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May 29th, 2022 11:00
m17 R1, storage
Is it possible to use two SSD and one HDD configuration?
Hi. I'm having Alienware m17, with 8th gen core i7. It currently have a 256 GB PCIe M2 SSD and a 1TB HDD. It also have an additional slot for SSD. Is it possible to add one more SSD in it and use all three storages? I have checked the manual and it doesn't have a say about using 2 SSD - 1 HDD configuration, although it is having only 2 SSD configuration in the manual.
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JOcean
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May 29th, 2022 12:00
The service manual is a bit vague and would lead me to believe you cannot BUT Laptop Mag has a nice article with pics and according to their site you can have 2 SSD with an HDD. That web page is here. And they actually show 2 SSD with an HDD installed.
JOcean
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May 29th, 2022 13:00
1TB is the largest drive that Dell has tested with the system. You can go up to a 4TB drive. For example the Crucial site here lists a 4TB and 2TB 2.5" SSD (it can be an HDD which Crucial does not sell) as compatible.
Abduism
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May 29th, 2022 12:00
Also, the manual says the HDD can be upgradable to 1TB only. Is it possible to put 2TB HDD and use it effectively?
crimsom
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May 29th, 2022 15:00
Hi @Abduism welcome to this free user to user Alienware laptop discussion forum. This is not Dell Support.
Dell does not update their Support for Alienware m17 (R1, Intel 8th Gen CPU) Documentation, but there are modern upgrade options, see Dell Alienware 17 Disassembly and SSD, RAM, HDD upgrade options | MyFixGuide.com
Mechanical Hard Disk Storage (HDS) is now being replaced by Solid State Storage (SSD) with no moving parts for laptops. The Alienware m17 R1 Storage is designed for combination of NVMe and SATA drives. The HL GA31N SATA DVD burner can be replaced to be a removeable SATA drive bay, so that Alienware m17 R1 storage has three storage drive bays. 4TB SSD NVMe and SATA drives are now available and will significantly boost the performance and reliability of the Alienware m17 R1 laptop. The more recent Alienware laptops do not have an internal DVD drive and if required, user must get an external DVD Drive.
Your NVMe should be the OS(C:) boot drive with GPT partition format so that UEFI can be enabled.
There are different build versions of the Alienware m17 R1, and your two NVMe drive bay version is not captured in the Dell Support Documentation.