The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    HDD Upgrade Problem - Alienware M15x

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by kar2nist1979, Mar 21, 2012.

  1. kar2nist1979

    kar2nist1979 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    6
    I recently upgraded my 250GB HDD to a 750GB (Western Digital Scorpio Blue - WD7500BPVT) in my Alienware M15x. I cloned it with no problem about a week ago. However, I noticed last night that I couldn't do a Windows Update. After hours of research and troubleshooting to no avail, I found the solution was to download a Intel Rapid Storage (?) driver; apparently, any HDD 500GB or larger needs it for the Windows Update tool to work. All good then? Negative. For some reason my Windows Experience Index now gives my system a overall 2.8? It was previously a 5.9 (lowest subscore for Disk Transfer Rate). My entire previous score was: Processor - 7.3; RAM - 7.5; Graphics - 7.0; Gaming Graphics - 7.0; Primary Hard Disk - 5.9. I don't understand how this is happening. I've restarted the WEI about seven times with the same score. The computer works flawlessy even though it was cloned -- except for this issue. I've even put the old HDD back in and refreshed the WEI and it gets the same old good score, except for the HDD low subscore of 5.9. Refreshing the old HDD stays the same; I put the new HDD back in and it gets the 2.8 bad score -- in fact, all the scores are bad. Really bad. I know it's just nit-picking on my part, but I would just like to find a solution. Any help would be greatly appreciated. This is my M15x's current specs:

    Alienware M15x Laptop
    Intel Core i7-920XM @ 2.00GHz
    8GB DDR3 (1333MHz PC3-10600) SDRAM
    nVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M 1.5GB (GF106M)
    750GB WD SATA HDD; 5400 RPM
    BD-ROM Player/DVD±RW Drive (CA10N)
    150W PSU + 6 Cell Battery
    15.6" RGB WLED 1920x1080p - Full HD
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64
     
  2. s2odin

    s2odin Merrica!

    Reputations:
    1,085
    Messages:
    859
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    31
    You're worried about your WEI score is your problem?

    Do some benchmarks on the drive and make sure it's healthy. Then make sure speeds are where they should be and you have the right amount available. WEI is a pretty useless benchmark tool, don't put too much into it. It has no affect on your performance so as long as your drive works and is healthy, don't worry.