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15 R3, latest list of compatible M2 SSDs
Hi, my so wishes to swap out his mechanical 2.5” drive in his Alienware 15R3 for a SSD drive and we figured that installing a M.2 SSD and swapping boot drives first was the way to go. There is a lot written about problems with the Samsung EVO range so we don’t wish to encounter problems. Is there an up to date list of supported M.2 ssd drives? Does this issue affect the 2.5” Sata slot too? If the M.2 works, we shall then install a ssd drive in the larger bay. Any advice would be appreciated.
soonch
(life with a Sinclair ZX81 was simpler)
Alienware-Eimy
3 Apprentice
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4.4K Posts
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July 24th, 2018 10:00
Hi @Soonch,
These are some of the validated SSDs:
SSD, 256GB, P34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, Samsung, (PM951)
SSD, 512 GB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, NVMe, 512MB, Hynix Semiconductor Inc, (PC300)
SSD, 512 GB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, NVMe, Multi Level Cell, LiteOn, (CX2A)
SSD, 1TB, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, NVMe, (Class 40, PM981)
SSD, 128GB, Non Encrypted, SATA3, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, Sandisk Corp, (X400)
SSD, 256 GB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, NVMe, 512MB, Samsung, (PM961)
SSD, 1TB, SATA3, M.2, 22mm/80mm/3.73mm, LiteOn
SSD, 128GB, SATA3, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, Samsung, (CM871A)
SSD, 1 TB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, NVMe, 512MB, Samsung, (PM961)
SSD, 128GB, SATA3, M.2, 22mm/80mm/1.5mm, (PRO5450)
SSD, 512 GB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, NVMe, 512MB, Samsung, (PM961)
SSD, 512 GB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, NVMe, 512MB, Toshiba, (XG4)
SSD, 512 GB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, NVMe, 256MB, Sandisk Corp, (A400)
SSD, 512GB, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, NVMe, 512MB (Class 40, PM981)
SSD, 1 TB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/3.8mm, NVMe, Hynix Semiconductor Inc, (PC300)
SSD, 1 TB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/3.73mm, NVMe, Three Level Cell, Toshiba, (XG4)
SSD, 1TB, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.23mm, NVMe, Toshiba, (Class 40, XG5)
SSD, 1TB, PCIe34, M.2, 22MM/80MM/2.15MM, NVMe, (PC401)
SSD, 1 TB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/3.73mm, NVMe, Multi Level Cell, LiteOn, (CX2A)
SSD, 256 GB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, NVMe, 256MB, Sandisk Corp, (A400)
SSD, 512GB, PCIe34, M.2, 22MM/80MM/2.15MM, NVMe, Three Level Cell, Mixed, (PC401)
jphughan
9 Legend
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14K Posts
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July 24th, 2018 11:00
What problems are you referring to with the Samsung Evo range? Samsung SSDs are the most popular SSDs in the world, both in retail and with OEMs, and often they perform better than competitors — in fact the Samsung PM961 in the list above is just a 960 Evo that’s been rebranded for OEMs and has maybe had some features disabled that would otherwise be available in the retail version. If you’re seeing problems reported about the Evo line, it might just be because they are by far the most popular upgrade choice among people who install their own, so statistically they’ll have more problems reported. Other people try to install an NVMe Evo into an M.2 slot that only supports SATA and then wonder why it doesn’t work, which isn’t the SSD’s fault. Which leads me to....
M.2 SSDs come in both M.2 SATA and M.2 NVMe varieties. M.2 SATA SSDs will perform the same way as “regular” SATA SSDs. The best ones top out around 550 MB/s. M.2 NVMe SSDs by comparison can exceed 3 GB/s in read and 2 GB/s on writes. Your system’s M.2 slot supports both SATA and NVMe (not all systems do), so you might want to spend more on an NVMe SSD and forget about using the SATA bay, unless you plan to leave the existing drive in the SATA bay or upgrade that one to a SATA SSD as well.
My favorite NVMe SSD is the Samsung 970 Evo, and my favorite SATA SSD is the Samsung 860 Evo. I personally would avoid Toshiba SSDs since there are several reports that some of its NVMe models suffer very poor write speeds, even below a mid-range SATA drive. There’s a very long thread about that issue with the Inspiron 7577 here, but it’s been observed in various other models, including non-Dell models. The most commonly applied advice is to upgrade to a Samsung SSD.
Soonch
2 Posts
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July 28th, 2018 09:00
Just to say that my son carried out a fresh install of Windows on a Samsung EVO 970 MVme 1TB SSD this morning and after hours of reinstalling all the drivers and programmes, everything is working fine. We did not fiddle with the BIOS once.
I get his old 1TB HHD.
Thank you both.
Regards,
S
netoff
2 Posts
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November 26th, 2018 07:00
I bought an Samsung EVO 960 PRO 512GB, and installed windows and used the computer for video and photo editing, after 6 months everything worked great until today, My computer won't Post. I wouldn't see even the Alienware logo. After troubleshooting with tech support for several hours, we started removing devices from computer, removed ram, HDD and M.2 and isolated that the computer was able to post only when the Samsung M.2. was not installed anymore. I didn't installed anything or done anything different, just turned it off and next day when I tried to turn it on I got the NO Post issue. the M.2. is still under 1 year warranty so I sent it to samsung, but all the data is gone forever. first time this happens to me never expected this would ever happen with an M.2.
NJ_
5 Posts
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May 27th, 2020 13:00
Hi,
Will this applicable as Windows 10 boot up drive on my Alienware 15 r3?
Sabrent 512GB Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 Internal SSD High Performance Solid State Drive (SB-ROCKET-512)
I'll wait your reply.
Thanks!
ejn63
10 Elder
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24.8K Posts
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May 27th, 2020 13:00
SSDs, while now generally more reliable than spinning hard drives, can and do fail, and they do wear out with use. The security of your data is as good as your most recent verified backup -- with any storage device.
The downsides to SSDs: they often fail as you've described (with no warning) and they're much more difficult to recover from when they do fail - particularly on systems where the SSD is no longer a discrete component (that is, soldered to the system board, as Dell has done with the new XPS 2-in-1, and Apple has been doing for some time with the Macbook Pro models).