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.

    Want my new Alienware 17 to be fully ssd.

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Shaggy47, Jul 5, 2014.

  1. Shaggy47

    Shaggy47 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    My new 17 will arrive this Monday, base system with
    500GB (8GB Hybrid, 5400 RPM, 64MB Cache) SATA 6Gb/s. I want to install 240gb msata and x2 500 gb samsung evo ssd and remove factory hhd.
    Having professional install msata (not comfortable doing that install myself). 250gb msata will be new boot drive. Removing but keeping hhd as factory backup if I ever need it. The other x2 500 gb ssd should be no problem to install myself right.
    This should be a fresh install not cloning, read that a fresh install is the best way to go. Is there any software not included on alienware discs like command center that I would need.
    I would just appreciate suggestions as I am a noob.

    Thank you
     
    Shaggy47, Jul 5, 2014
    #1
  2. mariussx

    mariussx Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    173
    Messages:
    604
    Likes Received:
    190
    Trophy Points:
    56
    Camera central might be missing. You have to register on Dell to download certain software due to licenses I believe. All the drivers can be obtained easily by entering your service tag in Dell support website. Command Centre is available for a download without registering anywhere (you can google for the newest version available at a time). nVidia/AMD graphics cards drivers are available from their manufacturer's support websites. You might find this thread useful:
    http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...es-sata-iii-ssd-upgrade-raid0-discussion.html
     
    mariussx, Jul 5, 2014
    #2
  3. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

    Reputations:
    9,441
    Messages:
    58,200
    Likes Received:
    17,916
    Trophy Points:
    931
    Keeping the original parts is good for warranty purposes too.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Jul 6, 2014
    #3
    MogRules likes this.
  4. MogRules

    MogRules Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    1,228
    Messages:
    1,649
    Likes Received:
    973
    Trophy Points:
    131
    The only problem with not doing it yourself is if you ever do have to send it back in for warranty purposes then you will have to have someone professionally remove it again. It isn't that bad of a process, the only problem is removing the top bezel around the keyboard, that takes a little force and can be tricky.

    Fresh installs are easy, I would use the DVD provided as that will install the start up and shut down screens again. There should be a resource DVD with all the drivers but some of those might be out of date and it would make sense to just download them all before you start.

    Install all the windows updates before you try to install Command Center or it will complain about .net 4.0 not being installed.

    The webcam software and DVD software is separate downloads and as mariussx has stated you will need to get those from the Dell Download centre, although I suggest that you download and keep them on your HDD as they have a limited number of downloads and they can run out :)
     
    MogRules, Jul 6, 2014
    #4
  5. Shaggy47

    Shaggy47 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Thank you all for the help! Coming from apple so a lot of this is new to me.
     
    Shaggy47, Jul 8, 2014
    #5