17 R2, Replace HDD

Question

Hi there,

I’d like to replace a RAID 0 HDDs on my Alienware 17 R2 (2015) because one of the disk became corrupted and now accept to launch only from time to time. Opening and replacing the two disks is not a problem. My problem is that I want to be sure which disks I can buy to replace the existing disks. Could you help me on this please ?

Here are the specifications:

Type : Alienware 17 R2 (European version I guess, as the inside is slight different than what I see on main videos - ie. to access the inside, there is no small plate to remove first, the entire back panel has to be removed)
Buy date : 2015
Service tag (S/N) :
Express service code :
Disks to replace : 2 x 1TB (I cannot give the exact references now as I still have 6 days on chkdsk running on them presently ^^')

And here are my questions summarized :

What HDD can I buy to replace my two HDD ?
As I’ll change the two disks (to be sure. I suppose that I could change only the faulty one, but…), will the BIOS be wise enough to understand that they are new disks of an existing RAID 0 ?
Any other advices ? ^^’

Thank you in advance, and happy new year to all !

crimsom · Answer

Hi @MamorukunBE thank you for sharing your Alienware 17 R2 Laptop Raid 0 configuration.

Having two internal SATA Hard Disk Drives and a single large removable rear panel is very unusual for a 17 R2. Guess your system has a Windows Operating System, but you did not share which one you have.

Please type msinfo32 into Search (bottom left hand of screen) and select Open the System Information application. This will include your hard disk drive information and also reveal if your laptop is a regular Alienware 17 R2 or a customised variant.

The Raid 0 configuration shares information between two drives and it is not possible to replace a single drive of this pair, when for example: reached end of life, want to increase storage capacity, it has a fault that cannot be fixed, etc. The Raid 0 configuration creates additional disaster recovery problems.

If your 17 R2 has a M.2 2280 slot, advocate that you clone your OS (C:) drive to a (1TB) single fast or ultra fast PCIe NVMe solid state drive card asap, before your laptop completely fails. Before purchasing your NVMe card: (1) Check that it comes with free cloning software, the free Acronis True Image OEM is a very good example. (2) Check which generation of M.2 slot connection interface your system supports, e.g. is it PCIe 3.0 x4 capable?

Assuming that cloning is successful, the NVMe may have inherited bad OS (C:) information. Use Windows Update to check if different drivers, etc. are available. Then use the most recent Dell SupportAssist to check that the operating system is healthy and/or requires a Dell update.

When your replacement 17 R2 OS (C:) drive is fully operational, create a NVMe clone as part of your disaster recovery process.

Please share an update. Thank you.

MamorukunBE · Answer

Thank you for your fast answer Crimson. Yes, my bad. It is Windows 10 v1909. Aaaaand I also forgot to add that I already have a 10 GB SSD in that computer (I don’t even remember why I asked a so small SSD, still empty today…). So I intend to just buy a single HDD to replace the RAID 0.

About it, why do you suggest to use msinfo32 ? It indeed gives me details on the logical RAID 0 drive, but that’s all. Had you a special information to check in mind ?

Regarding the cloning of my system, I intended to simply use Windows integrated system (disk image + recovery disk). Wouldn’t be enough ? Why did you suggest to use another image software ?

Last question/reaction, which was in fact my main question : as I intend to replace a RAID 0 with another HDD (so using SATA connection), what do I have to take into account when choosing a new model ? You spoke about PCIe connection, but in my novice mind PCIe is a term related… to graphical cards ^^’ Unless SSD use PCIe and all along you were speaking of SSD checks ?

NB : and sorry for my English, French being my mother tongue.

MamorukunBE · Answer

Never mind ! Thank to you and your msinfo32 idea, I found which HDD exactly was exactly, changed the RAID configuration back to AHCI in the BIOS, removed the faulty disk, and reinstalled Windows on the safe one. All is perfect now (except that I lost all the Alienware specific programs and configuration, but that's OK) ^^

Thank you again, and happy new year !

Alienware

17 R2, Replace HDD

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