17 R4, memory/storage upgrades

Question

Hello:  I have an Alienware R4 17 which currently has a 128gb SSD boot 'C' drive and a 1tb SATA 'D' storage drive.  Without trying much at all I managed to fill my boot drive and storage drive nearly to capacity.  I'm most concerned about the boot drive considering I haven't added much to that drive at all and it seems that most of the files are related to Windows and various updates.  Due to running low on space I'm looking to increase as much capacity as I can afford to.  However, I'm not sure where to find the capacities for this device, and if you'll forgive my ignorance but I'm hoping someone can tell me what drives and max capacity I should put in to this laptop.   With regards to the boot drive, I can probably afford a 512gb SSD drive, but how exactly should I install that?  Since I'd need to take the existing boot drive out how would I install Windows and the other necessary files on to the new drive and replace it to function normally?  I also notice a read-only 'E' drive which I heard was simply a partition on the SSD ('C') drive containing the factory restoration files.  Is that true, and would cloning the SSD drive somehow also contain these 'E' drive files?  With regards to increasing the storage 'D' drive, is there space for a second storage drive or am I limited to putting in a single (but larger) storage/SATA drive?    I assume that would only be a matter of plug-and-play by swapping out the drives? Lastly, since I will have the laptop opened up, would it make sense to add to/increase the RAM (or anything else) while I'm in there?  I currently have 16gb DDR4 (2x8gb).  I don't really notice a need to add anything else at the moment, but wondering what is possible and what I could install to keep this laptop viable for a long time, and if it's worth the price of doing so.   Again, I'm new at upgrading laptops, so I appreciate any insight and explanations in newbie terms.  Links to any sites for suggested reading or buying is also appreciated!   Thanks in advance!

crimsom · Answer

Hi @Bones3010 welcome to this free user-to-user Alienware laptop discussion forum.

Alienware 17 R4 Storage and RAM Memory can be updated. The Crucial System Advisor database has the most recent tested hardware, see Alienware 17 R4 | Memory RAM & SSD Upgrades | Crucial.com. The new ultrafast M.2 2280 NVMe SSD (C:) boot drive should have a large storage capacity and installed in the empty SSD slot to clone (copy) the old (C:) boot drive. The new (C:) boot drive partition table should be the modern GPT so that BIOS boot list option UEFI is enabled. Use Macrium Software | Reflect Free Edition or similar to create clone. This information is available on YouTube.

The 2.5-inch storage bay is the slow SATA III but can be HDD or SSD.

Please visit Disk Management to determine where the drive letters have been assigned. Windows can access partition letters, but Recovery and/or EFI system partitions should not have been assigned a letter.

The DDR4 RAM Memory capacity can be increased to 32GB and a matched pair of high speed.

Alienware 17 R4 with Base cover removed

Storage consists of the fast or ultrafast NVMe SSD-1 M.2 2242 slot, SSD-2 & SSD-3 M.2 2280 slots and the slow 2.5-inch SATA III bay.

The Wi-Fi adapter could be updated to match the capabilities of a modern Wi-Fi hub. The Ethernet adapter is part of the system board and not user upgradable. A 1GB Ethernet cable can be used.

Matt Ee · Answer

So the (1/2) size SSD slot is a (2242)?  I also see it listed 'around' as (2230)  and I am not sure of the correct one to buy?

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