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m15 R1, advice for SSD upgrade?
Alienware M15
Below are my Hard Disk specifications which show One Hybrid Drive and One SSD,
I have a couple of questions
1. If I search by part # 3VFCP, I think the SSD is of form factor 2280. Am I missing anything?
2. Can I replace Hybrid Drive completely and install a single SSD, is it recommended?
3. Some SSDs are available with heat-sink, any advice for this? I doubt there is space available for the external heat sink. I have only a reference of photos available in the manual.
Thank you
filbert
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July 2nd, 2023 07:00
Yes, you can do that. No, you do not need to buy another hybrid drive, you can just leave that drive bay empty.
You may buy any M.2 2280 SSD. Yes, you may upgrade to 2 TB, or you can upgrade all the way to 4 TB if you want. Here are some Crucial SSDs that are compatible, though any major brand will be fine.
Whenever touching components or working inside a computer, wear a grounded wrist strap, also called anti-static wrist strap, ESD wrist strap, or ground bracelet. It's a cheap and sensible precaution. Rest the laptop on an anti-static mat or at least a reasonable alternative such as corrugated cardboard. (Repeatedly touching a metal case part is not sufficient mitigation with modern components.)
ejn63
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July 2nd, 2023 05:00
The hybrid drive and the M.2 2280 SSD are completely separate. Are you planning to replace the boot drive (which is NVME M.2/2280) or the 2.5" hybrid hard drive, which is simply a storage drive?
You can replace the M.2 2280 drive with a larger and possibly faster (depending on which M15 you have --R1, R2, etc.), and/or you can replace the 2.5" SATA hybrid drive with a larger capacity SATA SSD. It would not be recommended to run the system from the 2.5" SATA SSD, though as it will be markedly slower than the M.2 NVMe drive.
wdmalik
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July 2nd, 2023 06:00
I want to remove the hybrid drive as it has bad sectors and upgrade M.2 2280 SSD to 2TB and use it as a single HDD only, is this a viable option or do I still need to get a Hybrid Drive (then 2280 SSD drive upgrade will not be needed)
Thank you