Upgrading M17x R4 - Advice

Hello. I currently have the standard 500GB HHD and I am wanting to purchase a SSD to go with it. I am aware that I need to get one that is 2.5".

My question is it hard to install a SSD? Bearing in mind I have never upgraded before. Also, would it be necessary or recommended to have OS on both drives or just the SSD? Finally, which drive should I keep my games? I am aware that most people use the HHD primarily for storage purposes (music, pictures and films etc)

Any information will be appreciated and any guides/step-by-step instruction on how to install the SSD would be fantastic.

 

I was thinking the same thing a few months ago and did some research and ordered a few things and upgraded it. The SSD was the best performance upgrade I have seen so far and very easy. I went with an Intel 120 gb SSD and it was as easy as removing the bottom cover and screwing it into the hard drive cage and plugging it in to the HDD 0 slot. I used the windows cd that came with my system for a fresh install of windows and the other cd for basic drivers. After windows was up and running I went to the dell website and downloaded the updated drivers and check windows for updates. Some people say switch bios to AHCI before the install, I left mine in RAID as it was set from the factory and it works fine. I only have the OS on the main drive, no need for it on both. The SSD will load games faster but the capacity is not as cheap as a HDD so if you plan to have alot of games then using the HDD is probably a better choice. Also the 120gb SSD I got only shows 111 GB and after windows install and driver update only 75gb until full. As for the games I am using a 750 GB WD Black Scorpio in the 2nd bay for Steam games only and it is now full :/ I put the stock drive in an external enclosure and only have windows and movies on it. One thing to consider is the HDD you choose cannot be thicker than 9.5 mm. The capacity and brand is up to you, everyone likes different ones, many tech websites have done performance comparisons on the popular drives.


I was completely new to it but watching youtube videos and reading guides other's have posted made it very simple.

 

Why do you still have windows on your stock drive?

 

I didn't feel the need to do anything with it. When I removed it from my laptop I put it in external enclosure and it's been sitting in the desk drawer unused.

 

Keep the O.S in the SSD and the games that you use the most. Use the HDD only for files and folders. To do the upgrade just put the SSD in and install Windows following this guide.
It's a pretty simple upgrade

 

Thank you for the reply guys. My gratitude is shown!

 

If you´re re-installing Windows in the SSD, click here to find the necessary drivers for you M17xR4 and the correct order to install them.

 

Not sure if you're comfortable going into the BIOS or not but I just put my SSD in the spare slot and told the BIOS to boot from the second slot after the OS was installed. I also left the original Windows installation on my 750 GB hard drive as I didn't need all of the space right away and if my SSD crashes on me or if I need to send the machine into Dell I can just boot from the original hard drive. I put some new folders on the original hard drive with the names in ALL CAPITALS for my music, movies etc. so I know which folders I have added and which ones are original. I may have to wipe out the originals for more space at some point but I am doing fine for now.

 

Just for reference, there is a topic regarding the installation/ setup for SSD on Alienware system. Here is the link

Your BIOS is set up as a RAID system and if you change it to AHCI without doing a clean instal, you will probably encounter a boot error. If you read the last page of the topics, Mr. Fox mentioned how RAID is preferred over AHCI, at least to my understanding.

Actually, it is confirmed that you don't need to send in the original HDD with the laptop for repair, unless the HDD is the one at fault. They will use a spare HDD to repair your laptop. So feel free to clean the W7 partition if you want to.

 

Thank you reechings and lee for the insightful info.