Need SSD and RAM to put into my Alienware M17x R3

govoni28 · May 31, 2013

HI im looking for A good, fast SSD for my laptop. To put my operating system on and a few games then ill have my HDD thats in my laptop now for Other things. I was also looking for RAM to replace my RAM now I currently have 4GBs ram and i was looking For 8GBs Because i don't do any video rendering so i think thats plenty. IF anyone knows a video that they can link me on how to install and SSD that would be great. Thanks

Supermuncher85 · May 31, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeNAN4sUJYU

Pinhedd · May 31, 2013

govoni28 :

I have an M17x R3 myself.

Dell provides a technical support manual for the laptop which will show you how to replace the hard disks and memory.

I personally installed two Seagate Momentus XT hybrid hard drives which work great, and two sets of these http://www.ncix.ca/products/?sku=67277&vpn=KHX1600C9S3K2%2F8GX&manufacture=Kingston

The difficult part will be accessing the second bank of SODIMM slots underneath the laptop's keyboard, that requires some disassembly.

govoni28 · May 31, 2013

Pinhedd :

Ya i know how to do the ram and install asecond hard drive i guess i should have been more specific i meant to say how to switch my OS to the SSD im gonna buy and take the hard drive in my computer now and make it my secondary hard drive. but thanks and the RAM you link is the same one i was looking at on Newegg

Pinhedd · May 31, 2013

govoni28 :

This one here right?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104230

Make sure that you get the 1.5 volt CL9 blue one and not the CL11 black one!

As for moving the OS over, I highly recommend doing a full reinstall. Moving an OS from a hard disk partition to an SSD can cause a lot of problems if not done correctly because the partitions must be aligned. Some SSDs come with migration software.

Nothing fancy needs to be done to convert your old OS hard disk into a secondary storage disk. Just delete all the partitions on it and then create new ones as you like.

govoni28 · May 31, 2013

Pinhedd :

govoni28 :

This one here right?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104230

Make sure that you get the 1.5 volt CL9 blue one and not the CL11 black one!

As for moving the OS over, I highly recommend doing a full reinstall. Moving an OS from a hard disk partition to an SSD can cause a lot of problems if not done correctly because the partitions must be aligned. Some SSDs come with migration software.

Nothing fancy needs to be done to convert your old OS hard disk into a secondary storage disk. Just delete all the partitions on it and then create new ones as you like.

ya thats the same RAM and for a full reinstall i need to buy like window 7 again or can i buy windows 8 if i wanted to upgrade

Pinhedd · May 31, 2013

govoni28 :

Pinhedd :

govoni28 :

This one here right?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104230

Make sure that you get the 1.5 volt CL9 blue one and not the CL11 black one!

As for moving the OS over, I highly recommend doing a full reinstall. Moving an OS from a hard disk partition to an SSD can cause a lot of problems if not done correctly because the partitions must be aligned. Some SSDs come with migration software.

Nothing fancy needs to be done to convert your old OS hard disk into a secondary storage disk. Just delete all the partitions on it and then create new ones as you like.

ya thats the same RAM and for a full reinstall i need to buy like window 7 again or can i buy windows 8 if i wanted to upgrade

Your laptop should have come with a Windows 7 OEM licence. The licence key is tied to the firmware, but you can reinstall it as many times as you like provided that you do not change the motherboard.

govoni28 · May 31, 2013

Pinhedd :

govoni28 :

Pinhedd :

ya thats the same RAM and for a full reinstall i need to buy like window 7 again or can i buy windows 8 if i wanted to upgrade

Your laptop should have come with a Windows 7 OEM licence. The licence key is tied to the firmware, but you can reinstall it as many times as you like provided that you do not change the motherboard.

Oh ok thanks so much i found my disk i have 2 the OS one and then a resource disk do you know what thats for? Can i take the OS off the one im using now or just leave it on and still use it as like a secondary HDD

Pinhedd · May 31, 2013

govoni28 :

Pinhedd :

govoni28 :

Your laptop should have come with a Windows 7 OEM licence. The licence key is tied to the firmware, but you can reinstall it as many times as you like provided that you do not change the motherboard.

Oh ok thanks so much i found my disk i have 2 the OS one and then a resource disk do you know what thats for? Can i take the OS off the one im using now or just leave it on and still use it as like a secondary HDD

The resource disk is just a collection of drivers. There will be newer releases on the web so I would advise getting them from the manufacturer's site directly rather than from Dell.

govoni28 · May 31, 2013

Pinhedd :

govoni28 :

Pinhedd :

Oh ok thanks so much i found my disk i have 2 the OS one and then a resource disk do you know what thats for? Can i take the OS off the one im using now or just leave it on and still use it as like a secondary HDD

The resource disk is just a collection of drivers. There will be newer releases on the web so I would advise getting them from the manufacturer's site directly rather than from Dell.

Thanks so much for everything and will i have to update the drivers when i get the SSD and do u just keep the OS on my hard drive i have now because i wanna have this one for my second hard drive in my system?

Supermuncher85 · May 31, 2013

Just hope it's a real install CD and not some retarded clone that requires specific bit location on a harddrive. Had those once and yeah they were useless. Ended up downloading a clean copy of MSDN.

Supermuncher85 · May 31, 2013

I recommend taking the old drive out, putting the ssd in and installing windows then. Once that system is up and running if you have a USB dock/cable and can attach the old HDD that way, I'd connect it that way to copy any stuff over that you want/need.

If you do not have a usb dock/cable to connect the HDD via usb, make sure that in the bios you are booting from the SSD and not from the HDD by mistake.

govoni28 · May 31, 2013

Supermuncher85 :

ya i have the Disk that came with my laptop and for the dock station are you talking about one of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153071

Supermuncher85 · May 31, 2013

yeah something like that.

Pinhedd · May 31, 2013

govoni28 :

Pinhedd :

govoni28 :

Pinhedd :

Oh ok thanks so much i found my disk i have 2 the OS one and then a resource disk do you know what thats for? Can i take the OS off the one im using now or just leave it on and still use it as like a secondary HDD

The resource disk is just a collection of drivers. There will be newer releases on the web so I would advise getting them from the manufacturer's site directly rather than from Dell.

Thanks so much for everything and will i have to update the drivers when i get the SSD and do u just keep the OS on my hard drive i have now because i wanna have this one for my second hard drive in my system?

You can wipe the hard drive completely. Just make sure to backup anything on there that you want to keep

govoni28 · Jun 1, 2013

Pinhedd :

govoni28 :

Pinhedd :

govoni28 :

The resource disk is just a collection of drivers. There will be newer releases on the web so I would advise getting them from the manufacturer's site directly rather than from Dell.

Thanks so much for everything and will i have to update the drivers when i get the SSD and do u just keep the OS on my hard drive i have now because i wanna have this one for my second hard drive in my system?

You can wipe the hard drive completely. Just make sure to backup anything on there that you want to keep

Oh and whats a really good SSD if you know of any that would be great i think 128gb will be plenty maybe a 256gb

Pinhedd · Jun 1, 2013

govoni28 :

Pinhedd :

govoni28 :

Pinhedd :

govoni28 :

The resource disk is just a collection of drivers. There will be newer releases on the web so I would advise getting them from the manufacturer's site directly rather than from Dell.

Thanks so much for everything and will i have to update the drivers when i get the SSD and do u just keep the OS on my hard drive i have now because i wanna have this one for my second hard drive in my system?

You can wipe the hard drive completely. Just make sure to backup anything on there that you want to keep

Oh and whats a really good SSD if you know of any that would be great i think 128gb will be plenty maybe a 256gb

Samsung 840 Pro series seems to be the crowd favorite.

govoni28 · Jun 1, 2013

Pinhedd :

govoni28 :

Pinhedd :

govoni28 :

Pinhedd :

Thanks so much for everything and will i have to update the drivers when i get the SSD and do u just keep the OS on my hard drive i have now because i wanna have this one for my second hard drive in my system?

You can wipe the hard drive completely. Just make sure to backup anything on there that you want to keep

Oh and whats a really good SSD if you know of any that would be great i think 128gb will be plenty maybe a 256gb

Samsung 840 Pro series seems to be the crowd favorite.

Ok and i have 4gb of ram in my computer now can i just put in the 8gb of ram and make it 12gbs of ram

Supermuncher85 · Jun 1, 2013

Anyone else seeing just HUUUUUGE qoute message? I can't see crap anymore

Pinhedd · Jun 1, 2013

govoni28 :

Pinhedd :

govoni28 :

Pinhedd :

govoni28 :

You can wipe the hard drive completely. Just make sure to backup anything on there that you want to keep

Oh and whats a really good SSD if you know of any that would be great i think 128gb will be plenty maybe a 256gb

Samsung 840 Pro series seems to be the crowd favorite.

Ok and i have 4gb of ram in my computer now can i just put in the 8gb of ram and make it 12gbs of ram

Yes, but since you are running 3 x 4 GiB DIMMS the channels will not be balanced. The lower 8GiB will run in dual channel mode while the upper 4GiB will run in single channel mode. The transfer rate and latencies will be limited to those of the slowest module, which is most likely the one that you have. I have two of those kits in my laptop for a total of 16GiB.

Need SSD and RAM to put into my Alienware M17x R3

Honorable

Distinguished

Champion

Honorable

Champion

Honorable

Champion

Honorable

Champion

Honorable

Distinguished

Distinguished

Honorable

Distinguished

Champion

Honorable

Champion

Honorable

Distinguished

Champion

Share this page