Hi @crimsom, yes, i think my Alienware Area-51m R2 model has either 4 slots on the main board or the interposer Sled board.  It is shipping with 4 M.2 PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe cards (512Mb each). 

I think chaging slots 3 and 4 from 512Mb to 2TB should be fairly easy.... even though i am a little nervous about opening up a band new pc lol.

Hi @mattgod69  thank you for sharing update. 

The first 30 days is on Approval, so that user can confirm the system build has no faults. If customer is going to Reject system, it must be returned in the as delivered build configuration. Then the basic first year Dell warranty kicks in, unless purchase included Premium or Premium Plus. 

Dell expects users to remove the rear panel and this does not invalidate the Dell warranty. Dell provides Alienware Area-51m R2 and Knowledge Base Article support documentation. YouTube has Dell Support and Alienware Support information and videos. 

Support for Alienware Area-51m R2 Service Manual says there are four M.2 slots: SSD-1 and SSD-2 are on the motherboard, and SSD-3 and SSD-4 are on the NVMe interposer Sled board. 

Alienware Area-51m R2 plus NVMe Sled board

2TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus are M.2 PCIe Gen 3.0 x 4, NVMe 1.3 cards with Read/Write 3,500/3,300 MB/s Speeds. These are suitable for Alienware Area-51m R2 internal slots. 

Changing from RAID 0 to Single NVME OS(C:) boot drive has already replied to your post in Re: Area-51m R2, Storage Upgrade - Dell Community 

Check out if this works for you.

https://www.alienowners.com/threads/setting-up-a-raid-on-most-alienware-systems-how-to.1952/

but if it doesn’t I’ll message some intel Raid setup tutorials.

Thanks to @DELL-Chris M for within hours, combining discrete posting, into single thread. 

I opened the case to change the M.2 drives, but notice that one of the screws holding down the SSD was badly damaged. The simple job now changing this SSD has become a headache and much more risky.

Is it normal for things like this to happen? I find it amazing that they let it be the factory with a screw so badly damaged.

Any comments greatly appreciated.

Matt

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@CLAUDIAHR wrote:

HELLO, I HAVE AN ALIENWARE AREA 51M R2 AND CHECK AND I DO NOT SEE THE OTHER TWO PORTS WHERE THE HHD DISK GOES, WILL I HAVE TO ADD BOARD FOR TWO M.2 MORE?'

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Hi @CLAUDIAHR Dell Support for Alienware Area-51m R2 Service Manual includes Installing the solid-state drive interposer board which provides the additional SSD-3 & SSD-4 slots for M.2 NVMe drives.

To get these parts, call Dell Support and ask them to raise an order for all the 20 separate parts (no url, no kit) which includes the 2.5 inch cage NVMe silicone interposer board D3P25, cable #1 2JH8P, cable #2 5F1WR and all the other separate parts of screws, etc. Also ask for all of these parts be included in your Dell System Warranty. 

Hi @mattgod69 ,
I would try to gently reinstall the screw if its that damaged, if it struggles to insert into the hole where its supposed to go into then its a stripped screw and a replacement one is needed.

Hi @mattgod69 in your 08-12-2021 10:48 PM post, you mentioned difficulty removing one of the SSD screws. There are a small number of reports about this Issue. These screws also have a blue compound placed on their threads, so that they do not become loose when laptop is vibrated during transit. Has this problem been fixed? 

Thanks for the message.  This was not a thread lock issue, the screw head was virtually destroyed before i toughed it.  I managed to get a computer shop to remove it and replace it.  Since then I have had no issues with the drives.  Regards.  Matt