M17x - Hard Drive Caddy ( secondary Drive)

On the phone w/tech support right now trying to get that 2nd hdd enclosure. I asked him for the part number and it was TRDD2. Let's hope it's the correct one and not the funky package the other poster got.

 

Cool, let us know the results. Didn't order a 2nd HD with mine, so I'll need the enclosure/caddy too.

 

ordered mine through tech support at no charge and the kit is back order until 3/29....as per Alienware but I did get an order # from them that is verifiable.

 

Same thing, ordered mine and have an order number, but it is back ordered.
Would have been nice if they had told me that.. I used a bracket I had from an
old laptop that I modified to work.

Gene

 

Will a 12.5mm drive fit into the M17x?

 

Folks, be aware, you may need more than just the caddy.

See my warning here.

------------
Sorry folks, I did not realize you needed an adapter (aka interposer) as I only received the caddy, no interposer, and no extra screws.

 

Also, just a reminder, - make sure you ask the rep to write down that you need 4 screws instead of 1 (as they normally would just give you 1).

 

It should be a kit, when I had my R1's say 3-4 months ago there was the tray with a piece of foam inside that held the interposer along with 4 screws. That's what you want, but I don't have a PN for it.

 

Read what others posted on your thread. You need an Interposer. Your connections are fine. Stop complaining that dell has somehow cheated you and do some research.

If you still don't believe me look at the pictures

 

I missed the delivery attempt today. Hopefully tomorrow the girlfriend will be home to receive it.

 

Lol, beware, she might open the box take it and dump you the same second

 

I spent some more time digging into this today and it looks like technicians were a little confused by our parts database. There are some parts in there that didn't have the clearest of descriptions, which is why some of you only received part of the kit. This should be resolved in the near future, but if you need a kit (cage + screws + interposer), give support a call and ask them for part # F584N. This is the correct part for the M17x R2 second HDD.

 

Yeah my kit only had one screw. Fortunately I had the other 3 so it wasn't a problem. I just got done installing it and all is well.

 

Thanks, will try to get that done tomorrow.

Also thanks to those that pointed out you need an interposer. I failed to find any mention of that in my initial searches and obviously did not receive one from Dell.

 

has anyone ever been successful in getting more than one screw from ordering the 2nd HD caddy???

 

Seen a few lucky posts 4-5 months ago, but mostly - just one screw. Some ppl called the support again and got the remaining ones.

 

hmm, thanks I'll try calling again and see if I can get the remaining ones

 

It would be faster to just buy a bag of screws off of ebay for a few bucks... I did this and have plenty for anything I need to do to the notebook.

Just do a search for laptop screws and you will have plenty to choose from.

 

I saved the ebay page for the laptop screws. However, I just called them and they are shipping the remaining 3 screws

 

Very good advice.

Bravo, kilthro! Bravo!

 

I think the newest builds are coming with the caddy. I ordered my 17x on March 6th, received it on March 30th and it had the second caddy installed.
Once I removed the caddy, it had a piece of foam inside of it with the interposer and 4 screws. Nice job Alienware!

I guess this is the one benefit of finally recieving my 17x after 3 order attemps. My orginal order was Jan 14th!

 

I've called Alienware and got the single best support person I've ever had. He actually spoke while he was filling things out to let me know he wasn't just texting a friend on his phone while I wait.

An interposer (Part No. #F763N) should now be on it's merry way to me. I figured I'd post here in case someone has trouble getting it out of Dell the part number might help.

 

My M17x R2 had the spare caddy in the 2nd hdd bay with a foam insert in the middle holding the transposer.. This gives me an extra one since I already had had one shipped desperately for my R1

 

My M17x R1 came with the extra sleeve, interposer and screws, which I used to install a backup drive. Dell replaced the system because of a motherboard issue, and the replacement had the extra sleeve setup as well. I forgot to put the extra sleeve in my original system when I shipped it back so now have one on hand. I did notice that the interposer is identical to the one they use in the Dell Vostro. It's different from some of the other Dell's I've had, but fits my 17" Vostro.

 

Whoa, you got 4 screws? When they shipped me my second drive caddy and interposer I didn't even get 1 screw, so they are definitely improving

 

I called Alienware today and told them my M17XR2 didn't have the hardware pieces needed to install a new secondary 500GB drive I bought, the guy was quick to take care of it no questions asked, then he gave me my order number to check on it.
I told him I had been reading about this situation and that some people was only getting one screw, he said the kit comes with 4 screws, the tray and the connecting cable ( I assumed the interposer) so we'll see... I will post back when I get the package.
Helpful thread! thanks!

Note: I also went ahead and ordered the dell laptop screws set on link provided way back in this thread

 

Luckily for me they already put all the parts I needed to put in another Hard drive. Those of you who are unlucky, just call Dell and they should ship one out to you for free.

 

I received my Dell package and it is the caddie only, part # is as follows:

Y248M ASSEMBLY..., BRACKET..., HDD, SECOND..., M17X

I called them and told them the interposer and the screws are missing, the rep said there is a problem with the way this kit is being handled by the system, after about 40 minutes ( I cooked and ate my breakfast while waiting) the guy came back and said he is sending me the interposer and the screws with parts number as follows:

F673N CONNECTOR..., Serial ATA..., 22P, FEMALE..., S, FEMALE..., INTERPOSER

D837T SCREW..., M3.0.5P, L3, ANW, M17X

So there ya go, if you order the kit make sure the you include all of this parts, by the way this whole kit is part # F584N, but the rep said something is messed up in the system that the parts have to be handled individually which prior rep didn't do
So make sure if you request the kit that they include all this parts or you will have to be calling back and having to explain the thing all over again which is as fun as watching paint dry...

 

Fellow M17x owner here with plans on ordering the 2nd HD caddy...

I do have a questons though, I purchased this system used and while I do have the service tag # I believe its still in the original owners name. I know that there is still warantee left but I am afraid that if I try to get the 2nd HD caddy, they'll look up the service tag number and see that its not me, they'll flag me from having future support, Now I have requested the warrantee transfer (done it about 5x's already) and am still waiting for the transfer to complete. Should I go ahead and try to order the HD caddy or wait till I have the transfer completed? Do they verify all information prior to service? Or once they see the service tag is still under warantee continue with support? Thanks everyone!

 

Today called Alienware, got them to transfer ownership to me apparently the original owner bought this system from the Army Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) and never registered it so I am technically the first owner. Anyways after owner transfership I had the tech order me the 2nd HD caddy. I will have it Monday of next week(free of charge, didn't even pay for shipping). DAMN I love DELL/Alienware's tech support. Truely top notch!

 

Got my New M17x on Thursday. The 2nd Caddy was in the machine with screws and interposer.

The parts are in THE FOAM. That was the secret.

 

I called dell/AW last week, told them mine was missing the caddy, and one showed up at my door 3 days later. Took like 4 minutes on the phone.

 

Hey all, have been lurking in these threads for some time. Got my M17x yesterday with plans to move the shipped hard drive into the second bay as I had an Intel X25G2 ssd ready to install. I was pretty excited hearing that I probably didn't have to order the kit...

Opened it up this morning and the caddy was there, but missing the interposer and screws. No foam insert to hide stuff into. Called up Dell just like on the front page and was told I would have to pay for it or order a second hard drive from them to include the kit... Long story short I got them to ship it out for free after being on the phone with the rep and his manager for about 20 minutes. A lot more work that I thought it would have been, but I got it for free. =/

 

I called in to get mine shipped and the first agent hung up on me, after i called back and explained everything to the second agent he had it entered into the system and gave me an order number in less than 5 minutes as well.

 

hi guys, does anybody still have a spare kit for me i'll pay for shipping,living in France! Thanks in advance for paying atention to my message and kind to answer!

 

The second HDD caddy comes with all the R2s but I dont know about the R1s.

 

..:: that doesn't really help kenichols29 but i got mine for free now i got my SSD and my 1Tb Scorpio blue inside wohooo ::..

 

..:: i managed to get a bunch of interposers (only) sorry no caddy pm me if somebody needs any ::..

 

A heads up, a second caddy or interposer doesn't come with a system replacement in case of a single HDD/SSD. It has to be purchased separately or with a HDD/SSD from them.

(The info is from the Executive Customer Support Team)

 

i just found out that this interposer is the exact one as in the m17x for those who want one hope i helped out (rep?)

Dell 1420,1720,1721 SATA HD Interposer,Connector XK231 en vente sur eBay.fr (fin le 15-juil.-10 14:14:30 Paris)

cheers to you all

 

Does anybody recommend me buying a small SSD, and installing my operating system (windows 7 64) on it? Will my boot time be significantly sped up? Is it even possible on the 1st gen of M17X ? Thanks

 

yes,it does work and you get ~10 sec for the booting time! i'm actually selling mine! barely used! pm if interested
Regards

 

dont know how to pm!

so how many GB and how many £ ? would it b easy to install

 

Hi, mdmx5678,sorry for the late post..to enable private messages go to your profile,on the left you will see Control Panel and from the list click Edit Options scroll down and in the Messaging & Notification box click on Enable Private Messaging send me one when you're done!
Installing a SSD it's not different than installing a normal HDD!
the SSD is 128Gb (enough for windows and a lot of apps) it's SAMSUNG MLC (multi-level cell)

 

Lol. Well it looks like Dell may indeed be finally getting this "problem" corrected. Just got a new R2 crossfire setup and the caddy for the 2nd drive was indeed there as well as the cushion with the interposer and 4 screws

 

ok guys, I am quite confused after reading about 20 pages of comments.

I know I must sound dumb, but I am not a computer expert so please excuse me =(

I got my Alienware M17x -R2 from Dell.ca in May, and it came with 1 250 GB Hard Drive 7200 RPM Hard Drive.

Now basically I want to buy another Hard Drive for the secondary slot, I was wondering what exactly are the steps I have to go through?

And while we are at it, does anyone know how much I pay if I want to say, buy a 500 GB hard drive for my M17x-R2? And does everything come included for me to install the hard drive?

 

Call Alienware and tell them yours didn't come with the 2nd caddy. They should immediately get the ball rolling. This is what happened when I called. Didn't take 5 minutes, didn't cost a penny. Showed up about 2-3 days later.

 

Yeah, make sure when you call you ask for the caddy and the interposer...I doubt they'd send a caddy without one, but always worthwhile to double check. And it should come with anywhere between 1 - 4 screws...depending on how lucky you are. Regarding your other question, a second hard drive is easy enough to install once you have all the parts listed above. Regarding cost...shop around. Several major retail chains sell great 2.5" drives, also Amazon etc. You do not have to buy the drive from Dell, and you'll probably save money if you don't. Just my experience. Good luck!

 

Guys hold up a min. Before you call Dell, make sure the secondary caddy isn't n your system already. Mine, as most have, actually ship with the secondary caddy installed already. When you pull the secondary cady out, it will have a piece of foam with the screws and interposer in it, taped to the inside of the caddy. All you have to do is turn the laptop over, remove the battery, remove the bottom plate with the nametag (two screws) and you can see the HDD caddys. Your primary is labeled HDD 0. The secondary is labeled HDD 1. All you have to do is remove the caddy (4 screws) and turn it over to get the foam with the additional parts. Insert new HDD into the caddy, use the four additional screws to attach the caddy to the HDD. Then slide the interposer onto the end of the HDD, and screw the caddy into the M17x. Re-attach base plate, install battery and your done.

You can also check out this service manual for instructions on how to get to the HDD Caddy. It even has pictures

Alienware M17x R2 Service Manual, must have a PDF viewer.
Alienware: Online Documentation

@ mdmx5678 You must have at least 10 posts to send PMs. I'd recommend having an SSD for you programs and O/S as it will dramatically boost your load times. In the seconday slot keep a large HDD for a storage drive for all your pics, music, documents, videos, ect.

 

Agreed - I remember they resolved this some months back. 17x's shipping now should have it. When was the last report of it not showing up? lol. Been some time I believe. Good post DR650SE!