Upgrading HDD to SSD and need advice

[Meljm]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could help me with regards to upgrading my Hard Drive on my Laptop. I want to upgrade it to a Solid State Drive and although I have changed the current Hard Drive in the past I have never installed an SSD before. I wanted to buy the Samsung SSD below but I have read that there are compatibility issues with some Samsung SSD's with Alienware Computers.

My Laptop is an Alienware 17 R4 and I just want to know if this SSD below is compatible?

Samsung 860 Pro MZ-76P2T0BW 2TB, Samsung V-NAND, SATA III 6GB/s, R/W(Max) 560MB/s/530MB/s, 2.5". 7mm​

I would also like to know if I will need any other components or will it just slot right in?

If there's something better I'm also open to suggestions.

Thanks heaps.

Melissa.

 

[MattyB]

Hi Melissa, here is a video showing how to replace the 2.5" drive in the 17 R4. I've never has an issue with Samsung SSD's but I've also never had this particular laptop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQh1XXyS1DU

If you are going to install Windows 10 onto the SSD then you'll need an 8gb USB flash drive. Use the Microsoft Media Creation Tool to download a Windows image onto the USB. Then install the SSD into the laptop and plug in the USB. Press F12 while booting to get into the Boot menu. Select the USB drive and the Windows installer will start. Then you'll get to a point where you need to choose a drive to install Windows on. Select the new SSD and click Next.
If you had Windows 10 Home then you have to install Windows 10 home. If you select Pro then you will not get an activated Windows version after it installs.
If Windows 10 isn't currently installed on a different drive in the laptop and not the HDD then you don't need to do any of this. Just plug it in and reboot. If the new SSD isn't shown when you restart Windows then start typing Disk Management in the Windows search bar and Create and Format Partitions should pop up as an option. Select this and see if the SSD is shown here. If it is then you just need to right click and activate it.

 

[Meljm]

Hi Melissa, here is a video showing how to replace the 2.5" drive in the 17 R4. I've never has an issue with Samsung SSD's but I've also never had this particular laptop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQh1XXyS1DU

If you are going to install Windows 10 onto the SSD then you'll need an 8gb USB flash drive. Use the Microsoft Media Creation Tool to download a Windows image onto the USB. Then install the SSD into the laptop and plug in the USB. Press F12 while booting to get into the Boot menu. Select the USB drive and the Windows installer will start. Then you'll get to a point where you need to choose a drive to install Windows on. Select the new SSD and click Next.
If you had Windows 10 Home then you have to install Windows 10 home. If you select Pro then you will not get an activated Windows version after it installs.
If Windows 10 isn't currently installed on a different drive in the laptop and not the HDD then you don't need to do any of this. Just plug it in and reboot. If the new SSD isn't shown when you restart Windows then start typing Disk Management in the Windows search bar and Create and Format Partitions should pop up as an option. Select this and see if the SSD is shown here. If it is then you just need to right click and activate it.

Thanks for your response Matty. I was just going to copy my entire C: drive over to the new SSD which includes Windows 10. I have (AOMEI Backupper) and I think that will allow me to do that. I have Disk Clone and System Clone on it, and I'm not sure which one I would need to use but I will worry about that part later. I just have to get the SSD first and then I will figure out how to transfer everything.

I wish I knew how to put my Windows 10 Operating system on one of the other drives because I've read that a lot of people do this so their games run faster. Apparently, they use the larger drive for the Gaming content. I'm not very computer savvy so I'm really just learning from scratch how to do all of this.

I will take a look at the video now. Thank you so much for your help and for sending me the link I really appreciate your help!

 

[MattyB]

Happy to help.
I've never cloned a drive as I always prefer to start clean on a new drive. It is a lot more time consuming though.
You definitely have the 17 R4 and not the M17x R4 right?
The 17 R4 should have come with one or two m.2 SSD's which should be pretty fast and your OS should be on one of these. At 0:57 in the video you'll see one of these drives under the long copper plate on the left and an empty slot in the middle of the laptop.

 

[Meljm]

It's just the 17 R4 I looked it up just to be sure. I purchased mine back in 2017 and I presume the M17 is their latest model?

I haven't purchased the Drive yet because they're around $540 here in Australia so I'll wait for a Sale and then get it. My current HDD is in perfect working order so there's no rush I just want to upgrade in the near future and thought I would start researching them now.

I do have an F: and a G: drive as well as the C: drive but the other drives are small in size. The largest is only 236GB. When I got the Laptop and was setting it up I just followed the prompts and because I've always put Windows on the C: drive that's just what I did. I wish I hadn't now but I have no idea how to undo it.

 

[MattyB]

Hey I'm in Australia too! Check out MSY, they have the 2tb 870 Evo for $297

If you want the 860 Evo then pccasegear have them for $399

 

[SPORTPHOTO]

Hola, no debes tener ningún problema con las unidades de Samsung.
Trata de tener actualizado el BIOS para el mejor rendimiento de estos accesorios.
Evita tener muchas unidades de poca capacidad, ya que consumirán más energía.
Si pretendes instalar el sistema operativo y juegos, te recomiendo una unidad de 1 tb para ambas cosas y no tendrás problemas de espacio.
Mucho éxito, saludos.