the 256G SSD M.2 Drive with a 1 TB M.2 SSD Drive

rla1999 · Answer

At the end, you did what I was going to recommend: keep the 256 GB SSD as boot and replace the 5400 RPM hd with the 1 TB SSD and use it as secondary.   The 5400 RPM hd is just too slow for the year we are in.  They should stop making those and use 7200 RPM minimum.

MarleyST · Answer

Good choice, I think that's what I would have done in your situation too. A 1TB SSD is awesome!

Now that you have been using the Alienware 17 for a while, would you still recommend it? Is it still up to speed and no crashes? What games do you use it for? I'm thinking about getting one myself, and I've had a look around at some Alienware 17 reviews, here and also here. It seems like it is one of the best gaming laptops available, and fits my budget well of about $1500. Just want some opinions from a real user too.

harryjims · Answer

For me Alienware 17 is pretty expensive, but I suppose it's worth it. I'm thinking of getting a cheaper alternative for now and get the Alienware 17 this holiday (hopefully with some discount). What alternative would you suggest? I'd spent hours trying to figure out the best alternative. According to some reviews online, here, HP new 15.6" inch AMD process laptop seems good and the best laptop for gaming for $300.

What do you guys think?

jrollz · Answer

Might want to check one of these guides out . For $300 you might be hard-pressed finding any decent gaming laptop, unfortunately. Gaming laptops often come with some of the best specs and this usually results in a higher price tag. With a budget of $1000 you have better options I have the Dell Alienware AW15R2-1546SLV and have been more than happy with my purchase. The Lenova Y7000 is another option.

DeltaSBG · Answer

Check out this page.This should help you out with you problem. alienwarelaptopreviews.com/alienware-service-center

Dra1n · Answer

You might want to check reviewtech for some pointers on how to do that. They write about Alienware pretty often and also give troubleshooting tips.

HaddenDG · Answer

Alienware AW17R3-8342SLV 17' Laptop with 6th generation intel core i7 16GB RAM is perfect for gaming. i also fell more comfortable with a wide screen display however This laptop price are very expensive. If we only have budget about $1500, It can acceptable and i add here and here to option information.

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Upgrading the SSD on my Alienware 17 Laptop

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