The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    R4 SSD upgrade questions

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by aj.jain, May 15, 2013.

  1. aj.jain

    aj.jain Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    21
    Messages:
    107
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Hey guys,
    I am planning to upgrade my M17x R4's 750 GB HDD. I am thinking of using this as a storage drive and a 250gb Samsung 840 as the primary drive but I have a couple of questions I want to ask before I bust anything open.
    1. According to Dell's documents. upgrading RAM and HDD is covered in the update for Alienware systems unless you break something in the process. Right?
    2. R4 has two HDD slots and one mSATA SSD slot. Right?
    SO in that case can I use mSATA slot even after using both the HDD slots.?
    3. Is my choice of SSD correct?
    I know this is more of a personal thing but my budget for SSD is 250$ and I can not expand this. I found this to be a good one. Any opinions?

    Thanx. I will be grateful for any help.
     
  2. MickyD1234

    MickyD1234 Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    3,159
    Messages:
    6,473
    Likes Received:
    1,165
    Trophy Points:
    331
    Hi,

    1, yes but they can ask original parts are put back in to get warranty support if you do not get the parts from dell
    2, Yes
    3, ? seen plenty of people using them but not tried one myself.

    HTH ;)
     
  3. DDDenniZZZ

    DDDenniZZZ Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    810
    Messages:
    1,311
    Likes Received:
    35
    Trophy Points:
    66
    ^^^^^^^^ Like above

    The 840 Pro would be nicer but I doubt it will make a difference day to day, (I have the old 830) it runs fine though. But definitely get a 256gb size if you can. Any SSD should fit (9mm standard and the slim 7.5mm I think)
     
  4. aj.jain

    aj.jain Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    21
    Messages:
    107
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    840 Pro is coming a tad bit above my budget and it is better in write speeds only in comparison to 840 according to Anandtech.
     
  5. DDDenniZZZ

    DDDenniZZZ Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    810
    Messages:
    1,311
    Likes Received:
    35
    Trophy Points:
    66
    Indeed it is a bit above, but then again its one of the best out there.

    Argument goes that the TLC NAND in the 840 vs the MLC NAND in the 840 Pro shows theoretically the pro should be more reliable. But thats all theory.

    I saw this though... Damn the prices in the UK at least ha Amazon.com: Samsung Electronics 840 Pro Series 2.5-Inch 256 GB SATA 6GB/s Solid State Drive MZ-7PD256BW: Computers & Accessories

    Or try the crucial m4, they've had good reviews from what I've seen. Although in the UK they are quite expensive.
     
  6. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

    Reputations:
    9,436
    Messages:
    58,194
    Likes Received:
    17,902
    Trophy Points:
    931
    M500 960GB or a vector are good options too :)
     
  7. radji

    radji Farewell, Solenya...

    Reputations:
    3,856
    Messages:
    3,074
    Likes Received:
    2,619
    Trophy Points:
    231
    You ever thought about getting an mSATA as the primary drive and another 750GB HDD as another storage drive?

    Crucial M4 CT256M4SSD3 Solid State Drive - Newegg.com

    That's what I have. But my SSD is not mSATA, it's regular SSD since my R2 doesn't support mSATA. For my setup I used an ODD to HDD caddy so I could fit the three drives in my R2.