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    M4 512 gb SSD

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by dandan112988, Aug 13, 2012.

  1. dandan112988

    dandan112988 Notebook Deity

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    So i just won a big for a brand new m4 512 GB ssd on ebay for 350 :) Anyone have any experience with this drive? what do you guys think? I was thinking of making alienware respawn recovery disks with my current hard drive, removing it and installing the SSD, and booting using the disks to install it back to factory condition on the SSD. Will this work?
     
    dandan112988, Aug 13, 2012
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  2. triplec76

    triplec76 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'm planning on doing something similar when I buy a 256GB SSD.

    1. Install the SSD
    2. Use a program to ghost the current HD to the new drive
    3. Reboot into BIOS, make the new SSD Boot #1
    4. Profit
     
    triplec76, Aug 13, 2012
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  3. dandan112988

    dandan112988 Notebook Deity

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    ah sounds complicated. Dont think alienware respawn disks will work?
     
    dandan112988, Aug 13, 2012
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  4. triplec76

    triplec76 Notebook Enthusiast

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    If you have a paid upgrade to the respawn thing, you could probably do it that way. I plan on using a program like Norton Ghost (showing my age a little bit here) or something similar to that program. It basically copies the info byte for byte from one drive to another. This must be done on a restart so neither drive is currently active.

    Don't worry, it's not too complicated. Many programs will do everything for you after you select which drives you want to copy where. Although most, if not all, charge for their program.

    EDIT: Google "Clone Hard Drive"....that should get you started.

    EDIT #2: Link below is a good guide on going from a platter drive to an SSD How To Migrate Windows 7 to a Solid State Drive - How-To Geek
     
    triplec76, Aug 13, 2012
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  5. dandan112988

    dandan112988 Notebook Deity

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    What slot do you install the SSD in ? The one right below the gpu, or the on on the other side below the CPU ?
     
    dandan112988, Aug 14, 2012
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  6. Antipathy

    Antipathy Notebook Consultant

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    Either method will work, Ghost or creating AlienRespawn disks. It doesn't really matter which slot the SSD is in, as long as it is selected as the boot disk in the BIOS. It used to matter back in the day, though, so I always put the boot drive in bay 0, which is where your current HDD is. Old habits die hard.
     
    Antipathy, Aug 14, 2012
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  7. jinda

    jinda Notebook Evangelist

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    Not sure if you mentioned what rig you have. If its an R4 then it doesn't matter where since both slot support SATA3. If its an R3 then you need to put it on secondary drive and your bios should be on A08.
    But I read somewhere that this has been fixed for A10 by SVL7 and Primary slot now supports SATA3. Just not sure where to find it though :(
     
    jinda, Aug 14, 2012
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  8. vic_doom69

    vic_doom69 Notebook Consultant

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    Downloads

    courtesy of svl7, all rep should go to him.

    also quote from his post "It's BIOS A10 with the SATA settings of A08, so it will perform as A08 when it comes to SATA."
     
    vic_doom69, Aug 14, 2012
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  9. jinda

    jinda Notebook Evangelist

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    Oh so this is it. Thanks for the link. I'm thinking of trying this. Maybe when I get back in Sept. Thanks again!
     
    jinda, Aug 14, 2012
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