m17 R4, Second SSD Recommendations

Too small to fit, you mean physically or not enough storage? That model does come in a 2 TB size. As for physically, that is a 2280 and is compatible with the system you have.

Hi @GromUSA  welcome to this user to user discussion forum. This is not Dell Support. 

The m17 R4 Chipset says PCIe bus (data highway) is Up to Gen3. The SAMSUNG 980 PRO is PCIe Gen4 NVMe and will run at Gen3 read/write speeds in the m17 R4 system. 

The m17 R4 has three Internal Slots, for Two M.2 2230/2280 drives and One M.2 2230 drive. The SAMSUNG 980 PRO has M.2 2280 form factor and can be installed into SSD-2 slot. Do not understand why OP says its physical size is too small to fit. 

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Dell M.2 2280 SSD Thermal Shield RT4G1

Not trying to hijack the thread but have a related question. Going to install a Samsung 2TB EVO Plus into the 2021 M17 R4 and make it the boot drive. Probably clone drive one then swap the Samsung to drive one. My question is, does the empty drive slot (two) come with a heat sink or would I need to provide it? And thank you for the part #. Is the second slot heat sink necessary?

Basically if it’s Gen 3 or 4 it works.

It can be sizes 2230-2280.

the second slot don’t come with a heat sink so check if it does (hint: probably not.)

buy the second heat sink if you need the second SSD.

@Alienware Area-51 ALX 2006 

Support for Alienware m17 R4 Storage says M.2 2280/2230 PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe. 

Crucial System Advisor Tool for Alienware m17 R4 Storage says M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe. 

If PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe installed, it will run at PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe read/write speeds. 

@crimsom "and please check if the SSD2 securing screw has been provided.."

Just installed and for the record, it did include the screw on the empty NVMe M.2. Thank you!

D_Troup,  Did you install a heat sink with the new Samsung Evo Plus?

Where did you get it?  Was it the Dell M.2 2280 SSD Thermal Shield RT4G1?

Thanks in advance.

No, not yet. I did swap the 1TB OEM m.2 with a Samsung 2TB 970 Evo Plus and mounted the heat sink to it. Clean Win 11 install. Using the OEM as a second drive (Data) in the other slot. I do plan to shield it in the future though

@D_Troup , @Shown1964 

Also, remember even when crimson said you can't put a GEN 4 drive inside of the laptop because it would run at GEN 3 speeds, you can still buy it and once you're done using the laptop, swap the Drive into a GEN 4 system. So, you don't have to buy another drive.

"Too small to fit".  Are you trying to put a 2280 size card into the 2230 port by chance?