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Area-51 R5, U.2 2.5" SSD Compatibility (Intel Optane)
Sharing this small SSD mod for my Area 51 R5 for others out there who may be looking at upgrading their SSD...
My machine was configured with the '512GB SSD + 2TB HDD' option. I chose the lowest option as I had plans to upgrade to Samsung 970 Pro (M.2) as Samsung SSD's have been my SSD of choice in the recent years. Then shortly after I ordered the machine I came across the news of Intel releasing theyre newest 3D XPoint based drive the Intel 905P drives. The drives are available in 2 form factors/capacities.
1. 480GB / 2.5" U.2 Form Factor
2. 960GB / PCI-e Add-in-card
Looking at the technical manual for the Area 51 R5 I saw the motherboard had 2 U.2 ports; this matches up with some of the configuration options that Dell supports when you buy the machine. So far so good. Next up I watched the R5 marketing video and you can clearly see that Dell shows off Intel 900 Optane drives in the video. But they dont show 905P. I took the chance and ordered the 480GB drive. Once the drive arrived I opened up the machine and..
KUDOS!! to Dell that even though I didnt purchase my Area51 with U.2 drives; all cables, connectors and even the small U.2 fans!! were still included and pre-installed. Normally when you dont purchase the upgrade Dell does not pre-wire or give you the accessories that come with the upgrade. I was VERY happy to see that was not the case and then I would have to go through the forums trying to find the factory part numbers so I could retrofit the upgrade.
Finally...
Im happy to report that after removing the included M.2 SSD (Hynix) I installed the 905P 480GB drive, loaded up my USB stick with Windows10 Install media, rebooted successfully re-installed Windows 10 Pro. This was great news as I always re-install Windows on any new machine I get to remove any vendor bloat or pre-installed applications that I'll never use.
I picked up two Intel 905P 480 GB U.2 SSD'S for my Alienware Area 51-R5 installed them and they didn't show up in Bios or Disk Management. I could not get them to work either the are both defective or maybe you can only use the Intel 900P 280 GB ? How did you get them to work? Help
Akdave2019
3 Posts
1486
0
Posted January 10th, 2020 00:00
Am i able to format an internal ssd 256gb that has my os on it....?
even intel.com tells you optane is useless today, cheap SSD ended that ages ago and they tell you that there.
it was a STOP GAP thing back long ago, and is not worth using or thinking about it now.
back at $300+ 60GB SSD days, remember then?
"Am i able to format an internal ssd 256gb that has my os on it....? "
well like changing tires on moving car sure you can, but more important can I watch you on YouTube.
the answer is , you can boot to any USB OS you want and delete, or better erase any partition. or the whole disk..... (the secret is not booted to the target disk)
google how to erase hdd. /sdd.
the word is erase , windows installer does the format for you there are no reasons valid to do a format your self on any BOOT drive. (only done by advanced users doing special things, like dual boots or the like)
nothing works better than either a new disk or one fully erased, (zero format that means)
then install w10, boot the media installer and let it do its job for you, at the silly questions click NO> 10 times.
no Cortuna and the like. no spy, no cloud, no any of that. no live.com (but sure if you like your PC like a cellphone, say yes to all that stuff.(good luck that)
@JKTRRT wrote:
I have a Alienware Area 51r5 does the the pc have to be set to RAID and not ACHI for the drive to show up in Disk management and be able to be formatted?
No.
Does it show in BIOS (as that is the first step).
If you require further assistance, please start your own new thread.
Please list SSD model number. It would also be helpful to know if it is U.2, M.2/NVMe, or 2.5in-SATA-3/600. Also, were do you have it connected and with what kind of cables.
Dell Rockstar
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Intel NSG
1 Message
3289
0
Posted July 12th, 2018 14:00
Hey there! Glad you picked it up, how do you like it? What made you ultimately choose the Optane?