Alienware M14x R3

Can anyone give me the back photo of open Alienware M14x or answer my query. In the video guys says that ALienware M14x can take upto 3 hard drives. How is that possible ??

 

Yes, you can have up to 3 hard drives in AW14

The primary hard drive slot
msata slot (msata card)
Optical drive slot can be used to replace optical drive to a hard disk (Optional)

 

well...i believe the msata ssd is not a "hard drive"

 

it could be considered so

 

It's considered an internal mass storage device so yes it can be considered a Hard Drive.

 

that's true, it will support up to 3 hard drives. 1 msata and 2 sata (ODD and main HDD bay).

 

haha ok i was wrong

by the way, is there any "official" hdd caddy for AW 14 or just the aftermarket ones?

(and where can we get some screws for the msata?)

 

Pretty sure there are only aftermarket Caddys.

 

We have P/N: 673WT for the bracket. Perhaps the sales dept. can sell it. About the screws you would have to look at a Hardware Store probably.

 

I found this thread after hunting the internet for that secondary hard disk bracket as well as reaching out to accessories sales. There doesn't seem to be any reference to this part number anywhere on the internet other than this thread and one aftermarket reseller that wants nearly $1000 for it (not sure if that's a typo, though). My interaction with Dell accessories sales was less than successful.

At first, when I told them I wanted the secondary hard disk bracket for the Alienware 14, they sent me the original, primary hard disk bracket. It has part number 0D4PDM on it. It's clearly the wrong item. I went back to them and explained, again, that I'm looking to replace the optical drive with a secondary hard disk. After much investigation, they said they "don't recommend doing this" because "it would void the system warranty" and, as a result, they wouldn't sell it to me. They directed me to Alienware technical support after I pushed a little harder to get the right parts.

Tech support was MUCH more helpful and it sounds like they're sending all the right parts this time. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask for the exact part numbers they're sending me, but they did mention another plastic bit that covers the ODD slot.

Once I get everything, I'll list the numbers from the labels. If time permits, I'll try to also get pictures of everything.

 

Replacing the ODD for a HDD is not oficially recommended by Dell, but it will not void your warranty, unless you break something when replacing the parts. Please let us know how it goes.

 

You know that and I know that but the person(s) at the accessories sales group I spoke with apparently didn't understand that.

That said, I wound up with the following parts that appears to be the minimum to allow me to install a second hard disk in this system:

673WT - ASSY:BRKT:N-ODD:ANW14R1 - This is the ODD-sized "frame" that fits where the ODD would normally go.
XY745 - ASSY:BRKT:N-ODD:#2 HDD:ANW14R1 - This is the smaller bracket that a secondary hard disk would be mounted into. This, in turn, gets mounted into the larger frame.
12YRG - ASSY:CBL:N-ODD:FPC:ANW14R1 - This is the cable suitable for the hard disk to plug into the system board where the ODD would normally go (you can't re-use the ODD cable as it's a micro-SATA connector on the ODD side).

Additionally, I needed 4x M3x3 screws to mount the hard disk into the bracket and 1x M2x2 screw to secure the bracket into the frame. I already had a stash of these and simply re-used what I had available.

I'm sure I could clean it up a bit more with the appropriate bottom chassis plate that lacks the ODD slot. But I know not to use it and nobody else should be using my computer so it's not really a problem.

Sorry, I don't have pics. I could come up with some lame excuse about not having time or not having a suitable camera available. But the truth is I'm partly lazy and partly too excited. I had everything assembled in about 10 minutes and just didn't want to spend the time to snap any pictures from my phone.

Regardless, if anyone else is planning and ODD-to-HD conversion on their AW14, this is what you need to order.

 

Thank you for sharing your experience racermd