Arganon Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 I am about to get my OCZ Vertex 3 in the mail today and I have a couple questions before I begin the install:1. Do I install the SSD where my main hard drive compartment is and put the HDD in in the optical bay with caddy?2. Do I have to install windows 7 on the SSD with the HDD detached?3. Before I reattach the HDD (with Windows 7 currently on it) do I have to reformat the drive? If these questions have been answered before, please provide a link to the thread. Any help is greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevenxowens792 Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 (edited) @Arganon - Hey thanks for posting. I have a question before jumping in to help....1. Did you order a conversion caddy for your optical drive assembly? (Its the 9.5mm not the 12)I will assume the answers no here and try to help...Most folks (including myself) understand that SSD's purchased 3rd party are cheaper than from dell. So we order a vanilla notebook with standard HDD then switch them out. That's what I did. 1. Step one, to be safe backup any data needed via usb drive or external drive.2. Remove old hard drive from m14x. (Manual at dell website is pretty easy to follow and we have a great writeup here as well).3. Install SSD.4. Boot into bios to makes sure new drive is recognized. 4.5 - Set SATA option in Bios to AHCI (Thanks Jimbo!)5. Change boot sequence in bios to make sure CD/DVD is before HDD.6. Insert Windows 64 bit dvd into optical drive.7. Reboot and follow the windows 64 bit install.8. Once windows install complete use the alienware application dvd (whatever it's called).9. You can now use your old drive for an external drive or if you dont use your dvd optical drive you can purchase a caddy to fit the hard drive in it's place for extra storage.Good Luck,Steven X Edited May 12, 2011 by Stevenxowens792 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 I would add4.5 Make sure the drive is set to run in AHCI mode, not IDE. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevenxowens792 Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Correct Jimbo.. it wont break anything but it's just easier and better performance in the long run! Please addendum 4.5 (set SATA option in bios to AHCI). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svl7 Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Nice summary guys!Once you have installed your SSD and the OS you can do some minor tweaks which will give you back some valueable SSD space. For example disabling hibernation... there was another easy tweak which gives you back some space but I can't remember atm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arganon Posted May 12, 2011 Author Share Posted May 12, 2011 Thanks for all the replies guys, you were very helpful. I have just finished installing the SSD but my caddy has not arrived yet. Is it ok to install all the drivers on the ssd and move them to the HDD afterwards? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arganon Posted May 12, 2011 Author Share Posted May 12, 2011 Sorry for double post, but I just ran some benchmarks and my Vertex 3 120gb seems to score unusually low compared to other 120gb Vertex 3's... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Does seem very low...I use this program, very handy. Elpamsoft.com - Home of the SSD Tweaker for Windows 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arganon Posted May 12, 2011 Author Share Posted May 12, 2011 Thanks for the suggestion, would that increase my read/write speeds?I also noticed that when I run intel rapid store technology application, it says my SATA transfer rate is only 3.0gb/s rather than 6.0gb/s. I was lead to believe that m14x could handle SATA 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Not sure about SATA isssue. and yeah, it seems to increase the speeds slightly for me. It's just a run once and forget, you don't need to keep it open or anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james_bond Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 I don't know if this is where I should put this but I'm going to buy an m14x and install a Crucial m4 when I get it since I don't want to pay $600 for dell's ssd and I have some questions.First, does doing this void the warranty?Second, if I don't have a windows 7 cd how can I transfer the OS to the new drive?And last, this optical caddy thing you guys are talking about is only necessary if I want to replace the optical drive and use two hard drives right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Michael Posted May 19, 2011 Founder Share Posted May 19, 2011 I don't know if this is where I should put this but I'm going to buy an m14x and install a Crucial m4 when I get it since I don't want to pay $600 for dell's ssd and I have some questions.First, does doing this void the warranty? Second, if I don't have a windows 7 cd how can I transfer the OS to the new drive? And last, this optical caddy thing you guys are talking about is only necessary if I want to replace the optical drive and use two hard drives right? 1. No, warranty is not voided by installing a different hard drive. 2. You can either clone the HDD to the SSD or re-install using the supplied windows DVD that comes with the m14x. You actually can't buy a new laptop without windows on it so Dell will surely supply the Windows reinstallation DVD. 3. Yes Welcome to T|I! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevenxowens792 Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Cheers James Bond. Welcome to T|I Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james_bond Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Okay thanks. And also, I want 6gb of RAM so should I just pay the $100 for them to do it or should I buy and install the extra 2gb myself? If I should do it myself what RAM would you recommend I get? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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