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    To Reinstall or Not?

    Discussion in 'Alienware 14 and M14x' started by ozmaniandevil, Feb 12, 2013.

  1. ozmaniandevil

    ozmaniandevil Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'm set to get my M14X R2 tomorrow. I've been reading a lot of info in these forums. I'm really not sure if I should be doing a clean install of Windows 7 or not as soon as I get my AW out of the box. Is it necessary? I'm not super comfortable with tech stuff and I don't want to wreck anything, but I'm sure I could do it if necessary. As far as setting the SSD as a caching drive, do you have to do a clean install and mess with the BIOS to accomplish that?
     
    ozmaniandevil, Feb 12, 2013
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  2. alienowl

    alienowl Notebook Consultant

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    Hi, many people like to do a clean install, but it's not absolutely necessary. Alienware laptops ship pretty clean from the factory, no bloatware. One of the first things you should do is make a system backup either to disk or USB, then if you decide to do a clean install later, you'll have a backup in case of any problems.

    For the SSD caching, what configuration did you order? Everything should be setup to work out of the box.
     
    alienowl, Feb 12, 2013
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  3. ozmaniandevil

    ozmaniandevil Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have my system backup disks ready to go! I ordered one with a 750GB HDD and a 64GB mSATA SSD. When I ordered I had the option of "single drive" or "boot drive" and I chose the boot drive one, simply because it had the size of SSD that I wanted (the single drive options were 32GB and 128GB only). As one of the AW reps posted in another thread, guess I will have to wait and see where the OS is installed.
     
    ozmaniandevil, Feb 12, 2013
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  4. alienowl

    alienowl Notebook Consultant

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    Given that the mSata is the boot drive, you would expect the OS to be installed there. When I ordered my m14x I also got the 64GB mSata and the OS was installed there. Later I upgraded to my 120GB mSata.

    Congrats on your new system!
     
    alienowl, Feb 12, 2013
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  5. ozmaniandevil

    ozmaniandevil Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks! And thanks for responding to my question!
     
    ozmaniandevil, Feb 12, 2013
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  6. Alienware-Karen_M

    Alienware-Karen_M Company Representative

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    I agree with alienowl, Alienware systems already came with the OS installed, I would recommend that you check your boot device before making any changes, in case that the msata SSD is not set as a caching driver you can follow the steps from this link to set it up.
     
    Alienware-Karen_M, Feb 13, 2013
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  7. ozmaniandevil

    ozmaniandevil Notebook Enthusiast

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    Well I have no choice but to reinstall Windows 7. Received my M14X this morning and have been on the phone with tech support since I started the machine. There was a problem with the DVD drive in that it would not format or burn anything. Tech guy was great and got that fixed up.

    The OS is installed on the big HDD, not the SSD. But the SSD isn't set as a cache drive, either, so I have to reinstall Windows 7.
     
    ozmaniandevil, Feb 13, 2013
    #7