Hard Drive upgrade question

So I just go my R3 but i'm wondering how to go about installing a hard drive.

I already have a 512 SSD drive in there but would like to add a 7200rpm drive. Anyone recommend one? The more space the better.

Also is there a step by step guide on how to do install the drive. I know I can put the drive in the laptop but what about software wise. Do I have to do anything on BIOS or format it? Any help or links would be great.

 

Did you buy it with the "512Gb" SSD? If so then you have 2 SSDs in RAID 0 so each HDD slot holds one each.

 

Agreed. The 512 SSD option is for TWO 256gb SSD's and not one huge 512gb SSD. That isnt an option as far as i know.

That being the case, if you want to add a normal HDD for storage, you could always look at converting the optical bay into space for a mechanical.....lots of people do it. Depends on how much you use your optical drive. It can always be put in an external enclosure but obvioulsy is more clutter on the desk if you need to use it alot.

If you dont use it alot, keep the optical drive in the suggested enclosure in a drawer or something and just get it out & hook it up when you want to use it!

 

It has 2 hard drives in it right now. The 512gb SSD drive and the stock 320gb drive. I want to replace the 320 gb drive with something bigger but non ssd.

 

Are you CERTAIN you have one 512gb SSD? - didnt think dell offered that config on that system. Could be wrong but never seen it!

 

Your right dell didn't offer it, I had it customized somewhere else. The 320gb is the one that came with it.

 

Is there any reason this hard drive wouldn't work in my laptop? Link

 

I doubt it will work. Its physically too large. The largest HDD you can get is a 1gb 2.5in. Atm, they are only 5400rpm. Samsung has one, and I'm not sure on the rest.

 

That is a 3.5" desktop hard drive and it will not fit into the 2.5" drive space on your laptop.

 

I read on the forums here somewhere that the R3 won't accommodate the taller(thicker) 1TB drives.

The 750GB HDDs may be the most internal storage you can get.

 

Ah I didn't see that was a 3.5inch one. So any 2.5 inch one should fit then?

 

No, not just any 2.5 inch. Until recently this was true. However, some of the new high capacity drives are thicker (in height) and will not fit in every machine. You will need to verify it has adequate clearance for the thicker 2.5 inch drive.

 

Yes, to this date there are the 1Tb (WD,Samsung etc.) at 12,5mm height and the 1,5Tb at 14,8mm in height.

 

My scenario is also similar to macaddict84. I have ordered R3 with 256 GB SSD and I plan to add secondary hard drive for storage only.

What are the steps for adding second hdd? Any special instructions or vids?

Any help is much appreciated!!

 

take a look at Mandrake's videos here.

cheers

 

Hi katalin, thanks for pointing me to the video link. But that video is focused on GPU replacement instead of hdd.

Anyways what I need to know is "should I just connect second hdd to the laptop and then format it to use? Or do I need to play around with some BIOS settings n stuff?"

I am going to use the second hdd for storage only and I assume when I receive my beast the BIOS option will be set to RAID instead of AHCI? Does that really matter?

 

Why would you have a raid if you only have one "factory installed" drive?....if you want a ssd as boot drive and hdd as storage, DONT use a raid setup as your ssd will then work no better than your hdd!!!! (raided drives will perform at the same performance level as the lowest counterpart within that raid array) - so dont raid ANY ssd and hdd....ever....at all! lol - raid needs TWO of the same type of drive and the same size of drive to work best.

For a single ssd as a boot drive, i believe you should select AHCI for optimal performance. This would be fine afaik should you install a secondary drive in an empty bay.

Are you just asking for advice on how to install a hdd into an empty bay? - does your system only have the one ssd from the factory and no additional hdd?......

 

Hi Stevie,

I think there is a small confusion here lol! Ok, so I have ordered system with 256GB SSD from Dell and asked them about the BIOS option will be set to RAID/AHCI? And they said it will be set by default to RAID in BIOS (Not the RAID 0,1,etc..) and we can't customize it AHCI you will have to do it yourself.

So now I am confused about two things!

1) Will my single SSD performance get affected because of the BIOS setting set to RAID? Is it absolutely necessary to change it to AHCI and then reinstall windows?

2) Once the above question is solved..I plan to purchase a secondary hdd and install it myself (only for storing movies, etc...). I just want to know if I need to change some BIOS settings or any other settings before adding the second hdd?

Hope this solves the confusion!

PS: Working 12 hour night shift...Almost brain dead now!

 

If its set as raid when it ships, you will have to change it because you dont want to raid a ssd and a hdd. - not entirely sure why it would be set to raid if you only have on ssd and no hdd factory installed. (i know that raid supports AHCI but i dont think thats any use to you running a ssd AND a hdd for the reasons i said about performance)

Im not 100% on wether or not you can change it without requiring a windows re-install. I did find this article which suggests you can go from raid to ahci without reinstalling. How to change from IDE/AHCI to AHCI/RAID *without* reinstalling windows - Overclockers UK Forums

Not sure if its simpler to reinstall windows after changing to AHCI in the bios.

As far as installing the secondary hdd....pop it in, restart and assign it a drive letter after formatting it. Right click on computer and select "manage"...then storage and then disk management. From there you should be able to format and assign a drive letter to your new drive.

As far as I know!!! - im not an expert on this so maybe better to get some "expert" clarification regards to the bios settings. I just know that raid and ssd/hdd is a no-no.

 

All of the R3s are shipped with RAID turned on on the bios. Some of have been told to leave it this way even if not running in a raid config for some mystery performance reason (Dell vodoo). Some have set to to AHCI to do a clean reload with no appearent issues however. Since i am running raid, its a non issue for me, but for me, i need to hit the ole F6 button to add raid drivers in do a clean install of windows so that it can see the raid array. Im not sure if running RAID with a single drive is subject to this issue as well.

 

I think one of the HDD bays will accommodate the thicker drives if you break off a tab in the chassis casting where the HDD is mounted. There is a thread on this forum with further information.

 

Fox, he's asking about the R3