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    M14x R2 hard drive configuration options

    Discussion in 'Alienware 14 and M14x' started by sweatytaco, Jul 29, 2013.

  1. sweatytaco

    sweatytaco Newbie

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    I am getting a refurb M14x R2 with a 64gb mSATA and a 1TB 5400rpm drive. I"m trying to figure out the best configuration and bang for the buck is.

    I have a brand new 240gb Kingston Hyperx ssd waiting to be used, so I have a few questions.

    1. Should I install the OS on the 64gb msata and swap the hdd for the 240gb ssd for programs and data.

    2. Should I take out the msata and hdd and just install everything on the 240gb ssd and call it a day.I'm worried about space.

    3. Should I sell the Kingston ssd and buy a bigger msata (240gb) and use that as my OS and programs drive and the hdd as a repository for all of my data.

    Thanks for any input.
     
    sweatytaco, Jul 29, 2013
    #1
  2. rtho782

    rtho782 Notebook Enthusiast

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    My desktop has 2 Samsung 830 256gb drives in RAID 0, so I am used to using an SSD. My M14xR2 came with a 500gb HDD, and it was horrible going back.

    My original plan was a 256gb mSATA, but being too lazy to reinstall windows at the time I bought it I set it up as a cache drive, and I have to say I was very impressed.

    So much so that I've since imaged the 500gb drive over to a 1tb drive, and I now run a 1TB HDD with 64GB SSD cache, using the other 192GB of SSD to keep things I particularly want to be fast.

    I couldn't give up my DVD drive, and I couldn't drop to 512gb space, so this is an ideal solution for me.
     
    rtho782, Jul 29, 2013
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  3. Alienware-Luis_Pardo

    Alienware-Luis_Pardo Guest

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    A very popular configuration is SSD (for OS) + 1TB (storage drive) + mSATA (as a caching device)

    You'd need to get a caddy to replace the ODD with the 1tb storage drive, then use the msata to accelerate it and keep the OS and games in the SSD. (keep in mind replacing the ODD with a caddy is not covered under the warranty as it is not supported for this platform)

    The other way around would be to sell the SSD and use the current configuration as is, caching speeds up a drive noticeably.
     
    Alienware-Luis_Pardo, Jul 30, 2013
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