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    M17x R2 HDD Question

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by ChronixPsyc, Jun 10, 2011.

  1. ChronixPsyc

    ChronixPsyc Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi all,

    I have an external hard drive with 500GB capacity and I want to swap it out for the hard drive currently in my m17xr2 (160GB). Is there anything apart from the way to take it out, replace it and put it back in I should know about? Any BIOS configurations, certain ways to install the OS?

    Any help would be appreciated.

    Thanks
     
    ChronixPsyc, Jun 10, 2011
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  2. inap

    inap .........................

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    should be just plug and play.
     
    inap, Jun 10, 2011
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  3. Simplified

    Simplified The Most Awesome

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    One thing you should take note of is the speed of the hard drive. Most external hard drives are 5200rpm. I would not even consider to use that as a boot disc, as it would be rather slow.

    Another thing you need to know is if the external hard drive is 3.5" or 2.5". It needs to be 2.5" to fit into the r2.
     
    Simplified, Jun 10, 2011
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  4. ChronixPsyc

    ChronixPsyc Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks a bunch for this! The ext HDD is pretty small so I'm just guessing that it would be 2.5". I'm gonna pop into my local computer store today and get a 1TB HDD which should be good for the time being.

    Is there any difference from replacing the OS hdd with an ssd?
     
    ChronixPsyc, Jun 11, 2011
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  5. Simplified

    Simplified The Most Awesome

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    There is no difference replacing it with an ssd. Having a small but fast hard drive as a boot disc + a large slower drive as a storage disc has always been a killer combo.

    If you decide to buy an ssd disc, one thing you must know is to not defrag it. The lifespan of an ssd is determined by the amount of write sessions to each cell.
    [​IMG]
    As you can see on this picture, the black "squares" are the cells. You can write to those cells about 10 000 times before they go bad. A defrag brings an ssd to its death very fast.
     
    Simplified, Jun 11, 2011
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  6. ChronixPsyc

    ChronixPsyc Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks so much for this information, I will probably put my ext HDD in my m17x then. The shops round me don't have 1TB 2.5" :/
     
    ChronixPsyc, Jun 11, 2011
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  7. Simplified

    Simplified The Most Awesome

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    Your welcome mate :wink:

    One side note: Drives that are smaller than 1tb are usually 9.5mm thick. 1tb drives are 12.5 mm thick. This is not a problem, since the r2 can handle up to 12.5mm. However, do not buy 1,5tb. A 1.5tb drive is 14.8mm, and that will not be able to fit in the r2.

    Cheers
     
    Simplified, Jun 11, 2011
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  8. ChronixPsyc

    ChronixPsyc Notebook Enthusiast

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    More needed information! I installed my ext hdd in the 2nd bay and didnt need to reformat thank god. Eventually im probably gonna buy an ssd to replace my 160gb.
     
    ChronixPsyc, Jun 11, 2011
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