Hi @YautjaPrime welcome to this free user-to-user Alienware laptop discussion forum.
Users are always recommended to have singleton ultrafast M.2 NVMe OS (C:) boot drive with the modern GPT partition format so that BIOS boot list option can be enabled. This provides very fast boot into operating system with additional reliability, data file security, etc. features.
RAID 0 is unreliable, shares information 50% 50% on the dual drives, and both drives are replaced if one or both drives become unrecoverable. There is no performance difference between one or the two M.2 PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe drive configurations with speeds up to 32 Gbps. But the Alienware x17 R2 SSD-1 slot interface is M.2 PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe, which offers a twofold performance boost with speeds up to 64 Gbps. See Alienware x17 R2 Storage | Dell US. Having Slot-1 PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe and Slot-2 PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe is unusual and may cause system freezes during demanding games.
Use Macrium Software | Reflect Free Edition to create singleton clone (copy) on an ultrafast M.2 PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe drive installed within external enclosure connected to USB-C port. Nothing needs to be registered again, just uninstall the two PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe RAID 0 drives and install the singleton ultrafast M.2 PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe in the SSD-1 slot.
Hi @DELL-Chris M PCs have evolved, if laptop boot order puts USB drive as first in BIOS boot drive list, BIOS will look for Operating System on USB drive. However, if USB drive is not manually included in BIOS boot drive list there should be no problem getting laptop to boot. Alienware x17 R2 is a modern laptop with modern BIOS and Operating System. Diverting power to USB peripherals during boot should be avoided, so disconnect any USB drives during boot is recommended.
Hi @crimsom Thanks for your quick reply. Quote "Use Macrium Software | Reflect Free Edition to create singleton clone (copy) on an ultrafast M.2 PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe drive installed within external enclosure connected to USB-C port. Nothing needs to be registered again, just uninstall the two PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe RAID 0 drives and install the singleton ultrafast M.2 PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe in the SSD-1 slot.", could you please elaborate this process? I am not aware of this.
Hi @YautjaPrime thank you for asking to elaborate on how to clone (two drive) RAID 0 SSDs to single SSD. Hopefully this is the requested elaboration.
Clone (copy) the Windows OS (C:) RAID boot drive to a single boot drive using Macrium Reflect Free is the usual process. How to clone your PC hard drive using Macrium Reflect | Windows Central. Check that the new single SSD boot drive partition format is GPT so that BIOS boot list option UEFI can be enabled. Clone (copy) does not change the original RAID 0 drives. (You should retain the original RAID 0 drives should there be problems and your extended Dell warranty requests return laptop in its original configuration for repair.)
crimsom
7 Technologist
•
6.1K Posts
1
October 6th, 2022 07:00
Hi @YautjaPrime welcome to this free user-to-user Alienware laptop discussion forum.
Users are always recommended to have singleton ultrafast M.2 NVMe OS (C:) boot drive with the modern GPT partition format so that BIOS boot list option can be enabled. This provides very fast boot into operating system with additional reliability, data file security, etc. features.
RAID 0 is unreliable, shares information 50% 50% on the dual drives, and both drives are replaced if one or both drives become unrecoverable. There is no performance difference between one or the two M.2 PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe drive configurations with speeds up to 32 Gbps. But the Alienware x17 R2 SSD-1 slot interface is M.2 PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe, which offers a twofold performance boost with speeds up to 64 Gbps. See Alienware x17 R2 Storage | Dell US. Having Slot-1 PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe and Slot-2 PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe is unusual and may cause system freezes during demanding games.
Use Macrium Software | Reflect Free Edition to create singleton clone (copy) on an ultrafast M.2 PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe drive installed within external enclosure connected to USB-C port. Nothing needs to be registered again, just uninstall the two PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe RAID 0 drives and install the singleton ultrafast M.2 PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe in the SSD-1 slot.
DELL-Chris M
Community Manager
•
56.9K Posts
1
October 6th, 2022 09:00
"with external USB devices connected"
What specific USB devices? If USB drives, that means the PC is trying to boot from them. Disconnect any USB drives while booting up.
crimsom
7 Technologist
•
6.1K Posts
1
October 6th, 2022 09:00
Hi @DELL-Chris M PCs have evolved, if laptop boot order puts USB drive as first in BIOS boot drive list, BIOS will look for Operating System on USB drive. However, if USB drive is not manually included in BIOS boot drive list there should be no problem getting laptop to boot. Alienware x17 R2 is a modern laptop with modern BIOS and Operating System. Diverting power to USB peripherals during boot should be avoided, so disconnect any USB drives during boot is recommended.
YautjaPrime
1 Rookie
•
2 Posts
0
October 6th, 2022 14:00
Hi @crimsom
Thanks for your quick reply. Quote "Use Macrium Software | Reflect Free Edition to create singleton clone (copy) on an ultrafast M.2 PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe drive installed within external enclosure connected to USB-C port. Nothing needs to be registered again, just uninstall the two PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe RAID 0 drives and install the singleton ultrafast M.2 PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe in the SSD-1 slot.", could you please elaborate this process? I am not aware of this.
Thanks !!
crimsom
7 Technologist
•
6.1K Posts
0
October 6th, 2022 17:00
Hi @YautjaPrime thank you for asking to elaborate on how to clone (two drive) RAID 0 SSDs to single SSD. Hopefully this is the requested elaboration.
Clone (copy) the Windows OS (C:) RAID boot drive to a single boot drive using Macrium Reflect Free is the usual process. How to clone your PC hard drive using Macrium Reflect | Windows Central. Check that the new single SSD boot drive partition format is GPT so that BIOS boot list option UEFI can be enabled. Clone (copy) does not change the original RAID 0 drives. (You should retain the original RAID 0 drives should there be problems and your extended Dell warranty requests return laptop in its original configuration for repair.)
The Alienware x17 R2 does not have an internal third drive slot, so create clone (copy) of RAID 0 SSD in an external enclosure. The external enclosure could be an ultrafast Thunderbolt 4 external SSD enclosure, see Alienware x17 R2 External ports and Ultra-Fast ThunderBolt 4 SSD's For Mac OR PC (thunderbolt-ssd.com). The single SSD could be an ultrafast M.2 PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe SSD, example Samsung 980 PRO NVMe M.2 SSD 2TB.