Hi @gabriele1205 the Alienware 13 Service Manual. Removing the hard drive, Procedure does not say that Step 2 requires excessive pull force to disconnect the hard-drive cable from the system board. Consequently, your reluctance is understandable. If it has never been disconnected, it will continue to have a good positive grip. However, it is designed to be disconnected by the user, pulling alternatively more to release either end (pull wiggle) may give the type of release that you are more comfortable with.
Although Step 2 Using the pull tab can be skipped, and there is still sufficient access to undertake the HDD to SDD swap. You may wish to insert a cloth underneath the hard-drive assembly so that the casing is not damaged and the screws do not fall away. However, you will have significantly better access and no casing damage, if the Alienware 13 Service Manual process is fully used.
It's been a while since I've had a 13 but you should be able to just unscrew the HDD/SSD caddy and pull the Sata connector tab from your HDD. You may not even have to remove the cable using the pull tab (which should just pop out with a bit of effort).
Hi @U2CAMEB4ME thanks for the response. He seems to be using the same pull tab I tried pulling on but it wouldn't budge for me.
https://youtu.be/T46G7FNr-GU?t=29 timestamped it this is the part i'm having difficulty with it seems the cable is kind of stuck. Although i'm not putting too much force in taking it out because i'm afraid of damaging the cable.
There are M.2 SATA NGFF SSD to 2.5" drive bay conversation options available. Perhaps of most interest is the option to have SATA access to two M.2 SATA solid state drives. There are currently 1TB and 2TB SATA drives, so storage capacity can be increased by installing two M.2 drives, but these are still limited to the SATA speed capability of the computer.
crimsom
7 Technologist
•
6.1K Posts
1
November 26th, 2020 17:00
Hi @gabriele1205 the Alienware 13 Service Manual. Removing the hard drive, Procedure does not say that Step 2 requires excessive pull force to disconnect the hard-drive cable from the system board. Consequently, your reluctance is understandable. If it has never been disconnected, it will continue to have a good positive grip. However, it is designed to be disconnected by the user, pulling alternatively more to release either end (pull wiggle) may give the type of release that you are more comfortable with.
Although Step 2 Using the pull tab can be skipped, and there is still sufficient access to undertake the HDD to SDD swap. You may wish to insert a cloth underneath the hard-drive assembly so that the casing is not damaged and the screws do not fall away. However, you will have significantly better access and no casing damage, if the Alienware 13 Service Manual process is fully used.
mattyb3
5 Practitioner
•
1.7K Posts
1
November 26th, 2020 16:00
It's been a while since I've had a 13 but you should be able to just unscrew the HDD/SSD caddy and pull the Sata connector tab from your HDD. You may not even have to remove the cable using the pull tab (which should just pop out with a bit of effort).
U2CAMEB4ME
4 Operator
•
6.2K Posts
1
November 26th, 2020 16:00
Welcome to the Dell Community @gabriele1205
See if this helps.
https://www.parts-people.com/blog/2017/01/06/dell-alienware-13-p56g001-hard-drive-caddy-removal-installation/
Best regards,
U2
NOTE:
As long as the four screws are loose then it should just pull up???
gabriele1205
2 Posts
0
November 26th, 2020 16:00
Hi @U2CAMEB4ME thanks for the response. He seems to be using the same pull tab I tried pulling on but it wouldn't budge for me.
https://youtu.be/T46G7FNr-GU?t=29 timestamped it this is the part i'm having difficulty with it seems the cable is kind of stuck. Although i'm not putting too much force in taking it out because i'm afraid of damaging the cable.
crimsom
7 Technologist
•
6.1K Posts
0
November 27th, 2020 09:00
There are M.2 SATA NGFF SSD to 2.5" drive bay conversation options available. Perhaps of most interest is the option to have SATA access to two M.2 SATA solid state drives. There are currently 1TB and 2TB SATA drives, so storage capacity can be increased by installing two M.2 drives, but these are still limited to the SATA speed capability of the computer.