M17x R3 adding ssd with optical caddy

Hi, i read some post about optical bay caddy. http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...d-hdd-storage-using-optical-bay-caddy-64.html . Didn't found answers for my questions.

Before i start disassembly my laptop wanna asking some questions.

1. What exactly i need take out. Looks like i need take it out, vga, cpu, completed back panel cover sign with type letter I and P because optical drive is under that construction. It is possible just take it down side cover?
In my Acer 7750G is so easy take out dvd-rom, just remove one cover with 3 screws and than 1 screw and install caddy.

2. My plan is using SSD boot drive ( 256GB) with caddy optical bay and take out dvd-rom drive. And my 2x 1TB drives using in AW places. Know about bottleneck 1.5Gbs with SSD in dvd-rom bay. But only reason i wanted do that, because hdd in drive caddy will be very hot after some moving files ( experiences from my old laptop) - 45°C is not so good.

Thanks for advice

 

I can answer your 1st question. the side Panel is part of the main assembly, it cant be removed. You' have to strip everything from the laptop and the you'd be left with the main assembly and the side strips which are part of the mould. "I" is the media bar/bezel and "p" is the palm rest(or the other way round). Both of which are relatively simple to do. Its the only way to access the optical drive, im afraid or that i know of.



As for putting SSD in optical drive? I would keep in it slot 1, and move HDD to the Optical drive bay, just for the speeds. Not sure about temps, so someone else could advise you there.

there are some great tear down vids on youtube if you need them.

 

Howdy. Having already disassembled an R3 to get to the optical drive, I can tell you this is no easy task and there are no shortcuts. You have to take everything off the upper chassis including the display. There is no side cover for the optical drive on the Alienware notebooks. Our optical drives are slot-loading so they don't need the front cover to be removable. Here is the link to the m17x R3's service manual. Page 91 details how you get to the optical drive and what needs to be disassembled before you can access the optical drive.
ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-prod...ps/alienware-m17x-r3_Service Manual_en-us.pdf

It's better to use the SSD in the Drive 0 bay, and one of the hard drives you already have in the optical drive bay caddy. I have the caddy in my R2 and the hard drive temp in that caddy reads 32C all the time. There should not be much concern for the hard drive in the caddy to overheat. But if you put the SSD in the caddy, the speed will be cut by at least half, just because the optical drive connector only gets SATA II.

 

Alienware M17x R3 R4 complete teardown / how to take apart / disassemble - Hidevolution.com - YouTube

watch that before hand. will help out a bunch. you cpu/gpu dont have to be removed either.

 

Thank you all for helping me.
Yes, video i watched by disassemble- very useful . After taking laptop to pieces and got dvd-rom in my hand i thought about this solution by DELL and totally change my mind.
Because removing dvd-rom is not so easy like in another laptops i put it back. Sometimes i need dvd-rom and don't wanna do the same procedure
Better for me will be external 2.5' USB 3.0 hard drive (1-2TB).

I don't wanna opening new thread. It's some thing i have to asking you guys.

1. silent- all people say R3 is silent at idle mode. I have IGP graphics - i7 2670Qm cpu, but sometimes (every minute) fan running at idle mode.
Temperatures idle with IGP - about 50C, fan running above 55 or 60C for few seconds and when temperatures got under 50C turning off.

When i sleep the noise annoying me, i hope that words "dead silent" are totally silent

It's there any solution how silent fan?

 

for those rare times when you need a disc drive, you should consider one of these.
USB External Enclosure Caddy for SATA Slot Load DVD RW Drive with Eject Button | eBay
i got one for my bluray drive for those rare times that i need one. i kinda look at it this way. i use the extra hdd daily but only need a disc one a month (if that)

 

Think i may go down this road myself. Thanks Vic.

 

Yeah I don't use CDs more than once every 3 months (if at all), even recovery media is now shipped in USB drives. I'm probably doing the same soon.

 

I was wondering when notebook manufacturers would switch from optical media to USB media for their recovery. Glad to see Dell is on top of it...

 

I would do as suggested above and use the SSD on Bay 1 because the ODD Bay is not as fast as the HDD one.