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    Advice on replacing AW 17 R2 5400 hdd

    Discussion in '2015+ Alienware 13 / 15 / 17' started by starrk, Feb 3, 2015.

  1. starrk

    starrk Notebook Consultant

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    Hey guys. My 17 is on order coming with an m.2 ssd and the 2.5" 1 tb HDD. I'm going to replace that 2.5 HDD with a Samsung 850 Pro 512 GB SSD. Looking for advice on anything I'll need in advance, as well as the best route to take when replacing it. From my understanding, the 2.5 drive is setup as a storage drive. Does it come loaded with anything on there that I'll need to clone over to the need drive? For that matter, will I even need to make a clone of the drive if its empty, or can I just pull out the 2.5 storage drive, install the new 2.5 ssd in its place and be ready to roll?

    I guess my biggest unknown is whether or not it's an empty storage drive. Then depending on that answer, what route to take from there (buy backup software... Or use alien respawn to make a backup stock, then install the new drive and run respawn to set it back up to stock with the new ssd installed?). I think the drive comes with cloning software, so I guess that would be another option if a clone is needed.

    Thanks in advance for the direction!
     
    starrk, Feb 3, 2015
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  2. Game7a1

    Game7a1 ?

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    If the HDD is storage, then it should be a simple replace. Nothing should be on the HDD if it is storage.
    However, if for some odd chance it is storage, then you'll have to make either the M.2 or the 850 Pro the boot drive. Respawn, I think, makes a recovery media from the recovery partition. I don't think it clones, but I've never used it, so yeah... Or you could clone the HDD onto either SSD.
     
    Game7a1, Feb 3, 2015
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  3. starrk

    starrk Notebook Consultant

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    I'm hoping it truly is empty storage and not storage where they've loaded the Alienware software or respawn or something like that lol.
    Hopefully someone with one in hand already, or an AW rep on here will be able to confirm. If it's empty, does any kind of formatting or anything need to be done to the new drive? Or just plug it in, boot up and I'm all set?
     
    starrk, Feb 3, 2015
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  4. Alienware-L_Porras

    Alienware-L_Porras Company Representative

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    It's usually empty and left as a simple storage drive. However, we know of some people who have received theirs with the O.S installed in the HDD.
     
    Alienware-L_Porras, Feb 4, 2015
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  5. starrk

    starrk Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks for the info Mr. Porras. I guess I'll have to see where the OS ends up and go from there.
     
    starrk, Feb 4, 2015
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