Dell XPS 17 L702x and the Vertex 3 SSD

Any mainstream SSD will result in a phenomenal performance increase that translates into a much better user experience.

I decided to go for a Vertex 3 240GB. This is obviously more of a high-end (and expensive) solution. However, I chose this route simply because I wanted to get as close as possible to the performance of the Vaio Z that I was replacing, (which came with an extremely fast 4xRAID 0 SSD set up), AND because I didn't want to sacrifice too much space when replacing one of my 500GB HDDs.

As for setting up, I found this simplicity itself. For the physical installation all you need is to unscrew the cover (just one screw) and then unscrew both HDDs. They slot in and out very easily. To set up the drive, I have Acronis True Image 2011 and prepared a boot CD. I put the previous boot drive in the HDD2 slot and the Vertex in HDD1 and just got Acronis to clone one to the other. The whole process took about 20 minutes and worked perfectly first time. I then put the other 500GB HDD back in its place. I strongly recommend Acronis for this kind of task.

Unlike others, mine was already configured to use AHCI, which is needed for optimum performance on an SSD. I then did the various registry tweaks and driver updates described elsewhere on this thread. All in all, it was a snap.

What was far more of a pain was getting rid of the recovery partition, which I do not need, and which was taking up 14GB of my precious SSD capacity - of course the recovery partition was preserved in the cloning process.

Annoyingly, Dell (like other laptop manufacturers) has positioned this partition in the middle of the drive, which means you can't just delete it and expand other partitions to fill the space.

Even more annoyingly, Dell has configured it as the active partition so Windows will not boot if you delete it.

The procedure I used to get rid of it was as follows. I marked the main partition as active and deleted the recovery partition.

Windows didn't boot (as expected) so I launched startup repair using the Windows installation disk. This required about 3 attempts and a bit of head scratching before it had successfully repaired my installation. I'm not sure why it didn't work first time but it eventually did.

Then after booting into Windows, I used Acronis disk director to create a new partition in place of the deleted recovery partition and then to merge it with the OS partition, thereby recovering the space. It's this last bit (merging partitions) that you need the specialist partition management software to do the job, as the Windows disk management service can only extend a partition to recover space that comes after it, not before.

It was a few hours work in total to get the drive performing to its potential but the results are most definitely worth it.

 

I would take a look at some of the OCZ forums. They mostly recommend against cloning to an SSD, as apparently something called Alignment is very important with SSDs. If you clone an HDD that isn't properly aligned, performance suffers. Win7, when installed to a completely fresh SSD, will do its own Quick Format and properly align the disk prior to installation.

Which ever one you get, check the user forums on the manufacturer's website. Lots of good info there (just like there is here.)

If anybody can expound on my feeble understanding, the world would be a better place.

 

and also make sure if you clone that the clone doesn't write also "null" values to the ssd. So it really writes a complete image of the previous hdd including empty space. Because then the ssd things that you have written in those places and it then believes that it is completely filled..

 

Yep, you're right Rick 64D. I know precious little about the internals of SSDs and RAID systems but did a bit of research following your post and learned that the partitions have to be in line with the SSD's physical structure. A lack of alignment results in redundant reads and writes, which both degrades performance and can shorten the life of the device.

The SSD alignment calculator, which can easily be found via Google, revealed that my Vertex 3 was NOT aligned. Tbh I wouldn't have noticed as its subjective performance was so far superior to the mechanical drive it replaced, that I wasn't complaining. However, it would account for the fact that benchmark scores were so far below spec.

I found that the alignment issue is easily corrected. I purchased the Paragon Alignment Tool (PAT), which claims to correct alignment issues without disrupting data. However, the purchase turned out not to be necessary as I was midway through an alternative approach, which I found worked fine. Basically, instead of cloning the drive directly, you just back it up using Acronis 11, then wipe the SSD, create a new partition with the correct alignment and then restore the backup.

The alignment calculator reported that my drive was now aligned correctly and the PAT said no task needed to be performed. This surprised me hugely since there seem to be armies of people on various fora complaining that Acronis doesn't support correct alignment of SSDs (hence my purchase of PAT while the restore task was underway).

Nevertheless, it worked and the SSD is most certainly quicker - both subjectively and in benchmarks. WEI, for example, now reports 7.9 for the primary HDD, whereas previously it was 7.8. HDTune now posts scores in the 400s, up from the 200s previously. Booting is certainly quicker.

True, a lot of work for an improvement that will be hardly noticeable in real life. However, I personally get restless if I know any part of my set up is not performing to its capabilities.

 

Bwrlane, what technique did you use to wipe your SSD? I tried the Secure Erase mentioned in the OCZ forums, but couldn't get it to work on a Vertex 2 on an older XPS 400 desktop. I haven't tried it on my L502, as I did a clean install onto a new Vertex 3. I suspect it's just because the desktop is so old, it doesn't support the newer technology.

 

Rick 64D therein lies a bit of a story.

I tried to do as you did: Secure Erase the Vertex 3 from my L702x. However, it returned the error that no OCZ drive was installed - something which I knew to be nonsense.

A bit of googling revealed that Secure Erase doesn't work on Dells. Something to do with a motherboard incompatibility that doesn't affect general performance but prevents OCZ Toolbox correctly identifying OCZ hardware.

So I just connected the Vertex 3 to a desktop (self built, Gigabyte P67 motherboard) and Secure Erase worked no problem. Then I used Windows 7 to create the partition and quick format as the guides recommend.

After that I put the Vertex 3 back into the Dell and let Acronis restore from backup.

 

Wow, anyone want a 480GB vertex 3 for only 1859.79???

Ncix dot com

 

That price is completely mad, twice the memory just indicates twice the chips....thus it should only be twice the price. I think the new Crucial 512gb M4 is far better value. But I don't think that crucial have any over provisioning space in their SSD's so their performance is likely to degrade over time.

 

Ya and the sad thing is, thats the CHEAPEST price I could find.

 

It'll be more like $1000 soon as they're more readily available. The 512GB Crucial M4 is a hair over $900 on Amazon.

 

does this have to be doen for all SSD cards - i have decided to go with a crucial C300 - do i use the same ACHI as referred to at the fresh install stage on my SSD or is that only for the vertex SSD, do i also have to use the registry fix with the crucial SSD (ie the LPM fix)

cheers in advance

 

Shouldn't have AHCI driver problems with the C300 during install, but you will have to do the LPM fix, which takes less than a minute to do.

 

will the LPM fix registry entry that was posted here earlier do the trick or will i need to do something else (post 36)

 

I've bought and installed the OCZ Agility 3 SSD in my XPS 17 (besides the HDD which was included by DELL) and I am having a very annoying and strange screen flickering problem. To be honoust, it's driving me nuts

I've installed Windows 7 on the SSD and installed the drivers as provided by Dell on their drivers and utilities DVD. Works perfectly in AHCI, I don't have any performance issues, it works at benchmark speed. Everything works perfectly. However when I unplug the electricity and work on the battery, my screen flickers every 10/15 seconds. Sometimes it doesn't flicker for a few minutes, sometimes it flickers twice in a second. It goes for a split second totally off, then returning to normal. This only occurs when the laptop is not plugged in into electricity.

Furthermore, the flickering issue seems only to be at low-power states. I.e. when just surfing or typing. Watching a movie or playing a video game the screen works (most of the time) fine.

When booting from my old HDD with DELL preinstalled Windows (which is in the second HDD Bay), the problem does not occur. Dell told me that it was not their problem, because the problem doesn't occur when booting my old HDD.

Does anyone has a clue what's going on and how to solve it? As said before, the continuous flickering drives me totally nuts... Could it be that the SSD leads to a sudden voltage drop which makes the screen flicker? (just guessing) Although it's strange that when booting from my old HDD it doesn't occur, while the SSD is in my other HDD bay and working.

Thx in advance!

PS: reinstalling windows/drivers (unfortunately) doesn't do the job, already tried that...
PPS: Turning off the energy-saving options in Windows and the "Intel Graphics and media control panel" doesn't do the job either.

 

I had that exact same problem, and installing the graphics driver from either Intel or Dell's site fixed the issue - I /think/ it was Intel's site. Make sure under your system properties that your integrated GPU is showing as "Intel HD 3000"

 

I had that exact problem but only when I tried Intel's updated graphics drivers (2342 or 2361 such as from Intel's site). The flickering stopped when I switched back to the older (Intel) 2321 drivers from Dell's site.
I hope that Dell updates their Intel drivers, since I have the newer WiDi.

 

Brinstead, DougHo63, I owe you, guys! Downloading the Intel HD Graphics 3000 driver version 8.15.10.2321, A05 from the DELL site solved my flickering problem.
(The (improperly working) version DELL has on it's "Drivers and Utilities DVD", which I had installed, is version 8.15.10.2253.)

Again, many Thanks!

 

I have a quick question (apologies if this has already been answered in this long thread):

Is the cable/connector that the primary hdd that we replace with the SSD a Sata III connector?

I'm guessing so as no one has mentioned this.

 

yep - just plug it in and go.

 

Hello all,

I am hoping soon to be a proud owner of an L702x laptop. I intend to buy an OCZ agility 3 SSD and use it as the boot drive, yet I am a bit worried from what I have been reading in forums about issues people have been having with OCZ drives and intel chipsets (BSODs, etc.). Can anyone who has an L702x laptop with an OCZ drive who has successfully installed the drive as the boot device comment on their experience? Any information you could spare would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

don't risk it, buy a different ssd such as crucial m4

 

Hey morfmedia,

Thank you for the quick response and the advice. Unfortunately I cannot follow it since, where I live, I have a choice between only an agility 3, a vertex 2, and two old kingston and intel models (which are slow).

 

I just have the L502x, but my Vertex 3 120GB MaxIOPs has worked without issue for 4 months. Currently, Newegg is showing 109 reviews with an average rating of 4 out of 5 eggs.

There's also a good discussion between several OCZ users here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/567668-vertex-3-installed-l502x.html


FWIW, my SSD installation To-Do list went as follows:
1. Update laptop to latest BIOS.

2. Download latest Intel Rapid Storage Tech driver and extract to root of thumb drive.

3. Set BIOS to SATA AHCI mode.

4. Install Windows 7 as follows:
a) Edit BIOS for DVD bootability.
b) Boot with Windows DVD inserted.
c) When prompted, select "Load Driver", insert thumb drive and browse to Intel driver.

5. Use the Registry fix to disable LPM Command for SSD from here:
Solution: C300 Disk Freeze-ups in Windows 7 solved... - Crucial Community

6. Verify Device Manager->IDE ATA Controllers shows Intel SATA AHCI Driver

7. Follow SSD Optimization Guide at:
The SSD Review


Good luck with your decision!

 

Hey SuspiciousLurker,

Thank you very, very much for your response and advice, you have given me some peace of mind.

I indeed intended to follow similar steps (which I learned from this forum), the only difference is I wanted to place the SSD in the secondary SATA 3 slot (HDD slot 2) first, install windows on the HDD the laptop comes with, boot windows, download and use the firmware updater for the OCZ drive to update it (I am not sure which version to choose though, the latest is 2.11, though many suggest 2.09), remove the HDD from the primary SATA, place the SSD there and then follow the method you outlined to install windows. What do you think?

EDIT: Just read some reviews on Newegg for OCZ drives (Vertex, Agility) and oh boy is my peace of mind gone. Every second or third review contains the word BSOD in it. I also looked into the corsair force series 3 drives and they have the same issues, it seems to all be related to the sandforce controllers. I just wish I had the money for a good Intel drive.

 

stay away from OCZ.....
better get intel (which might look slow on benches but real world performance is almost same)... nothing matters more than stability of your system and peace of mind rather than BSODs nightmares....

 

Hi Xayzer,

I am the proud owner of a L702X with the Vertex 3 60gb, which works fine. I only checked that AHCI was enabled (which it was), and actually did not change anything. Just installed Win7 and the drivers provided by Dell on their DVD. I have never encountered any problems the last months, like BSOD or freezes. But maybe I'm just lucky?

However, as speed is concerned I would not recommend the 60gb version. It sure is fast, but it can be a lot faster for the bux. Maybe consider the Vertex 3 or the cheaper but very good Crucial m4. They really seem to be a lot faster. (if you understand dutch, the following review can be clearifying: Crucial m4: koning onder de ssd's | Introductie | Core | Tweakers.net Reviews)

Good luck with your choice!

 

What country are you in that those are your only choices. The OCZ drives also have MUCH worse long term reliablity rates even if you do keep it stable for a while.....

 

@gull_s_777 - thanks for the advice. I am starting to believe this is the best thing to do. I suppose I can get the Intel 320 and if I delay my purchase and find some extra cash I can get the 510. If there was only a 60 or 80 GB version of the 510, it would've been much more affordable.

@passat123 - Thanks for the link. I don't understand Dutch, but I used google translate and got a good idea of what it says. Unfortunately, the Crucial M4 is not available in my country. Concerning speed - I don't really need the drive to be all that speedy, considering I currently work on an old, 5400rpm HDD, even the slowest SSD will be a good upgrade

I suppose you are one of the lucky ones, I hope you never get any of the problems OCZ drive owners have been suffering from.

@morfmedia - a faraway, a** backwards land called Bulgaria. There are some other models available here as well, but I am not considering them for various reasons.

 

Can you get the Kingston 96GB drive, that's very good value for it's size in the UK?

 

I haven't seen a 96GB drive here, there is a Kingston SSD 128GB (SV100S2D) which is faster than the Intel 320 and a bit cheaper, but not as stable.

From what I have been reading lately I understand that Intel drives are rock solid and when push comes to shove that is more important to me than benchmark speeds. As I mentioned before, I think I will go with either the Intel 320 120GB SATA 2 or the Intel 510 120GB SATA 3 depending on my pocket's resources

 

Intel = Win

This is the drive I was talking about > Kingston SSDNow 96 GB Internal hard drive - 300 MBps

 

Yes, I believe it is the same drive as the one I mentioned, with less GB.

 

Do the Vertex 2 drives have any problems?
Got one in my desktop at present and was going to fit it this weekend to my L702x.

 

This is my result.In all reviews that i read,it says that hyperx are the fastest sandforce ssd on the market and in the bench they post some crasy result that i cant reach by any way.I start to think taht something wrong with this reviews.Some king of fals advertising But as i see from your result hyperx is same as the all sandforce ssd and it is slower than m4.
Wow wrong post in the wrong thread sorry

 

Hi, first post , great forum.
I am getting a Dell xps L702x laptop, (Very first ever laptop) Bought from the outlet.
My question is please can anyone tell me if these Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive will fit and work ok in the L702x XPS Laptops?

This Corsair Force Series 3 uses SandForce SF-2200 SSD controller, I have read this controller has been giving users blue-screens and lock ups etc? Has anyone got updated info on if this is Corsair Force Series 3 has problems or known firmware faults?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-021-CS&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1427

Has anyone installed one themselves or is using one in their XPS ?
Would love to hear you ideas?
Thanks

 

Really good points. You know you'd think Dell support would have known this??
If I ran Dell I'd give all you guys the Tech support jobs, customer service happiness would be through the roof!!

 

Hey all,

Does anyone know if the Vertex 3 issues were sorted with any recent firmware updates? (i.e is it ok to buy one for my L702x now?) or do you all recommend that I go for something like the crucial M4?

 

definitely m4

 

I've had a Vertex 3 since March or April in my L502 and haven't had any problems at all, and it benchmarks well.

 

Sorta. Still lots of people BSODing/bricking. Plus OCZ's firmware update itself likes to brick drives (even OCZ says to not use it when you read the disclaimer for it...).

M4 all the way. Not worth your time playing with beta drives that have like a 25% failure rate.

 

I've had a Vertex 3 in my L702x since late April and it's been fantastic and I've had zero problems with it as well. I think there's a lot of forum trolling by Intel and Crucial fanboys here....maybe even an on line-smear campaign.

 

Not the case at all. Just a lot of people that have been burned by OCZ/Sandforce stuff. Myself included. And I know several others that have had countless issues with the Vertex 3, eventually got rid of it in favor of other non-Sandforce brands, and had no issues at all.

Many people don't have issues with Sandforce drives, but if you are one of the ones that does, it is a nightmare. And sadly this percentage is fairly high. I am honestly glad yours is still fine after 6 months. It just seems to be all-too common for this to not be the case right now...