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    m17x hot swapping to a desktop?

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by jthesmooth, Apr 30, 2012.

  1. jthesmooth

    jthesmooth Notebook Enthusiast

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    i have an m17x with a ssd for primary and a hdd for my my secondary. i have finished completely building a desktop and i was wondering if there was someway i can just transfer my drives and swap between machines whenever i want. is there any kind of remote possibility of accomplishing this?
     
    jthesmooth, Apr 30, 2012
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  2. Lancealot

    Lancealot Notebook Enthusiast

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    Are you looking to swap both drives between your laptop and desktop?
    It's an interesting problem.
    I'd say the most elegant solution would be to set the drives up as external. You could get a USB 3.0 enclosure. This would require you to set the BIOS on each machine to boot from USB first.
    The only other issues you might run into are drive mapping (for the secondary drive) and perhaps driver configuration which will differ on each machine.
    You may also want to be on the lookout for Windows activation issues as it may not like being swapped between two different machines.

    Let me know if you have any other questions.
     
    Lancealot, Apr 30, 2012
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  3. aznpos531

    aznpos531 Notebook Evangelist

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    Is there a particular reason you want to do this? Why not just hook up a monitor, external keyboard and mouse to your R3 and use it as a desktop replacement?

    I don't see it working with "hotswapping" if you intend to use the same copy of Windows but I suppose if you use a 2.5" to 3.5" drive bracket for your SSD and HDD you could put them into you desktop. I would be easier if your case has SATA docks that allow you to connect and disconnect drives without opening the side panel.
     
    aznpos531, May 1, 2012
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  4. ViolentArmy

    ViolentArmy Notebook Consultant

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    I'm also curious as to why you would want to do this, I see the external being the easiest solution but not the most portable solution. That depends on how much you intend to move your m17x, and if you want to just use the external for the desktop and swap them into the laptop that might work since removing the hdd isn't that hard. But like the others said I don't know how well it will work since the drivers have to be their for both computers and that might not be swappable.
     
    ViolentArmy, May 1, 2012
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  5. Quattrix

    Quattrix Notebook Enthusiast

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    If you haven't found a solution yet; I recommend the free software synkron. Works across local network so no uploading to third party, so its more secure and quicker.

    I use it to keep my netbook and my clevo in sync and it works great :).
     
    Quattrix, May 11, 2012
    #5
  6. YodaGoneMad

    YodaGoneMad Notebook Deity

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    You can do this with eSATA, though you are going to take a performance hit, since it is lower speed.
     
    YodaGoneMad, May 11, 2012
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