M14x R2 Using 3 HDD's

Hi all,

I've recently ordered a new M14x R2 to replace my aging XPS m1530.

I've done some searching, and haven't really found anyone that has tried using 3 hard drives in the R2. Most have either replaced the traditional magnetic hard drive with a SSD, added a SSD and moved the magnetic HDD to the ODD slot in a caddy, or have simply just added a mSATA drive.

I ordered the R2 with the 64GB mSATA/500GB magnetic option (presumably the 64GB mSATA card is a Samsung PM830). I am also planning on ordering a Samsung 830 256GB 2.5in SSD to replace the 500GB. I'd like to use the 500GB in a caddy in the ODD slot, so I'd have 3 drives total in the end. Ultimate scenario would be to then replace the 64GB mSATA card with a 256GB PM830 if ever available to consumers, and possibly then run a RAID 0 or RAID 1 setup.

Few questions:

Has anyone tried this? Seems like it should work... (Intel HM77 chipset is capable of 2 SATA 3.0 channels along with 4 additional SATA 2.0 channels - Mobile Intel® HM77 Express Chipset
For anyone using a HDD in a caddy on the R2, what sata speeds are you getting? I figure its SATA 2.0 from the chipset spec, but I've seen a few posts about R1 users needing to knock down hdd's to 1.5gb to get it to work in the caddy (granted the R1 uses a different chipset and the R2 doesnt seem to be suffering from the same bios issues with sata as the R1)
Has anyone used a RAID 0 with SSD's in the R2? If so, what drives did you use and any benches? The capacity of the drives make an important difference as smaller SSD's generally perform slower than a larger SSD (a 64GB PM830 only does about 170MB/sec read while a 256GB does 500MB/sec read; see Samsung PM830 SATA 3 256GB mSATA SSD Review - Ultrabooks To Gain Capacity and SATA 3 Speed - The SSD Review) Even better, if you got the 256/256 SSD option from the factory, were both of your drives samsung 830 series?

Sorry for the long winded post, but any input would be appreciated. I'm at least going the 3 drive route immediately and will discard the 500gb if it doesnt work at worst, so if no one else has performed this yet, I'll fill you guys in when everything comes in.

Thanks

 

Hope this works! ill be looking forward to seeing how it goes. Good luck!

 

Do you know which caddy specifically will work in the R2?

 

I ordered the one from this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...secondary-hard-drive-your-m14x-w-pics-15.html

There is a link in the first post to ebay, and then towards the end of the thread there is a link to amazon.

I havent received it, or the R2 yet, but as the chassis is generally the same as the R1, I figure, or more accurately, hope, that it works.

 

I'm going to try this on my R2.. I bought this: Amazon.com: Hard Drive Caddy Tray for Apple Unibody MacBook / MacBook Pro 13 15 17 SuperDrive (Replacement Only): Electronics

I also have a 750GB HDD I will try, unless it's sata III then I'll be doing RAID0 for sure with 2x Intel 510 120GB

 

Do you have a mSATA drive also?

 

So, to give everyone a quick update..

This worked like a charm.

I put the stock WDC 500GB Scorpio Black into the caddy, so now there is the 64GB Samsung PM830 mSATA, a 256GB Samsung 830 in the primary hard drive, and the 500GB in the caddy.

Entire job was very easy.

Did not need to fiddle with any jumpers to set the SATA speed of the WDC, although I see the problems can be sporadic (Mainly from M14x R1 threads). Will update this thread again if I see it "disappearing".

Hopefully Samsung releases the mSATA version of the 830 series into retail sometime soon so then I can go with phase 2, and replace the 64 with a 256gb and get some RAID action going on.

Good luck to any others who try the same thing And if anyone is looking for benches, just let me know and I'll try to get them done.

 

Cheers, yes I tried it, i don't think it's the caddy, but the BIOS which needs updated for noise as well. I need to reinstall windows with AHCI instead of RAID mode.. going to be a biatch.. Worst part is downloading starcraft and steam games again ironically. I'm looking at MSATA as well, but don't really need it, just want it My 2.5 SSD is an intel 510 SSD 120GB

key points of this post (I always blurb semi-coherently).

+ Caddy fits perfect for M11x R2
+ Adding it after windows was installed with RAID as bios option does not work, even with registry change method.
+ Reinstalling windows with caddy plugged in, and bios mode changed to AHCI
+ Alienware M11x R2 has a fan bug in bios that Dell needs to fix.

-H

 

hi Timewalk,

I'm thinking about doing the same thing. When you installed the 256gb samsung as the primary hard drive is there anything special that needs to be done? If you don't mind, what steps did you take to get it working as the primary drive?

This will be my first ssd, so just want to make sure to get everything working right.

Thanks

 

Heres a quick step by step of what I did, if you need more detail about a specific item, let me know and I'll be happy to help.

1) Created Alien Respawn discs
2) Swapped out factory installed 500GB drive with the samsung 256gb
3) reinstalled windows onto 64GB mSATA drive (also re-partitioned)
4) reinstalled drivers
5) installed 500gb drive into caddy
6) swapped out dvd drive for caddy containing 500gb drive

My system came with the OS pre-installed on the 64GB mSATA drive. I ended up reinstalling windows, but only because I wanted to regain some space on that drive. As I did it on a factory fresh system, I didnt need to worry about saving settings or anything. If you have windows already on the mSATA drive, and are fine with the way it is, then you dont even need to worry about steps 3 and 4.

If you dont want to reinstall windows, and dont have a 64GB or larger factory installed mSATA drive, you'll have to clone your drive.

So in the end, I have the 64GB mSATA as my OS drive, the 256GB Samsung as my Programs drive, and the 500GB as my media drive.

Note: re-partitioning the mSATA drive involved the deletion of the factory installed recovery partition. You will not be able to do a factory restore off of your hard drive. You'll still be able to do a restore using the disks made with Alien Respawn (which means you'll have to swap your dvd drive back in too);so it is very important you create them before attempting this.

 

Awesome! Thanks for the reply. Yes, my OS is installed on the mSATA. I am thinking about doing a clean install.

Ok, first thing I'll do is create the Alien Respawn disks.

One thing I'd like to know: when you swapped the factory drive with the Samsung 256gb SSD is there anything that you need to do to prep the Samsung? Is the Samsung ready to be used once you drop it in there? Do you have to format it or anything like that?

Thanks for all your help!

 

hai...
before i do respawn...should i delete the recovery partition first or just straight away create the rescue disk ?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

The samsung is pretty much ready to go out of the box. You will need to partition and format it at least though, as with all hard drives. You can do this within windows, by right clicking on "Computer", select manage from the menu, and go to Storage/Disk Management on the left pane.

 

You should create the Alien Respawn disks before you delete the recovery partition.

In fact, I dont think you'll be able to make the disks if you delete the partition first.

 

oo...ok.
thanks.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

Thanks timewalk. I'll be putting in the SSD soon and then the third drive after a little while.

 

I added 3 drives on my M14XR2 looks like in HWINFO they are all in Sata 6gs. The drives are Msata 64 and two Seagate Momentus XT 750 Hybrids 6gs drives. Works great no issues.

 

you shouldn't have any dissapearing drive like in the r1 as your cd/dvd slot is sata 2

 

Hasn't disappeared on me once. No problems at all.

Still waiting on the 830 mSATA to hit retail, and at this point, not sure if it ever will with the NGPP form factor (mSATA replacement) being hammered on by Intel et al.

In any case, loving the laptop so far.

 

I am new here. What's the height of caddy u used for ODD in m14x R2, 9.5mm or 12.7mm? Thanks!

 

Hello, swordheart, welcome to NBR.
You'll need to use the 9,5mm one.

 

Thanks!
BTW, is there any video shows how to put hard drive with caddy into ODD? Already replaced the HDD with SSD.

 

Theres a guide with pictures here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/579597-guide-how-install-secondary-hard-drive-your-m14x-w-pics.html

No video, but pictures for every step.