How to Add Storage or Configure Raid on The Area 51 m9750

How's it going everyone,
I'm going to try and answer multiple questions lol. First of all, you can order two drives from Alienware in a non-raid configuration. However, you have very limited choices, and it will cost you dearly. If you choose a none raid configuratin, you only have two choices - 64GB Solid State Drive + 200GB 7,200RPM (16MB Cache) w/ Free Fall Protection or 64GB Solid State Drive + 320GB 5,400RPM (8MB Cache), and it will cost you $1,100 dollars extra. Being that SSD drives are a fairly new technology, they may or may not be worth the money depending on your particular use. They don't increase performance, except on boot, and have been proven to fail prematurely (SSD drives are a flash technology with limited flashes).
As far as going out and buying an extra drive, I encourage it. This is for users that either want some extra storage, or they plan on using raid. Any 2.5 SATA drive (NOT PATA) is compatible with the area 51 m9750. Also, all are plug and play. However, because there are two configurations, there are different rules that apply to each. Look at A if you just want storage. Look at B if you want Raid.

A:
If your looking to just add some storage, go out and find any 2.5 SATA drive. Make sure and look for SATA, because you will see the old format which is PATA. PATA drives use pins to connect, and aren't compatible with the notebook. Also, you may want to consider ordering, or buying, a couple of extra hard drive screws. Each drive is held in by 4. However, if you just want to make it work, you can easily steal 2 screws from you first drive.
Now, on to the fun part. Once you have your new drive in (assuming that the power is off and your taking the necessary ESD precautions), boot your computer up and enter Windows as normal. Surprise!!!! Your drive isn't there!!! Now worries, you have to use the disk managment utility to activate it. Right click My Computer, choose Manage, and then click Disk Management below the Storage tree. All of your drives should come up in the right window pane. Look carefully and you should see your new drive as an extra drive letter. Now it's been a while for me, but what you need to do is either creat a volume or partition. Right click your new drive and choose either Create new Volume or Creat new Partition. Follow the options in the wizard, and make sure to do a simple format (or whatever formatting you want to use) when it prompts. After your done, you should be able to make use of the drive.

B:
If your looking to join the wonderful world of raid, there is one key rule that you need to understand. Raid has to be configured Before you install Windows. If you already have Windows installed, your going to need to start over again. Also, if you ordered the Alienware Respawn DVD, it will not work to restore a raid configuration. Alienware Respawn DVD only works if your system came with raid factory installed. Now with that in mind, and if your still reading, go out and find any 2.5 SATA drive. Make sure and look for SATA, because you will see the old format which is PATA. PATA drives use pins to connect, and aren't compatible with the notebook. Also, you may want to consider ordering, or buying, a couple of extra hard drive screws. Each drive is held in by 4. However, if you just want to make it work, you can easily steal 2 screws from you first drive. Now, on to the fun part (assuming that you turned the computer off and installed the drive using ESD precautions). If you are converting from a single drive to a raid configuration, make sure and save everything! Enabling raid will erase your drive/s! Reboot your computer, and make sure you hit F2 to get into BIOS. Since I don't have my laptop back from repair, bare with me on my explanations, as I am working from memory. Arrow over until you reach that tab that shows raid as an option. Arrow down to raid and press the appropriate key to enable. After you have enabled raid, arrow to the last tab and make sure to save and exit. Now, get ready to press ctrl + (I think it's I) as soon as it prompts you for the raid configuration. If you miss it, just hit ctrl + alt + delete and try to catch it again. After your into the raid configuration menu, you should see drives toward the bottom, and some options near the top. If my memory serves me correctly, you'll be able to create a new raid with the corresponding option at the top. It's pretty self explanatory, so no worries there. If you want a stripe, choose raid 0. If you want a mirror, choose raid 1. If you have no clue what's best for you, see C after this set of instructions. Now, after you've selected your raid option, it will display a few size options that are always left best at default. Accept the changes and it will display a warning that mentions that everything will erase. Accept once again and you're set. Exit the raid configuration manager and install windows as normal.

C:
Ok, if you're here, it's because you are not familiar with Raid. There are two different types of raid options for this notebook. There's raid 0, which is commoly referred to as a stripe. There's raid 1, which is commonly referred to as a mirror. Raid 0 is for your productive, performance minded individuals. However it is not a safe technology if you don't backup every once in a while. Raid 0 basically combines both drives and divides the work between each drive. This is simimlar to the Dual technology that you've been seeing in processors and memory. It only makes sense that if the work is divided between two drives, the computer can be more productive. But, if one drive fails, you lose everthing! So if you decided to go with a raid 0 configuration, make sure to backup. If your shaking your head right now, the maybe raid 1 will suit your tastes. Raid 1 is for your safety minded individuals. However, it is a less productive approach. Raid 1 essentially mirrors, or copies, your primary drive to your secondary drive. So it backs up for you. But, being that your your computer is having to do everything twice, it slows performance. Keep in mind, though, that if one drive fails, you're still golden. The computer will perform degraded (slower than normal), but it will still be useable. Then you can simply just slip in another drive and rebuild the raid 1 without losing anything.

Hope this helps,
Gabe

P.S. - This was a starter guide created in order to help Clean and various other members out. Keep in mind that is purely a draft and will be edited to include pictures and examples later on.

 

Weee you listened

 

I think you need a part D: to answer questions about Matrix RAID.

 

Nice one GabeZ.... Cheers, chum!

 

Nice Job Gabez

 

nice work +1 rep

 

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the input. I tried to make it as thorough as I could working from memory. If it's good enough for a sticky, I'll edit it to include pics and examples.​

Thanks
Gabe

 

Sticky it, please, Admin?

Oh, and I'd Rep if I knew how!

 

If you setup a RAID and plan on installing XP you will need either a floppy disk and usb floppy drive, or a custom Windows XP installation disc with the RAID driver added.

As for Vista, I don't know if the install disc contains the RAID driver. If not, you must do the same. If so, install Windows as normal like GabeZ said.

 

Hi Krypto,

Thanks for the clarification. I am aware that there were a few things left out of the guide. Windows XP does in fact require a raid driver to be provided to load Windows. Vista, however, recognizes the raid automatically and installs as normal. Also, I did forget to mention that if you are going to configure raid, you might want to try and match the drive brand and model number for best results.
If anyone has any questions, please feel free to send me a PM or append to this post. I was hoping that it would turn into a sticky so that I could revise the guide and make it a little clearer and concise.
​

Thanks,
Gabe

 

To the top!

 

No problem Gabe, and thanks for the Vista info. I just got my new m9750 and didn't even turn it on before i put in 2 -200GB 7200RPM Drives in RAID 0. I went the route of making a custom XP installation disc, which turned out to be quite easy. If you would like any information on how to make this let me know and i can put something together for your guide.