Upgrade 750GB with 64GB Caching to 256GB SSD Primary Drive Help?

Hi,
My Alienware 18 will arrive next week or soon after. Despite requesting it, I was unable to order a 256GB SSD with the unit for whatever reason so have opted for a 750GB mechanical drive with 64GB caching. I have purchased a Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD and want this to be the primary drive. I was wondering would anyone be willing to put down a set of step by step instructions or send me a link to how this is best done as I've never attempted anything like it before...

The ideal scenario I would like is to have:
1) The SSD as the primary drive for games etc.
2) The 750GB drive as a backup
3) The 64GB drive as either storage or Caching for the 750GB drive - any thoughts on this and how it is done would be welcome. I guess it's pointless to have an SSD caching an SSD so would be open to anyone's opinion on whether it's best to have it as storage or caching for the mechanical drive (or used as something else to speed up the system somehow?)

I'd be hopeful not to mess up the settings that come with the machine - do I need to set it all up first with the hard drive it comes with or do I just go straight to installing the SSD? Is there enough backup/recovery software shipped with a boxed up alienware to allow me to do this? Whatever the best way is to have the machine ready to go with all updated drivers and SSD as primary drive, that's what I'll do.

Anyway, hopefully someone can point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance for any help. Great to have this resource here.

 

First thing you need to do is make a USB backup using AlienRespawn (or DVDs). After that, leave the stock HDD and mSata SSD alone. Just pop in the Samsung 840 and change the boot order in the BIOS and then install a fresh copy of windows. Whenever you are all done and everything is working, you can format the HDD and basically turn it into a storage drive.

It's that simple. Everything is SATA III, so you don't need to put the SSD where the HDD is.

 

Thanks for the help. Does AlienRespawn come with the notebook? Will the MSATA drive remain caching? Just looking on an opinion on whether it's wothe being a caching drive or a small storage drive,
Thanks again.

 

It will remain as a cache drive, yes. It isn't worth while making it a storage drive. It will boost your HDD and make it pretty quick.

And yes, all Alienware PC's come with Respawn - it's a program in the start menu.

 

So I just got the Alienware 18 and am attempting to backup using Alienware respawn create rescue disk. Despite trying two external USB drives (one a formatted 32GB flash and one a hard drive with 200gb free) I keep getting the error message for Current Drive: No external hard drive detected'. I am able to browse the drives content so they are installed and visible...not sure what to do. I can go down the route of using some other backup utility but am hopeful someone can shed some light on this...I was hoping this would be the easy part.

 

AlienRespawn automatically detects compatible devices to use for backups. Try using DVD's.

 

Hi J.Dre and Ikarium,

I own an M17xR4 and not the M18, but if the HDD setup is similar, the caching SSD is managed through the Intel RAID BIOS and configured/setup with the Intel Rapid Storage Manger (software). This means that after a "fresh" install of Windows, it will not be configured as caching until you install Intel RSM, and set it up. Seagate makes a series of drives that include NAND onboard for caching, and these work without any configuration or software, if the M18 includes this drive (though the versions I am aware of only include 8 GBs of NAND), then no configuration is necessary. Good luck!

Rich S.

 

That's true, but he's not installing windows again on the HDD. He's just adding a regular SSD to the mix and keeping the HDD & mSata SSD the same.

 

Yep, it should all stay setup and play just fine with another drive you insert.

 

Hi guys, I'm having a similar situation like @Ikarium. I bought my AW 18 with the 750GB option so I'm planning to buy a 256gb msata ssd and use it as an os boot. What I want to do here is to migrate everything (data, os, etc) from the original HDD to the 256gb ssd and use the 750GB as storage drive. Do you guys know how to do this? I really hope that somebody is willing to do a step-by-step instruction on this since I've never done anything like this before...

 

Are they by chance USB 3.0?

I was unable to use a 3.0 memory stick, and had to go out and get a 2.0 instead