Thank you @ejn63 

As I suspected, I'm too much of a novice to know about this but I didn't think it'd be that easy so apologies for my ignorance or lack of knowledge

How would I be able to find out if the system sees the drive?

 

First, does the system's setup see the drive?  That needs to be checked before proceeding.

If it does, but the system won't boot from the drive it could be anything from an encrypted drive, to one from a system using a nonstandard boot sector, etc.  The odds of transplanting a drive from one system to another decrease as the hardware differences between the systems increase.

 

@mattyb3 Hello again

Not sure how to check if it's detected by the BIOS but I think you mean on startup

Can you clarify? 

 

FYI, on the previous thread on upgrading, I've decided it's not worth the hassle as I've checked the requirements for some titles I want to play and none will work on a 8970 anyway 

Press F2 during startup to enter the BIOS. I haven't been into the BIOS on the M17x R2 for some time so I can't remember exactly what the menus look like but the should be an Advanced tab and the Sata devices should all be listed under this tab (HDD/SSD/Optical drive)

If you can see the drive in here then there's a good chance that you can just clean the drive and change the partition type and you can install your OS. 

EDIT: If it isn't listed then try installing it in the second drive bay and use the other interposer (the bit that connects the drive to the motherboard), if you have it. 

No luck with this.

F2 doesn't seem to work. I have attached a few items to help with seeing what if anything is the issue 

In regards to your edit. This can be done but I can't find the adaptor that is required for the 2md HDD slot

Please check the attached pictures. They include 

Error message displayed which does not change when pressing and F keys

Original HDD

My recent SSD with OS (used as main HDD in other laptop)

Additional HDD enclosure with the weird connector 

Details of the laptop from inside the battery enclosure (this may help?)

 

 

 

 

 

@rsbh585 What laptop did the other drive come out of?

If you had the second interposer then it would be a little easier to see how the drive is set up but you can still do it.

What you can do is use the Microsoft Media Creation Tool to put Windows 10 onto a USB flash drive. Put the SSD into the M17x and plug in the USB drive. Press F12 during boot to get into the Boot menu. Select the USB and let the Windows 10 installation start. You will get to a screen when you need to select the drive to install Windows on. Click on your SSD and see if it comes up with a warning saying that you can't install Windows on this drive because it's the wrong partition type. If it does then it means that the drive is set up wrong for your M17x. If there are no drives detected then the drive is bad and you'll have to grab a new one but if it works in the other laptop then it's probably the first issue. 

Hi @mattyb3 

It came from a custom laptop which was great from PC Specialist. I have added the spec below even though its probably overkill 

Unfortunately I am unsure how to follow the steps but I'll endeavour to do so. I don't think the HDD is bad as I can access it using a USB adaptor shown in the images and everything works fine interms of accessing everything 

I'll keep you posted with your win10 suggestion

 

Old laptop spec (from which the  SDD is from)

Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4710MQ (2.50GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 870M - 6.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Battery Vortex 15.6" Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Operating System Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Windows Recovery Media Windows 8.1 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve

I'm not exactly sure what your drive issue is but it could be related to the partition type of the drive so we'll try it first and then see how it goes.

It is quite easy to use to Microsoft Media Creation Tool. Just Google it and select the first search option. It should be 

Windows 10 ISO - Microsoft

Then find the Download Tool Now tab and select this. I don't have admin permissions on my work computer so I can't download any files to walk you through the next part but once it downloads, open it up and you should get an option to Upgrade this PC or to put the ISO onto a USB. If you have an empty USB drive plugged in then select this option and you'll create the Bootable Windows 10 installation USB.

When you're all set then insert the SSD and USB drive into your R2. Power on and spam the F12 key until you get into the Boot Menu. The USB drive should be a boot option so select this and the Windows Installation will begin.

You will get to the drive select screen

 

Your SSD should be listed here, it may be spilt into a number of Partitions. Select the partition with the largest amount of free space, this should be where your previous Windows installation is. See if it comes up with a message saying that Windows cannot be installed on this drive

If it comes up with something like this then you'll have to clean the disk and change the partition type to MBR and reinstall Windows. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey @mattyb3 

I did as you instructed and yes, my SSD I in an incorrect format. I have attached pics showing the following 

1- the partition that has windows

 

2- the 1st set of partitions 

 

3- the 2nd set of partitions 

 

As the SSD has a lot of data I wish to keep, I will back this up. As for using it in my alienware, this will obviously need to be formatted correctly. How would I do this?

And perhaps more importantly, I've only heard that boot speeds can be reduced from minutes to seconds with an SSD but I actually don't know. Is this worth all the hassle we're putting in. 

If it means everything will load quicker (currently it takes over 5 minutes to load and even then everything takes a minute to load everything  such as chrome and even file explorer) then it definitely is

 

Hey mate, sorry about the late reply. If you want to keep the data from the SSD then you really need to put it back in the other laptop and save the data on an external drive so you can transfer it back later. 

You can use CMD to change the partition type in the screen you are in above but I can't confirm that you won't lose everything on the drive. Most of the time you have to 'Clean' the drive before you convert the partition type. You can try but I wouldn't want you to lose everything.

If you want to convert the drive then when you get to this stage above and press SHIFT and F10. This will open Command Prompt. Type the following

diskpart and press enter

List disk and press enter  

Select disk 0 and press enter

Here is where you'd usually type;

clean 

which wipes the drive ready to convert. I'm not sure if you can convert without this step

Then you type

convert mbr

The conversion should be done. type exit and close CMD

Then refresh the drive selection page and you can install Windows on the drive. You can try to run the Windows 10 installer but you may not get an activated OS so you'd have to purchase a key. If you have the Windows 7 installation CD then it's best to use this and then Upgrade this PC through Microsoft to get Windows 10 for free. 

Hi @mattyb3,

No problem, you're already doing loads helping me through this rollercoaster of what to do with my alienware 

I think it's easier to simply transfer all my data to another location and use the SSD as a fresh drive for the alienware. I have no other use for it as the laptop it came from died - I thought I mentioned  this

If the instructions you've already provided is all I need to do then I'll just do that and soon I'll have a fresh new laptop with a fresh new SSD.

 

Ok good luck. Happy to help if I can. Once you've transferred the data over then the rest is pretty easy. I've done it many times. I rebuild the older laptops as a little side hobby. 

 

Hi @mattyb3 

All the data that I need has been transferred to the HDD so my SSD is ready to go

I've got to the below screen after typing CLEAN following your steps. Can you please help?

 

 

Type 

List Disk and press enter

Select Disk 0 and press enter

clean and press enter

convert mbr and press enter

It should be good to go so just type

exit and press enter

close down the command prompt and refresh the drive screen