mSATA upgrade a good choice ? Opinions

Hello friends,

Of late i have been wishing for some more space on my R4, i have a 1 TB HDD and a Samsung 830 SSD that has only the OS and some games i play frequently.

I have been looking to upgrade my storage and i'd like to keep the two HDD slots, the best option is to get the mSATA. Suggestions and thoughts on the same ?

The mSATA will only have the OS and just other applications i need in order to run efficiently.

The possible options of the mSATA are the Samsung EVO 840 and the Crucial M500.

The crucial comes around 230$ while the samsung is a good 300$.

I have read reviews that say the crucial heats up and is slower than the samsung. Opinions suggestions from users ??

Also i know to add a mSATA i need to open up the laptop. is there any guide that can help me with step by step process of how to get to the mSata port.

I also seem to be needing a screw to attach the mSATA. Does anyone know what its called?

thank you in advance.

 

With those prices, I'm going to assume you're talking about the 480GB Crucial M500 vs the 500GB Samsung EVO 840. If you're talking about smaller drives, you need to shop someplace else. LOL!

While it's true the Samsung is, technically, a faster drive, the difference will not be noticeable in real world, human terms. Both are blazingly fast SSD drives. The Samsung is quite a jump in price, but you do get a little more storage for the higher price. However, in terms of bang for the buck, it's Crucial for the win ($0.48 vs $0.60 cents per GB).

Another thing I like about Crucial is that you don't pay a hefty premium for the mSATA form factor. The Samsung mSATA drives are significantly more expensive than their standard 2.5" form factor counterparts, while the Crucials are usually priced about the same (give or take a few dollars).

 

When I bought a mSATA drive for my Dell M4500 the screw was supplied with the drive.

 

Yes i mean to get the 500 or 480GB version.

Yes i do find the M500 480GB really worth the money. Thank you

 

so do all crucial m500 msata ssds come with a screw cos i couldn't tell and have been holding off since the AW17 doesn't come with screws if you don't order the msata ssd option.

 

You could email or chat with Crucial online and ask them.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

 

looks like it, reviews from newegg seem to suggest the package comes with the screw you need. Can some1 who has this confirm ?

 

the only thing to take into consideration is that the mSATA port on your R4 is an SATA 2 port not a SATA 3 port but honestly you probably won't notice the difference anyways. Aside from that the mSATA should perform just fine and opens up that second HDD port for another 1TB drive or something along those lines.

But you do need to get quite far into the laptop to install it, you will need to remove the keyboard and such I believe. On the bright side it isn't as bad as the new 17, that thing is a pig to get under the keyboard lol.

 

i picked up the crucial M500 120GB msata SSD and it does come with 2 screws.

again, i worried for nothing

 

I was looking up details and i figured out that i would need to get inside the laptop a long way. hopefully it wont be that bad. I am trying to look up a video which gives me clear instructions i did find a tear down video that could do the job for me. but i will keep looking.

 

This video is better than any Alienware has made:

Note: There are two different screw sizes - do not force the screws if they do not fit, you may damage the palm rest. All of the slots are labeled and should be pretty self explanatory.

 

this is for the M17x, i have the M17 R4. things are a little different in that chasis

 

btw, i just received my M2x3 screws today LOL

 

I am wondering if you have a video for the R4 chasis ?

 

If your careful it really isn't all that bad....before I sent mine back for the new 17 I had it down to a science, I could get the keyboard out and be at it in under 10 minutes easy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP4myeDK-3U

The kids irritating but he will show you where to get at it.

 

Oh, my bad. I just assumed you had the AW 17.

There are a lot of videos out there of the R4. I don't know of any specifically.

 

The mSATA is under the palm rest getting under there is a pain. God the number of things i have to take out ! wow . i am having second thoughts if i should get this done

 

It is quite an easy job to be honest. I replaced my DVD to Blu-Ray reader and after a few months swapped them back due to different reason. You have to take pretty much the same parts out to get there. The most important thing is preparation and planning: were to put screws (different lengths, I believe some screw holes are labelled) and remember what was disconnected from which connector so that you can plug everything back. You should remember cable routing roughly, but when you are assembling the machine back together kinks in the cable show the correct routing. Then I had online repair manual open on another laptop and followed it step by step. Oh, you will need some patience. Good luck, don't give up :thumbsup:

 

I can easily get under the keyboard, what i could not figure out was how to get the palm rest out. Can you share the online guide you were referring to ?

 

Sure, please see the link below (Owner's manual pdf file):

Product Support | Dell US

 

Thank you for the guide, I have to remove the Screen, the keyboard to get under the palm rest ! good dammit