M17X R1/R2 - Replace CD Drive with HDD/SSD?

I am going to be taking my M17X R1 apart soon for a screen and gpu upgrade, and I'm just wondering if I can replace the DVD drive with a HDD or SSD. I really never use my DVD drive, the only time I use CD's is when I have to reinstall windows and that's done through an external DVD drive anyways... this internal DVD drive is way too slow lol.

I posted M17X R2 also because both the R1 and R2 are almost identical externally/internally. Thanks!

 

i believe the cd drive uses a ribbon cable to connect to the motherboard and the right i/o ports have screw holes that connects to cd drive. those may be a problem when replacing the cd drive with a hard drive.

it has been a while since i last strip my laptop down to the motherboard, so i may be wrong,

 

Here
2nd hard drive SSD HDD Caddy Bay For Dell Alienware M15x M17x M18x R1 R2 R3 NEW | eBay
or cheaper version like this
12.7MM 2nd SATA to SATA HDD SSD Hard Drive Bay Caddy for Laptops HP DELL SONY | eBay

Just make sure that it's SATA to SATA and not IDE to SATA, and the size is 12.7 not 9.5 and you should be ok

And use USB for windows install, it's the fastest way anyway

 

Yes you can do that.

 

Thanks for the links, now I can finally put that useless CD Drive area to some real use

 

True about that , but i still use the ODD for burning music CDs for my car, so i can't say goodbye to it just yet xD,
As soon as i get external Burner, it's outta here

 

Lol ya, I used to do that, but my new car now has an audio input connector and bluetooth, so I just have my phone hooked up to my car for music :thumbsup:

 

I'm looking at this second battery do you think it would work in M17x?

Alienware Battery Pack Model NO SQU 723 Zusatzakku | eBay

 

have you successfully replace the cd/dvd drive?

 

Yes it was really easy actually. Just a quick swap and you're good to go.