15 R4, M.2 slots question

Hi @Dicekt,

Here is the storage information for your system.

What pre-installed SSD do you have?

It should be installed on the PCIe slot. One of the 2280 ones.

You can open it up and check, or check the service manual online.

Hi @Alienware-Eimy,

Thank you for your quick reply!

The preinstalled SSD is a 512GB PCIe M.2 Class 50 SSD (make/model not specified).

Is there a standard as to where this should have been installed (which slot)? Or do I need to open up to check?

Thank you,

Andrew

@Alienware-Eimy

Well I understand it has to be installed in one of the 2280 slots, just wondering which one since only one is SATA compatible.

The Setup and Specifications PDF does not say which slot (1, 2, or 3) is the PCIe only slot. I am wondering which slot is PCIe and SATA compatible, to know where to install a SATA SSD.

Thank you!

-Andrew

@Dicekt,

SSD1 is PCIe/SATA.
SSD2 is SATA.
Half Size is PCIe/SATA

The chart above states all three can handle Pcle? I have just purchased the same laptop.

Same laptop.

I've bought and installed an M.2 SATA WD Blue SSD - Device Manager, Disk Manager, BIOS, all can't detect the drive!

What's going on Dell!

So if i buy a 2TB M.2 SSD, will it work or only with 1TB? because i will buy a alienware 15 in about a week and really hope for a quick respond. Thanks

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@HimboIsLife wrote:

So if i buy a 2TB M.2 SSD, will it work or only with 1TB?

 

because i will buy a alienware 15 in about a week and really hope for a quick respond. Thanks

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@HimboIsLife   I can’t speak to the SATA/NVMe issue, but don’t worry about capacity. When Dell quotes a maximum capacity, it’s the highest capacity available from the factory and/or the highest capacity they tested. The last time there was an actual hardware-related limitation on drive size was around 137GB because motherboards and OSes has to support "48-bit LBA addressing" to use larger drives, but that obviously happened a long time ago, specifically back in the Windows XP says where SP1 was required for that support.

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@Silencer_SG wrote:

Same laptop.

I've bought and installed an M.2 SATA WD Blue SSD - Device Manager, Disk Manager, BIOS, all can't detect the drive!

What's going on Dell!

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@Silencer_SG   if you haven’t already, try just reseating the SSD, and of course the other M.2 slot. Also, where are you looking in the BIOS? If it’s the boot order, don’t look there for a new disk on a UEFI system. Check the System Information/Summary area that lists the detected hardware. But if you don’t see it there, there’s no point checking Windows because if the system doesn’t see it at a hardware/firmware level, then there’s no way the OS will.

Thank you very much for your super quick reply I actually didn‘t understand everything you wrote, because i am not a too big genius in those things and my english is also not the best xD. On the model of the Alienware 15 i chose, is only a 1TB M.2 already installed. So i was wondering, what the maximum height, length and thicknes is that the M.2 can get. I found this card online https://www.digitec.ch/de/s1/product/samsung-pm981-2000gb-m2-2280-ssd-8986529?supplier=406802 could u maybe tell me, if this card would fit in and work or not. Thanks for your help

Question, I also have a 15 r4 that I just got from a friend, how do I check what type of SSD is currently in the laptop? I know its a 250gb SSD just not sure on the whole specs of it.

Thank you.

I have an out-of-warranty Alienware 15 R4, so I think it's fine for me to open it up and share what the SSD internal slots look like.

As you can see, SSD-SLOT-1 is for M.2 2242, or the half-sized SSD stick. Half sized slot supports PCIe/SATA?

SSD-SLOT-2 is the PCIe SSD only slot. I'm assuming that's where the M.2 NVMe SSD sticks go into.

SSD-SLOT-3 is the one where the original SSD was slotted into. I have to replace the SSD stick due to low capacity.