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    M11x raid + ssd

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by ejohnson, Jul 11, 2012.

  1. ejohnson

    ejohnson Is that lemon zest?

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    I use my m11x mainly for DJing now, games are played on my desktop so I got to thinking, I dont really need a battery in there, I need more hdd space!

    So, I found this little gem. Its a mini pcie raid card. With this and a little modding of the chassis I think it will be possible to install two 1 tb drives into the battery location, then raid them. Install a ssd to boot from and there we go!

    The only problems:
    No battery :(
    This card would go in the place of the wireless card.

    Mini PCIe to SATA Controller Card - 2 Port | with Built-in RAID Support | StarTech.com

    [​IMG]

    Thinking about ordering one and giving it a shot, if it doesnt work, I can always move it to my x51 or hangar 18
     
    ejohnson, Jul 11, 2012
    #1
  2. JTOverath

    JTOverath Notebook Evangelist

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    Are either the mini PCIe ports in the m11x actually wired for PCIe or are they just wired for USB? Pretty sure the WWAN slot is just USB.
     
    JTOverath, Jul 11, 2012
    #2
  3. ejohnson

    ejohnson Is that lemon zest?

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    wwan is usb, but the wlan is a pci slot.
     
    ejohnson, Jul 11, 2012
    #3
  4. Rishwin

    Rishwin Notebook Deity

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    Mate the WWAN runs off a USB controller i know, but it is still a functional PCI slot isn't it? Cos i've been playing around with a bunch of NIC's i had lying around and i couldn't get a full sized card to work in the WWAN slot (which obviously didn't fit in the half WLAN slot), it was being detected fine but no drivers (even the ones which should have worked) would work. I may not be running the chipset drivers on my R1, could that be a potential issue?

    As for your RAID setup... I'm not sure if want. I've got 3 HDD's in my G73 (2 caddies, one ODD caddy) and even in that i think it's a tight squeeze for all that, not to mention the weight really ads up. I personally wouldn't do it because you are left with no battery which is something i need, plus i would never trust the reliability of a RAID0 setup with mechanical drives in a laptop knowing the amount of accidents that can happen especially if it's plugged in all the time >.<
     
    Rishwin, Jul 12, 2012
    #4
  5. Alienware-Frank_L

    Alienware-Frank_L Company Representative

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    I you get to work that out maybe you could even get the battery outside; just make the cable longer and take it out thru a vent. And since you are going thru all of this... you can also make it detachable and create a case for it, so you will be able to use it as external battery. Just a thought :p
     
    Alienware-Frank_L, Jul 12, 2012
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  6. jumperboi

    jumperboi Notebook Enthusiast

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    I think it won't work on your system. Based, from your sig, you are using R1. R1's WWAN slot runs on USB controller. The card you are referring is mini-PCIe to SATA.
     
    jumperboi, Jul 13, 2012
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  7. bouddha

    bouddha Notebook Geek

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    I think he intends to replace the wifi car with the controler, am I right?
    so it should work alright.
    I wonder if you could boot on this port though.
     
    bouddha, Jul 13, 2012
    #7
  8. ejohnson

    ejohnson Is that lemon zest?

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    Yes you are right bouddha, I stated in the original post that I was going to put it in the wifi slot :)
     
    ejohnson, Jul 13, 2012
    #8