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15 R3 won't boot with 4 TB ssd installed
I bought 2 x 4 TB Kingston PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD's on Amazon. I was going to install and migrate OS to bigger drive (currently 1 TB) and use 2nd 4 TB for storage. When I install either 4TB SSD and attempt to boot, multiple boot fails. I can mount them in external and manage/init.,create partitions etc., from external, but internal will not boot..., even after SSD is partitioned into 1, 2, 3, or even 4, separate drives. All drivers and Bios are up to date. I checked Bios - Windows Boot manager... What am I missing (or doing wrong)? (Other threads, from support, mention that the 15 R3 can handle 2x4TB drives) Do I need specific drivers for large SSD's? I really don't want to but, I'm tempted to Do a fresh Windows install... Please help. (I have issues, so please forgive me and be kind if I missed something really simple...)
Chino de Oro
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December 4th, 2023 21:06
It could be that your storage driver is in RAID mode. You may want to change RAID to AHCI prior to adding the additional drives. Follow the steps below to change storage operation mode without reinstalling Windows:
1. Run elevated cmd command as administrator.
2. Type or copy and paste this command to start Windows in Safe Mode: bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal
3. Restart the computer and use F2 or F12 to enter BIOS settings.
4. Change the SATA operation mode from RAID to AHCI.
5. Save changes and exit Setup and Windows will automatically boot into Safe Mode.
6. Launch elevated cmd command as administrator again.
7. Type or copy and paste this command to start Windows in Normal Mode the next time you reboot: bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot
8. Reboot your machine and Windows will automatically start with AHCI drivers enabled.
After successfully change to AHCI, you can shutdown the machine and installing new drives and test again to see if the issue is resolved.
Tennesseetraveler
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December 5th, 2023 06:29
@Chino de Oro Thank you very much. Perfect and easy solution. Completely resolved!
Alphaonetwo
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December 5th, 2023 13:45
@Tennesseetraveler so you’re telling me, i can have 8 TB in my alienware 15r3 with just 2 M.2 ssds?…. And have another 1 tb HDD and one half m2 ssd slot for more storage?
can you please provide the half ssd specification if you know?
Chino de Oro
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December 5th, 2023 21:29
If you want both performance and high capacity storage, you can setup the following:
* Install an SK Hynix NVME 2242 SSD as boot drive.
* Adding x2 of 4TB NVME 2280 SSD of your preference for storage.
* Adding a 4TB 2.5" SATA SSD of your preference for storage.
* A 16TB high capacity external storage to keep all backup of internal storage.