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58936
November 14th, 2013 22:00
X51 R2 i5 RAID SSD
Hello peeps.
After much reading, trying and failing.
My system was original X51 R2 i5 4th. gen. 1TB 3,5" Seagate. 8 GB Ram.
I Upgraded to 16GB Kingston KHX16C10B1BK2/16X kit.
& two Intel SSD 530 120GB
Should not be a problem, but yes, stated in Owners manual RAID options should be available in BIOS, but is not.
Alienware/AlienRespawn/Windows/ (USB/CD*) migration utilities would or could not migrate from original HD to SSD. No way.
Intel Data Migration Software, to DVD was the only possible way I could make this work. Boot on DVD, then migrate to ONE of the SSD 530's, then boot to Windows 8 and the Intel Rapid Storage software picked up the second Intel 530 SSD, so i could choose to Mirror my SSD's ( RAID 1).
If DELL would have supplied installation media, so I could do a CLEAN INSTALL WIN 8 or whatever, this would not even be a problem.
How much for a DVD platter these days?
EDIT 21.3.2014
Hi again.
I used the following parts for this minimal project.
1x Molex 4pin to 2 x 15pin SATA power cable (21cm total / 16cm cable only)
1x Molex 4pin Y cable, Molex male to 2 x Molex females (24cm total / 19cm cable only)
2x SATA III cable 7-Pin straight both ends (50cm total)
You need a HDD bay that takes two SSD's (or make your own rig / "thing")
I think this would do the job Akasa: AK-HDA-03
There is ONLY one HDD power outtake on the Motherboard, and this is MOLEX 4pin MALE!, not female that would be normal.
Seeya.
MortenMorten
9 Posts
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March 21st, 2014 12:00
Hehe, you don't give in easily do you.
For the X51 R2 (not R1), there are none, none what so ever config option for RAID in bios, or pre-boot menu.
I think the ERROR! in the manual which state there is, can be leftovers from the R1 manual.
Have a nice day :)
MWReaves
4 Posts
1
March 20th, 2014 17:00
Hey Morton - I want to do the same thing to my X51r2. What cables did you use for power and data? Did you use Alienware parts or just use generic cables?
MortenMorten
9 Posts
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March 20th, 2014 19:00
Hi.
I got exactly the setup i planned for. 2x120gb ssd's in raid 1.
And yes, if you like you can stripe or raid 0 those drives.
The point with my post is to clarify that the Alienware manual says there are raid options in bios, which is not the case.
As for what cables I used, I can come back with info on soon.
Regards
Tesla1856
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March 20th, 2014 19:00
1. Just making a suggestion.
Go ahead and do a pretend recovery (the whole reason to run a RAID-1)and see how it works out. Also, remember that a compromised OS will immediately copy to the slave... a pristine Image (regularly updated) offline would be better.
2. I don't have a x51-R2 here, but the options should be AHCI vs. RAID. After you do that get RAID working, there might also be a BIOS option to allow hot-key to display on boot. On boot, press the hot-key to get to pre-Windows load RAID config screen.
Props for installing the drives properly (screwing them down with proper mounts). I'm see some users just lay them inside where-ever there is room. That is fine I suppose but they should still be screwed down.
Tesla1856
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March 20th, 2014 19:00
I understand what you were trying to do with the RAID-0 and 2 smaller SSD drives (one really fast C: drive). Not what I would recommend, but I get it.
But it didn't work-out and you ended up with a 50% smaller RAID-1. With no spinning drive, (and 120gb RAID-1) you have very little space. You might considered no-RAID and make those SSDs
C: OS and a few major programs
D: Other larger programs and games
Image system to external USB drive or network for the backup.
MortenMorten
9 Posts
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March 21st, 2014 09:00
Tesla.. you say "...AHCI vs. RAID. After you do that get RIAD working, there might also be a BIOS option to allow hot-key to display on boot."
Well, but there is not.
Regards.
Tesla1856
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March 21st, 2014 12:00
Which part is not there?
You can't switch between AHCI-and-RAID or ...
You can't get the pre-boot RAID config menu to appear?
Tesla1856
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March 21st, 2014 13:00
Thanks for verifying.
Just trying to confirm RAID-1 (or RAID-0) is actually supported on this model (and not just barely working or "appear" to be working).
If you can't recover RAID-1 after catastrophic event, I can't think of any advanage to running one.
MortenMorten
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March 21st, 2014 18:00
Tesla1856
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March 23rd, 2014 17:00
While searching for something else, I did find this:
http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/p/19519307/20424356.aspx#20424356
... Confirms what you were saying.
And I still think a non-RAID-ed config would be better on that machine. Good Luck and thanks for the tutorial.
maven1
4 Posts
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September 15th, 2014 11:00
Is the raid still set up? Was there a Raid 0 option when you were setting up? I'd like to stripe two 1tb ssd.
Thanks for this. Hopefully I can get this up and running soon.
MortenMorten
9 Posts
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September 19th, 2014 02:00
Yes, Raid0 is possible.
maven1
4 Posts
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September 19th, 2014 09:00
MortenMorten
9 Posts
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September 19th, 2014 13:00
Yea.
First install Windows on one drive. Install drivers and the Intel software. Then you create a Raid volume, optimize for performance, and keep data. In the help file under: Creating a Volume\ Creation Process\ Configuring the Volume. This is the way to do it because no option in Bios as mentioned before.
Disadvantage: No data redundancy (if one disk fails, all data on the volume is lost).
maven1
4 Posts
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September 25th, 2014 12:00
thanks. tried contacting dell support and was told they weren't responsible for errors in the manual nor when someone tells you something wrong from support. i have two samsung ssds instead of intel so i'm hoping it will still work. that is this afternoons project to see if i can set it up with samsung ssds instead of intel ones.
got screwed on the xps 630i computer and now on the alienware x51 r2. i wish i had tried to set this up when i first bought it so i could have returned it.
thanks for your help.