tgeo

From what I have read in your above post - The drive does not appear in the bios? Try plugging into another Sata connector on the motherboard. Or try placing the drive into a external drive chassis. If those don't produce any results I would say the harddrive motherboard is faulty. Sorry.

One thing to consider when building your own pc is will all these components work together. Sometimes its better to buy a preconfigured system with support and a warranty. I am not saying you have to go this route but something to consider. There are enough knowledgeable people on this board that will be able to help you along the way.

Bang for the buck the Clevo, but that being said the Alienware laptop is a tank and built to perform. If money was no object I would choose the Alienware

Thanks! It's definitely what I'm looking for in a forum. I hadn't realized that much of the hard work that people take for granted comes from members here.