Alienware 17r5 - Are both SSD slots NVMe capable?

[CelticDiablo]

Looking to upgrade the SSD that comes standard with the 17r5 and curious if both slots support M.2 NVMe SSDs. Thank you in advance for the help.

[Alienware-Tammy]

Hi @CelticDiablo!

Two out of the three M.2 slots support Nvme M.2 SSDs. For more information, check out the system specifications on this link: http://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/alienware-17-r5_users-guide_en-us.pdf

[CelticDiablo]

Thank you for the quick repsonse. Just 1 follow up question (as the manual does not specify exactly), can either slot that supports NVMe be used for the boot drive?

[Alienware-Tammy · Accepted solution]

Sure! Any of them can be used as the boot drive. 

[bhnkstr]

Why do the older Alienware Laptops  have more slots for NVMe cards? (my older one has 4 x 2280 slots)
My newer laptop (R4) has 2 x 2280 slots and 1 x 2242, and it looks like the R5 has the same?  I have zero use for that 2242 slot.
Really wish I could put 4x2280 cards in a new R5 laptop. Is the size limit for NVMe really only 1TB cards?

Been waiting for the new model to come out, hoping it had 4 x 2280 slots and could take larger cards.  Guess I'll have to look at something else..

[bhnkstr]

Also, can you explain more what the Intel Optane storage is for?  It's a full length M.2 2280 slot, but only supports 60Gb and 120Gb configurations?  I see that Intel has drives up to 960Gb with their Optane SSD line. 

Thanks!

[CKNY]

Hello! Do both slots support m2 Sata also? I know they support NVME, however do they both support m2 sata? 

[NKD11]

If your SSD is m2 sata it the slot should automatically detect it as m2 and not NVMe. Thats usually how it is.

[jigsaw_or]

I wanted to know can I install Samsung 970 EVO Series 2TB M.2 2280 NVMe SSD in R5

[ScienceX]

same here.

I'm interested to know how to install the install Samsung 970 EVO Series 2TB M.2 2280 NVMe SSD for storage, not to replace my main drive.