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    17r2 m.2 SSD setup help

    Discussion in '2015+ Alienware 13 / 15 / 17' started by Yukonpete, Jul 22, 2015.

  1. Yukonpete

    Yukonpete Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi,

    I purchased the base model 17r2 with a 1GB 7200rpm HD. I purchased a Crucial 250GB m.2 SSD and want to install Win 8.1 on the SSD and set up the 1GB 7200rpm HD as the storage unit. Can someone point me in the right direction with information on what I need to set in BIOS for this to run correctly?

    Thanks
    Pete
     
    Yukonpete, Jul 22, 2015
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  2. xMAXIMUSx

    xMAXIMUSx Notebook Consultant

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    Just plug the drives in, turn it on and direct the windows install to your 250 SSD, and That's it pretty simple, nothing needed in the Bios, just remember to install drivers correctly. The 1tb hopefully not a 1 gb will show up in your windows explorer as a slave drive.
     
    xMAXIMUSx, Jul 22, 2015
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  3. Alienware-L_Porras

    Alienware-L_Porras Company Representative

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    It's a quite simple process as stated above. Simply plug the drive and install Windows on it.

    If you need guidance for the Windows installation, check this article out!
     
    Alienware-L_Porras, Jul 24, 2015
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  4. phoenixhd

    phoenixhd Notebook Enthusiast

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    How I did it:
    Make your USB recovery media from AlienRespawn (you should do this anyway!)
    Turn off. Unplug your HDD. Connect your SSD, plug in your USB.
    Boot. Hit F12 and run AlienRespawn.
    Reconnect your HDD and reboot- you should now be booting off the SSD. I found the first few boots were dissappointingly slow- I presume Windows was finishing install stuff/installing updates.
    Format your HDD- I did a quick format and discmanager shows the c. 7GB recovery partition is still present on the HDD; that doesn't overly bother me TBH.

    I'm now seeing boot times well south of 10 seconds with an MX200.
     
    phoenixhd, Jul 24, 2015
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  5. xMAXIMUSx

    xMAXIMUSx Notebook Consultant

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    xMAXIMUSx, Jul 24, 2015
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