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Warning: 2nd Hard Drive is very slow and will cause bottlenecks.


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Hey guys,

I recently released a video on how to install a 2nd HDD. I just want you guys to know that the 2nd HDD (I don't know if it's a faulty bay or not) is very sluggish. The transfer speed is about 1-2mb/sec - this is horrible, my USB thumb drive is much faster. I am quite sure that it is SATA I - but regardless SATA I ain't THAT slow. Maybe the fault is the SATA controller? Anyone else experiencing this?

I set my downloads / torrents to go to the 2nd HDD and not my SSD to save space. This caused HUGE bottlenecks in using chrome or any other programs that has to load files from the 2nd HDD. Also for example when I encode video files from the 2nd, it caused HUGE bottlenecks when trying to read the files.

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I read something about it, I do not remember where (maybe in the "other" forum?) but apparently if I remember well is a "common" problem on the M14 when there are 2nd HDD

EDIT: Speedy Gonzales is talking about it http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware-m14x/513-m14x-second-hdd-optical-drive-caddy-problem.html

Edited by Nando
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I'm supposed to receive my optical caddy this coming Thursday. I'm going to put my WD black 500GB in its place since I have the Intel G2 80 GB in the primary hard drive slot.

I'll keep everyone here posted to see if my M14x produces the same slow results. Hopefully not.

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NewmodeUS, Hard Drive Caddys for Notebooks

I will be receiving this in a day or 2. Will let you know how it goes. It worked well with Macbooks.. soo0o00o0o0 we'll see.. :D

Please let us know how it goes, i'm hoping that since I bought the $20 one that it doesn't suck....

If not then I'll just return it and get the $40 dollar one ><

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey Guys, any update on caddy problem? Want to get an ssd this weekend but need the extra storage space eventually, so will be getting a caddy soon too. Just curious to see if its actually running at sata 2 speeds.

Thanks!

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OK did some research on the SSD drives and can see that not just gaming will greatly improve my system when I get it. Only issue I have is capacity is low per $$$. I want to keep my optical but also want the storage space for TV show and movies. So I have thought about replacing the optical with the 750GB drive I will get from alienware but after reading here it seems like I could have transfer issues and that's something I won't find acceptable fast. So can someone link me to the best caddy? price is really no concern. The fastest largest SSD? would like to keep it around $500 maybe $1000 max for the SSD but it has to have at least over 200GB or it won't be worth it to me. I have thought about a SSD and USB storage but I don't want to carry one around as I don't want it stolen.

Thanks for any help and hope to be an Alienware M14x owner within the next month or so (lawyer said 2 months max , party time lol)

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Got to spend some time on the phones with Dell Engineering. My company, lets just say the contracts with Dell, HP and others are usually 100mil plus contracts. So the EPP rep called because I had sent an email about my base screws which are too short to fit (even with springs removed) and my palm rest (has little nick and I want a flawless one) and I asked about the optical port. By design it's a sata 1 port only, which would explain why my high speed sata 2 SSD hits 149.xx and stops. Their schematics don't show an additional Sata port so we only have 2. I will triple check on more time when I replace my palm rest next week as I asked them to just send me the parts and I will install.

Thanks, StevenX

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Got to spend some time on the phones with Dell Engineering. My company, lets just say the contracts with Dell, HP and others are usually 100mil plus contracts. So the EPP rep called because I had sent an email about my base screws which are too short to fit (even with springs removed) and my palm rest (has little nick and I want a flawless one) and I asked about the optical port. By design it's a sata 1 port only, which would explain why my high speed sata 2 SSD hits 149.xx and stops. Their schematics don't show an additional Sata port so we only have 2. I will triple check on more time when I replace my palm rest next week as I asked them to just send me the parts and I will install.

Thanks, StevenX

Thanks Steve,

Please look for the 3rd port I am almost sure there is one there connected to nothing!

Awaiting your findings

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The controller for the optic port is Sata1. Regardless of caddy you purchase it will run at Sata 1 speed. You can put your 500gb 7200 rpm on this port and then put your high speed SSD on the primary controller port. Best Wishes, StevenX

So there is something wrong with my caddy or what because it really slow - 1mb/sec

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Raging - I can only tell you what I know.

1. The optical Sata Port is Sata 1 by design.

2. I see this in testing as I can only get to about 140+/- on benchmarks on a corsair Nova SSD in the caddy I have on my optical port. (still faster than 7200rpm but not by much) Load times are still very fast.

3. I use the Intel RST driver (has to be running) on my computer otherwise the computer see's the drive but it doesn't configure it properly. It only works with the RST (Remember its a SSD in the optical port).

Sometimes the SATA PORT 1 drive connection will time out or go to sleep (regardless of how I set the power mode) so I have to go into device manager to (refresh the drive connections) and then it works again.

Good Luck,

StevenX

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Raging - I can only tell you what I know.

1. The optical Sata Port is Sata 1 by design.

2. I see this in testing as I can only get to about 140+/- on benchmarks on a corsair Nova SSD in the caddy I have on my optical port. (still faster than 7200rpm but not by much) Load times are still very fast.

3. I use the Intel RST driver (has to be running) on my computer otherwise the computer see's the drive but it doesn't configure it properly. It only works with the RST (Remember its a SSD in the optical port).

Sometimes the SATA PORT 1 drive connection will time out or go to sleep (regardless of how I set the power mode) so I have to go into device manager to (refresh the drive connections) and then it works again.

Good Luck,

StevenX

So this whole swap of drives might be a bad idea for possible imoprtant work. I say this because my artwork involves rendering complex 3D worlds or space scapes and could take hours to render and I wouldn't want to be be using the drive to save the render and have it have some issue and lose my work. I have projects in mind wnd thought a dual drive setup would be great to render in the background while I watched a movie off the main or vise versa but this concerns me.

Think I might stick with a large HDD USB with a main SSD until people figure out the bugs.

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  • 2 weeks later...
So this whole swap of drives might be a bad idea for possible imoprtant work. I say this because my artwork involves rendering complex 3D worlds or space scapes and could take hours to render and I wouldn't want to be be using the drive to save the render and have it have some issue and lose my work. I have projects in mind wnd thought a dual drive setup would be great to render in the background while I watched a movie off the main or vise versa but this concerns me.

Think I might stick with a large HDD USB with a main SSD until people figure out the bugs.

Using an external esata and or usb 2 (now there is usb 3) I store my documents and the main is always SSD for me housing only OS and any programs. This way my documents are not tied down... They are portable and safe and No virus, drive error and any other problems on the external drive if the main OS, drive is hosed. So I completely agree Sargent that we need to know our data is completely safe.

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