HOW TO: Windows Installation Thread (includes SATA III, SSD Upgrade, RAID0 Discussion)

If you need any help with that, the opening post should be helpful in this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...llation-questions-troubleshooting-thread.html

 

I'm with TurbodTalon on this, I would suggest the fresh install in this case eben though it might seem like a hassle to you.

 

Also you may run into alignment issues going from mech to SSD, so another vote for a fresh install here too!

 

I hate to lose the installed programs. This was a refurbished m18x. It didnt come with a windows 7 disk.

 

I would look at thread below to help you with your windows 7 problem.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-digitalriver-windows-7-sp1-13-languages.html

I do have to ask is there a reason why you want to go with a raid 0? Is the performace increase with raiding them that much better? I can't find anything that besides benchmarks shows that much of an increase.

I am asking to learn. so please don't think anything other than that.

 

I merged this thread because everything that is being mentioned is already in the thread previously linked. @bueller - you will find helpful information throughout this thread and useful information about doing a clean install, along with numerous links in the first post. I agree with the suggestions to do a clean install instead of cloning. There is no harm in trying it to find out if you are satisfied with the end result. It does not cause any kind of damage and all you stand to lose is wasted time, but cloning from HDD to SSD often degrades performance. If you are accustomed to a slow HDD and SSD is so much faster that degraded performance might not be apparent with nothing to compare it to, but there are a number of drive performance benchmark results posted in this thread that you could reference for the sake of comparing.

 

Yes it's a hassle but it sets you up for the long run, you can then take an image of the SSD so you don't have to go through it again.

 

The only reason for going to raid 0 is the C:drive is almost filled up. The 2nd drive is empty.

 

Not quite accurate. You could always choose to utilize the other drive without raiding it with the primary. Performance gains are there to be had with a raid membership, increased risk of data loss is also possible as if one drive fails, the whole raid fails. Backups normally counteract this risk, hence the argument against raiding is rather moot if you backup.

 

Well move some files/programs over to the second drive, the OS can run them from it Once the drive has had space freed it should trim and return to it's old performance.

 

I might just do that. It still runs good and haven't seen much slowing down.

 

buy a bigger SSD, create an image and put it onto the bigger capacity ssd.

 

Hey guys, so i just got my new m18xr2 (referbished) and it came with a 500gb hdd. i just ordered 2 of these. samsung 840 PRO 128gb ssds and a hitachi 1tb 7200rpm hdd.

SAMSUNG MZ-7PD128BW - Newegg.com
Newegg.com - Hitachi GST Travelstar 0S03563 1TB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive

so my couple of questions are. is it possable to raid 0 the 2 ssd and have the 1tb still on the third slot? if im not mistaken there are only 2 sata 3 connectors anyways in the hdd bay. if so do i just set up the raid in the bios?

also sense these will be all new hdd is there an order to install the drivers from the dell website? i tried doing a search but didn't find much on raid ssd + hdd and driver install order.

also the drivers page is kinda of confusing as some of them look like this "DELL,SRV,DPTF,INTEL,XE,A/V MLK,6.00.00.1065,A00" and i dont know if i need that but the site says "recommended"

this will be installed with windows ultimate.

any help or pointed in the right direction will be appreciated!

Thanks.

 

From what I do hear the 840 series has problems in a raid array on the r2 although only what I have read. That 1tb hard drive you ordered is the same one I ordered from the egg and you will be surprised to find out that it is actually a 32mb cache sata III 6.0Gb/s drive (Got mine sitting right here) I opted to go for 1x 840 pro 256Gb and to use a 32gb caching mSata on the 1tb (and to slap in the 500gb drive that comes with it onto the sata II port.

I'm sure someone will chime into running the 840 as a raid setup....

Well I decided to order one more 840 and do a raid setup I bought a usb 3.0 external enclosure for the 500gb drive and will use it for external storage.

 

Haven't seen any issues related to that config but I haven't researched that. You should be able to do that in the OROM and put the 1TB as storage without issues (the 1TB will run on SATA II). Here is the list to install the drivers.

 

J.Dre had issues with the 840 Pro SSD RAID0 not working correctly on his M18x R2. Some folks had issues with Vertex 4 SSD RAID0, but others did not. I would not dismiss the 840 Pro as not working based on one person's experience because there may have been some other unidentified cause that was not the SSD drives, as it turned out to be the case with Vertex 4. I think that a defective SATA interposer cable may have caused a lot of the problems that we have seen with drive configuration across more than one brand. I know of two Vertex 4 SSD RAID0 scenarios where replacing the SATA interposer fixed the problem.

Yes. I have run this configuration and so have others. Yes, set RAID in the BIOS and use the Intel Option ROM Utility (press Ctrl+I at POST) to create the RAID0 membership. You may need to have the Intel RST F6 drivers handy for use during Windows setup, so be prepared with those F6 drivers.

The BIOS should be set to RAID by default instead of AHCI for any drive arrangement. This ensures optimal performance and flexibility to make changes without having to hack the registry or reinstall the OS.

Alternatively, set the BIOS to RAID and install the OS to one SSD, finish installing drivers and Intel RST. At that point, use Intel RST to create the RAID0 membership within Windows. Once converted to RAID0, use the Windows Disk Management Utility to expand the partition to consume the existing unallocated space (equivalent to the size of one SSD) or create a new partition in the unallocated space and format it.

See the content in the opening post of this thread for help with the OS installation: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...llation-questions-troubleshooting-thread.html

 

cool thanks for the help. ill be installing today. hope everything goes ok lol if not you guys will probably be hearing from me

 

Great information.

I thought I should also comment that my issues related to those SSD's could have been the SATA Interposer Cable itself. At the time, I had not tried replacing the cable and reinstalling the SSD's to test them with the new cable. Instead, I stupidly returned the SSD's and grabbed some 830's...the next day a new cable showed up. However, before I bought the 840 Pro's, I had 2x 256GB 830 Series SSD's installed in a RAID 0 configuration and they worked just fine. So, I concluded that the 840 Pro's were incompatible with something on the M18x R2. I'm still not certain what had happened. It was a very weird situation.

To all of you M18x R2 owners out there, the firmware or controller on the 840 Pro's may not allow you to RAID: buyer beware! Maybe the issue has been resolved since. This all happened right after they hit the market.

 

I have a quick question while I await my order I decided to buy another 840 Pro 256gb If my beast comes in and I decide to install windows 7 and other applications onto the one SSD and the other SSD drive comes in and I add the Raid 0 array with the new drive would I lose any performance or have any problems by adding the drive (I know you can do it just want to make sure I will not be causing any problems) Or should I just wait for the other drive to come in and do it all at once?

 

Hi Nycro. You can add the drive and use Intel Rapid Storage Technology to create the RAID0 membership if the Windows installation was completed with the BIOS setting on RAID. You can do this within Windows. It works great and does not hurt performance. If the BIOS was set to AHCI when Windows was installed you will be looking a changing the BIOS to RAID after the fact and doing a clean install.

We have a thread dedicated to this topic. I will merge this new thread with that one. Please review the information in the opening post. If you have any questions, you can ask them in that thread.

Edit: merged with appropriate thread.

 

Thanks Fox I actually read this thread just wanted to make sure that by installing some apps and what not along with the windows installation would be fine. Although I guess its a moot point now as I think the drive will be here before the beast lol Amazon prime is nice ..

I will post back once I get it setup with some benches and let everyone know how 2x 840 pros work in raid0.

 

This is relevant here, so I will quote it for reference...

 

I have reconfigured my drive arrangement and thought I would share the results using Intel RST caching for accelerating the HDD.
I think the results are rather impressive for a 5400RPM low power HDD.

480GB RAID0 SATA3 - OCZ Agility 3 240GB SSD (2) Incompressible Data (Random Fill)	480GB RAID0 SATA3 - OCZ Agility 3 240GB SSD (2) Compressible Data (Zero Fill)
1TB Seagate Momentus LP 5400 RPM HDD SATA2 Intel Rapid Storage Technology Acceleration Enhanced	120GB Mushkin Atlas mSATA SSD SATA2 48GB partition (64GB used for caching)

​

 

Very impressive. Your accelerated drive does as good as my full size SSD. What the duck, chuck?

 

Hello! I have a question.
This is my current setup.
OS on Samsung 830 256gb at port 0.
Two 1TB drives in RAID 0 at port 2 and port ? (whatever optical drive port is)
I will be adding a second Samsung 830 256gb at port 1 to run RAID 0.
I read the first post and the process seems to be the same for an OS drive too.
Only difference seems to be, instead of creating a new volume, I can just extend the current volume to double the size.
So that means I won't need to reinstall windows or anything, right?
BIOS is obviously already set at RAID.

 

Yep. You should be able to add the second 830 and create the raid membership between the existing 830 and the new 830 using RST and extend the volume without the need to reinstall the OS.

 

I was unaware that RST allowed for Raid set manipulation...

 

As long as you have the bios set to raid prior to having installed the OS to a single drive, you can then add a second drive, open RST and create the raid membership between the two drives. It will then spread the data between the two drives (takes a little while for it to do it's thing) and you can then extend the volume into the unallocated space. Hey presto, raid set up without having to re-install the OS!

 

So not quite as fancy as the AMD tools but able to do it, cheers for the info.

 

No worries, your welcome. It's nice and straightforward, too. There's also a new version of RST out now on Intel's website: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/716277-intel-rapid-storage-tech-12-5-0-1066-whql.html

 

I am running that new version of RST on 3 systems and it is working fine.

I also just created a RAID0 array on two of them within Windows without having to reinstall the OS. Be sure to re-run WEI afterward so Windows can re-identify the new RAID0 setup as SSD or HDD. Windows will then enable TRIM automatically for the SSD RAID0 setup if you have the correct OROM that supports it.

 

guys i had a problem with my m18x, first i did a back up from alienware recovery software, then suddenly my laptop froze, then automatically rebooted, then it asked for a windows cd, i did a fresh install of windows 7 64 bit, then all my files are gone (good thing i have several back up in my hdd) but the problem is, after installing windows 7, my 2nd hdd (i have 2 hdds bdw) is not showing up in my computer anymore, its not even detected in my device manager where i can change the letter of the drive or something. how can i make it appear?

also everytime i shut down my laptop, a notice will appear about some sort of recovery and it needs some sort of drivers that i should insert, then then next window will show recovery, memory fix, startup repair etc, when i restart my laptop its no problem it will boot up straight to windows, but if i shut it down then start it up again i will get this windows loading files then the recovery options again and again, how can i fix this?

 

A few questions about this.

1. Were the drives Raided together before this happened
2. Is the OS now installed in Raid or to one drive
3. After OS install, did you install drivers, specifically Intel Rapid Storge Technology driver

When you check the properties of your C: drive, what size is the total capacity showing - is it almost 1tb or closer to 500gb? - Can you see a second drive when you open disk management (type disk management into start box>enter) and can you select it/assign a drive letter? - If you can't see it, there might be a fault with that drive that is not showing.

Can you open an CMD promt (as administrator) and run the disk checker? - type "chkdsk" (no quotes) and let it check things out.

 

Since your files are already gone and you are doing a clean install, may as well do it right from the start. Look in the opening post of this thread for more tips.

Assuming you have the Windows 7 installation DVD... at POST press F2, enter the BIOS and be sure your setting is for RAID (not AHCI). Press F10, the at POST press Ctrl+I and if the drives are in a RAID membership, break them apart, then create a membership. Have Intel RST F6 drivers handy on USB stick because you will need to tell Windows 7 setup to use them. Alternatively, leave the drives separated and create the RAID0 array in Windows later. This is also addressed in the opening post of this thread.

While you are in the BIOS, look to see if both drives are visible. If not, you may have a dead HDD, a bad SATA interposer cable or a loose connection where the SATA interposer connects to the motherboard.

 

No the hd is there, what he did is he delete it when he did the fresh installation. Now what he have to do is put the DVD disc in restart the PC and when the bios is loading press f12 and load the windows install like if you going to do another fresh install.
When you reach the step where you format the hd click advance menu select the 2nd hd and create a new one and that is it, cancele the install and restart. Sorry for my English no native speaker.

 

I must have misunderstood. I thought he installed the OS to the same HDD and wiped out everything. If the two HDDs were in RAID0, the files will not be recoverable with one of the drives in a non-RAID setup.

 

Bumping for new Alienware buyers that are curious how a cache-accelerated HDD performs. See below...

 

I just added a second 1TB Seagate Momentus LP for 2TB RAID0 cache-accelerated data storage. Not too shabby for 5400 RPM low-power HDD.

 

Ordered a new alienware 18 unit without SSD inorder to save some money and install the samsung 470 series SSD i got. Only thing i regret is that i will have to destroy all the installation that came from factory...
Question is, will it help if i do an alienware respawn disk before inserting the ssd and reinstalling windows?

 

I'll be doing the same thing. I believe we should clean install rather than use respawn.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

So basically move the 750gn hdd from dell to slot 1 and put the SSD in slot 0 and change settings in bios to RHAC or something like that?
I hope that HDD replacement is still easy like in the older models, because i saw some pictures of an open alienware 18 and the hard drive are scattered allover the place

 

I would certainly recommend creating a recovery image using AlienRespawn right away - first thing to do. Stash it away and you'll be able to revert to factory install at any time in the future. You could try Respawning to the SSD, it's not a clean installation but if it completes, it's the easiest thing to do. If your SSD comes with cloning software, that's another option if you really don't want to do a clean install. I'd recommend clean install every time, by the way.

Chances are 99.9% that the machine will ship with bios set to RAID anyway, even if it ships with a single HDD. Leave it set to RAID, because it's a LOT easier to add a second SSD later on and set up a Raid array using Intel RST and extending the volume. (won't go into that too much here as it's not pertinent right now).

As mentioned, put the SSD on port 0, HDD port 1. Actually, I would personally leave the HDD out whilst you install the SSD/Windows. Once you have done that successfully, you can add the HDD back in, format and use for data. Job done, time to go down the pub!

 

Alright, so take out the hdd and install it after i did a clean install.
Thanks for the tip

 

I would also create the AlienRespawn image before doing anything else just in case something fails in the future.

 

I picked up a 250GB SSD off newegg and the install itself looks fairly straight forward.

Once I get it in I want to run Windows off and a few of my games from it. I have some questions about the best way to go about this.

1) Delete old junk from my HDD until it's small enough to clone onto the SSD

Assuming I have enough garbage old games I can delete to get myself down low enough to clone the whole thing to the SSD this seems like the easiest solution right? I'm just not sure if it's the "best". Any tips for this, should I run defrag on my HDD right before I clone? Any recommendation on what program to use to clone, a friend suggested "clonezilla".

2) Install a fresh copy of Windows7 on the SSD

I can download the Windows7 install onto my current HDD then run it with the install targetting my SSD right? then just change the Boot Disk to be my SSD in the Bios? I just use the windows key on the sticker under my battery to auth it right?

3) Use AlienRespawn

Can I use AlienRespawn to "restore" my SSD to "factory settings" even though it wasn't the original HDD that came with my laptop? Do I need to burn a disk to do this or can I create the AlienRespawn files onto my Original HDD then run them off of that onto the SSD or will it just wipe my existing HDD?

4) Something else?

If there is another route that is reasonably easy and will produce good results, please let me know. Also if there are any problems I should watch out for a heads up would be great.

If I'm going with a new install am I better off with a Vanilla Windows7 install or the Alienware install? I don't use the fancy keyboard lights and stuff so are all those extra things just bloat that I'm better off losing anyway or does it do things behind the scenes to help performance/stability.

Lastly, If I go with the reinstall does anyone know the best/most stable current drivers for the Alienware Crossfire 7970m's? I know it was a real headache when they first came out but hopefully by now they've got a good stable set of drivers (either dell or ati or someone else).

Thanks in advance for helping out!

 

I will let an expert correct me if I am wrong.

I believe the best solution is to back up what ever you need on your current hard drive (I usually just stick with stuff I saved to me desktop and items in my "Documents" folder). If you don't have a driver dvd then I would go to dells website and download all the drivers you need.

Next I would install the SSD and remove the HDD just to make sure everything went smooth. Once that is complete the next step would be to install a fresh copy of Windows 7 probably Vanilla. If you can find the Microsoft link for Windows 7 with SP1 already installed that would probably be the best way.

After the successful fresh install you can reinstall your old HHD if you plan on using that as a backup HHD or w/e.

The reason I believe you don't want to clone is because you are coming from a HHD. If it was SSD to SSD then it might be different. It has to do with the way the software is written to the SSD which is different than HHD.

I don't know the nit and gritty details but like I said I am sure someone with the technical terms with chime in.

I figured I would just get you started in the right direction while your waiting.

I personally reformat my computers a couple time a year from fresh installs and not back images, although I do create backup images but those are strictly that.

I hope this helps with your decision.

 

If I do that I'll need to burn a copy of the Windows w/ SP1 right? Is there a way I can put those files on my HDD install to my SSD from there kind of like it was on a usb drive?

I guess I could put the Windows install on a usb drive but I'm not sure where mine are and what capacity they are (and how big they have to be).

Once I have Vanilla installed on the SSD should I download all the alienware stuff from Dell's site or am I better off without it bloating my computer?

 

I agree with the advice to do a clean install instead of cloning. We have a thread specifically for this discussion. You will find helpful information in the opening post. I will merge this with that thread for you.

 

Thanks, is this thread still applicable if I'm not looking for a RAID 0 setup?

 

Yup, totally applicable. You're just doing the same things without RAID0. One less step to follow, but conceptually identical otherwise. The thread title is intended to suggest discussion related to Windows installation questions and troubleshooting, but something people get stuck on the RAID0 part.

Edit: Based on your question (and similar questions like it in the past) I just changed the title to: HOW TO: Windows Installation: Questions, Troubleshooting Thread (includes SATA III, SSD Upgrade, RAID0 discussion)