4th internal HDD in M17xR3 using mini pci-e RAID card

Hey all,

One think I learned is that the DMC slot in my Alienware M17xR3 is capable of running a mini PCI-e card.
So I bought a mini pci-e card that has a RAID controller and two SATA ports.

The end result is I have four hard drives in my M17xR3 now.

The RAID card is from StarTech.com and I put two 1TB drives in the space where the cd-rom goes.
If you look at your chassis there is a spot where you can put two stacked HDD if you clear out some of the metal ribs.

See attached photos for more of an explanation, and ping me for more info if you are interested.

 

I was thinking to do that on the m6600, but cant find the space to fit the drive ~~ maybe msata SSD

I believe the mpcie = pci x1 bandwidth? so should not bottleneck SSD if it is pci 2.0

 

awesome work dude. i just put a hdd caddy in my optical drive. ill keep this in mind if i ever need more storage
+rep

 

Thanks,

If I was to do it over again I would get different sata cables as the flat ones are difficult to fold and manipulate to turn corners.
I would also get a power splitter that has thin wires, these were a pain to move around.

The majority of time spent was manipulating cables around so everything would fit without bulges when everything was complete.

I did the HDD caddy for a while but I found myself doing more virtualization work so I needed more space.

Unfortunately the M17xR3 doesn't have a drive controller for the available mini pci-e slots so msata wouldn't work.

I like the m6600 too, good luck on the msata it is a great option if your hardware supports it.

 

What is normally plugged in there? As I don't remember noticing anything there last time I had my laptop open.

 

Few questions:

1. Did you remove the media card reader above the cd drive for space?
2. Are drives secure?
3. Any temp concerns?

 

Wow, looks good. Only two concerns. One, do you have to remove and leave out the memory card reader to get enough space? I can't see enough from your pictures to tell. Two, be very careful regarding the amount of power you are pulling thru the optical sata port. You don't want that tiny ribbon cable burning out or catching fire (very small chance of a wire fire) right next to your hard drives.

 

The dvd-rom is usually in that space. I removed the dvd-rom for this.
There also is a nook under the dvd-rom that is the same size as a 2.5 hdd.

Luckily the card reader sits flush inside the top of the handrest area so I was able to leave it in place.
I stuck the drives to the bottom with small rubber dampers that had adhesive on each side.
Then I stuck the drives together. Side to side movement is restricted by the stiff cabling and a very tight fit.
For temp, I haven't noticed it getting really hot in that area. And the drives are far enough from the cpu and gpu heat sinks to not get hot that way. The underside of the drives are open to the bottom lid and there is air flow there.

I will take everything apart if it gets too hot though.

Memory card reader stayed in place and you just reminded me of something I didn't check. I don't -think- this will be an issue but this is a good reminder.

 

Just a tip you should look into a covering for between the hhd and the card reader. Just as a precaution for creating a circuit.

 

Yep good idea, I think I will revisit the build to take more pics and address some of the feedback that you guys have brought up.

 

I was wondering more if there was normally anything in the DMC/mini-pcie slot; even though I may not ever use it I am aware of the fact that there is a DVD drive in these laptops!

Awesome upgrade in any case!

 

The DMC slot is where the optional wireless hd card (wihd) goes if you choose to select it when you order the laptop.

Not sure about newer Alienware laptops though. I think the DMC is where the msata card goes. Or the wihd card.
I know on the laptop configurator you can choose msata or wihd.
But I haven't seen that in the wild yet.

 

Makes sense that the WiHD card goes there- in my search for what exactly a DMC slot was, I found a nice specification paper saying it was originally designed to offer displayport output over mini-pcie, but without overloading the pins. Speaking of which, does anyone actually ever buy one of the WiHD adapters? I don't believe I have ever seen it listed in someone's signature.

 

I read the same paper and that is where I confirmed the slot would work for mini pcie before I bought the parts.

Im pretty confident in saying noone buys the wiHD card. Your tv needs to support it or you can purchase a set top box. Plus there are competing standards and I think wiHD lost.

It is an idea that reminds me of the xbox HD drive.
Or the wireless usb card that dell had years ago.

But we win with an extra mini pcie slot...

 

pretty cool dude but like others have mentioned there are some safety concerns but the risk is LOW AGAIN COOL +1 :thumbsup:

 

Congrats nealmcfee,

Very, very cute ! I also want 2 additional terabytes it’s not fair ! You did the most difficult part from the storage mod. One suggestion from me:

• secure the drives to each other firmly with a gap 0.5 ~ 1 mm between them if it possible. The reasons – keep the breathing holes open and physical shock prevention. If I was in your shoes I will put 2 thermal pads between the drives and then will wrap with a thermal resistance tape in the middle.

As far as the power consumption – don’t worry, you are fine with two HDDs. Can you boot from these drives when they are not in RAID? The card is with SATA II controller, right?

Good job :thumbsup:!

 

Thanks duhai,

I did keep a space between but it is a very small rubber spacer I probably need to move the drives apart a tiny bit more.
The resistance tape is a good idea.

Yes the card is a SATA II controller that can be configured in RAID using downloadable software.
I haven't tried booting yet I can see if this is an option but I like my SSD boot drive

It has survived HEAVY usage this past week and I have noticed little heat gain in that area of the case.

It's a pretty sweet mod for everyday use for demos using gigantic virtual machines without carrying around three external drives.

 

You are welcome!

With the thermal pads (thickness ~ 1.5 mm) you will make a better temperature transfer between the drives – it’s important to keep almost the same temp for both of them – longer life & stability. In 24/7 cycle under heavy load the temperature will be about 53 ~ 56*C at 25*C ambient. The Read/Write performance in RAID 0 must be ~ 150 MB / ~ 80 MB.

... only in RAID 0 with 2 SSDs at SATA3 and 1GB R/W . I think that you have this option in the Setup BIOS settings.

Your system with such storage power looks like a mobile Data Center and reminds me the Dark Star from Star Wars. Go more and make it faster, lets every server farms to envy !

Banzai !

 

I checked the bios settings and the SATA card does support boot.

When I was poking around I decided to configure the two spare 1tb drives in a RAID 0 array via the card's utilities.
I noticed a big speed increase just by eyeballing some large vhd file transfers.

Happy with my decision for RAID 0

 

Very impressive mod!

Please don't take down the pictures because this will become a very good reference thread for others looking to do the same thing in the future.

Think this will work with an R4?

Looking at your pictures, how did you connect the power? What parts did you use?

 

I’m happy for you! Now it’s time to check the numbers with Aida/Everest and to set properly the system cache. There are two tools for this task – free Microsoft one and the good one SuperCache:yes: from SuperSpeed. My suggestion is to use 4 GB cache. Read carefully the manual and make your storage to fly .

---

@funkmasterta
Beauty,

If you grab these two babies ( Hitachi 500GB/7200RPM/32MB/SATA3) you’ll be fast as the wind! Wow, 7 mm thickness :thumbsup:, single plate , 32 MB cache (can't be) in RAID 0 and they are also cool. Yeah, cool and not hot! It’s the perfect 2.5” HDD for the RAID lovers.

 

Does anyone know what else will work with the DMC Slot? Like maybe another MSATA SSD drive?

 

I would like to know that also..
=)

planning to do 5-harddrive setup on my m17x r4

=)

 

I did some research and it might actually be possible!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...nd-dual-msata-ssd-storage-drive-dmc-slot.html

Just got back from a cruise, so I'm waiting for my tax return to replenish my savings but as soon as it does, I'm going to pick up another msata drive and test this out. Just need to start on my taxes! LOL

UPDATE:

You could feasibly setup a system with 4 HDD's + 2 MSATA SSD's. Here's how:

HDD 1: Use the normal SATA port 1 for HDD 1

HDD 2: Use the normal SATA port 2 for HDD 2

HDD 3 & 4: Buy this: http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Express-Internal-Controller-MPEXSATA22I/dp/B004NNRRN8/ and do the mod covered in this thread. It will give you 2 additional SATA ports 3 & 4

MSATA SSD 1: Use the normal MSATA SSD slot

MSATA SSD 2: Buy this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007PPZ2I8/ and plug it into the existing SATA port 3 for the ODD

THAT'S 6 DRIVES TOTAL!!! If I had the money, I'd put 4 x 1.0TB HDD's in there!

You could even use the motherboard's Intel RAID to RAID0 both of the MSATA SSD drives, that would be screamin! Imagine 2 x 128gb SSD's in RAID0 for the OS drive

@nealmcfee:

Can you please let us know if that SATA controller card allows the on-board Intel RAID to recognize and configure drives attached to it into a RAID array?

Per this Amazon reviewer's information, it's probably a better idea to do RAID with the Intel rather than this card's on-board hybrid RAID:

 

watch the power draw before grabbing everything and dont waste money. optical drive is 6+7 pin sata to 22pin sata may provide less than 1.5 amps. http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ta-iii-3-ports-your-laptop-2.html#post9113685

 

Is that nook reinforced with vertical beams in the R3, like in the R4?



Looks like it is reinforced with vertical beams like the R4 (fast forward to 21:30), this is a video of the R3 teardown:



How were you able to fit both drives under the speaker? I tried to fit two standard 9mm drives and they won't fit under the speaker, nor will the palm rest/cover fit on top because of the SD reader.



How did you screw down the msata controller card? There are no mounting screw studs in the R4.

Anyone else been able to do this mod besides OP?

 

Hey great questions, there are beams but I cut them out and ground the area down with a dremel.
After the beams are gone you get close to three additional millimeters to sink drives into that area.
I am not worried about removing the beams as they were there to strengthen the area because there was a void under the dvd-rom.
With the drives there it is a very snug fit so I am not worried about stress or puncture of the area that I removed the beams from.

As for the mounting, I threaded the small rubber bumper that is in that location.
I fastened the card using a screw to this rubber bumper.
Also there is a very snug fit with the top cover on the card, I added additional rubber on top of the card to make sure there was a very snug fit.
If I choose to upgrade these drives I will take more pictures and consider epoxying a threaded stud I have from another laptop.

 

This is a great idea, one thing to keep in mind for reference is that the DMC slot doesn't have a hard disk drive controller connected to it.
One thing about the R4 is that the MSata slot has a drive controller connected to it.

So the main reason I added a RAID controller to the DMC slot in my R3 is that I had to add the drive controller.
Also the R3 doesn't have a MSATA slot. (I wish it did).


My next mod to this rig will be to add 2 x 2TB notebook drives sourced from two disassembled WD My Passport drives.
I have a usb3 drive controller ready to go to place in the DMC slot that will replace the SATA card.

I will take more pictures when I get around to the build.

 

How did you get the cables to fit inside?

The connector ends of the SATA and power cables are so large, I've found it impossible to fit inside the machine.

Were you able to find specialized cables with small connectors?

Daym, that is some hardcore modding.

Why replace the SATA controller with USB 3?

I guess because the SATA & power connectors are too big to fit inside?

 

-I ground the SATA connectors down until I could bend them 90 degrees from the socket.
Fitting these was the most PITA part.

-I want to use the drives from the WD My Passport 2TB external drives.
These drives have the USB connectors attached to the HDD instead of a SATA interface.
So if I want to upgrade to 4TB instead of the 2TB I would have to replace the card.
At least until a non hack SATA 2TB 2.5 inch drive is released.

 

Ok, that's what I was thinking too. I still couldn't fit them in though. Did you have to make additional cuts into the "tray" area with the circles cut out?

Here ya go:

Amazon.com: WD Green 2 TB Mobile Hard Drive: 2.5 Inch, SATA II, 8 MB Cache - WD20NPVT: Computers & Accessories

I'm guessing the external 2.5" drives use these internally. Except that these have SATA II interface.

 

I ground the area so it was all the way flat, there is a rectangle that can accept drives if you put them there.
The drives are all the way flat against the surface and the drives are stacked snugly against each other.
Seriously, it took me two hours to get the cables in there right.

Wow, 15mm drive height for your link.
I might only be able to fit one drive in there.
I still might try two and ditch the SD card reader, and since it is a WD Green drive it will probably run cooler.

 

so anyone actually tried the idea of making this work from post 1 page 1? cause from what I have seen it shouldnt have worked. that startech card isn't supporting intel motherboard and shouldnt get picked up in server OS.

 

Are there any questions I can answer for you?
I can take more pics of device manager if you wish.

 

what kind of bios are u using? for the control S for silicon
and how are the performance under raid 0, 1 and JBOD

 

i know it may be answered, but have to ask.

I have already installed 2x1tb hdd and a 120 gb ssd, also want to add another ssd on the DMC slot with a mini pci-e ssd.

Is it possible?

 

The DMC is not booted until after POST and crap, so you won't have a boot drive ever, from the DMC slot on AW machines. Try all you want. It literally has no power, and is not being read or listened too either, so do not waste your time. You want fast drives, and performance, just get the QUAD PLAY options form DELL for the AW's. Thats 4x ssd's at 6GB/s speeds.
Mine is a TB total (ea.256GB) and I get over 1GB/s in speed. Your RAID 0 with 5400 mechanical, low profile, low power drives are going to get you at best 300mb a second. THATS AT BEST.

You want very fast speeds ? 25SAT22MSAT from startech, stick in 2x msata 840 samsung drives, make sure they are 500GB+ ea. versions, and you should be able to hit like 5-600MBs easily. On a single card, and still have lots of space for purely storage drives and making RAID 0 with them too. Much better option.