Does anyone know the highest storage hard drive for Alienware 13 R3?

[TacticalFaux]

I own an Alienware 13 R2 laptop, and was considering upgrading to the R3 because of all the improvements. (32GB ram from 16GB, GTX 1060 from a 960m, 4 core CPU from a 2 core, etc,all while staying 13 inches.) The only part of it that turned me off was the hard drive options seemed rather small or over expensive. I do not want or need an SSD in any case, and I would rather have large storage size over lightning speeds. It seems to have 2 seperate SSD's that add up to 500GB or so. When I first bought my R2, it had a 500GB hard drive and it was very annoying to having to keep uninstalling and reinsalling all my games to play others. I later upgraded to a 2TB SSHD and am very content now. I was wondering if anyone with more knowledge of the way the disk space in the Alienware 13 R3 is managed could tell me the maximum STORAGE I would be able to get, and what kind of drives I could put in there. I'm having issues finding the information myself on the internet, and am just very unsure about it in general. Any clarification and thoughts from others would be appreciated.

Side note: Please do not respond with "Get a desktop", that is not an option for various reasons. I know it is cheaper, but I need to be fully portable with my situation, and the Alienware 13 allows that with it's small size. Other than that, any response appreciated.

[RocketMan]

Get a usb 3.0 to sata adapter and buy a decent hard drive or two online.

You can grab a 3tb for about $80 these days.*

Id advise against replacing the hard drive in the machine, I got a 2nd hand r2 and that thing gave me nothing but problems when I tried to reinstall the os.

[TacticalFaux]

Originally posted by Mail me to the moon:

Get a usb 3.0 to sata adapter and buy a decent hard drive or two online.

You can grab a 3tb for about $80 these days.*

Id advise against replacing the hard drive in the machine, I got a 2nd hand r2 and that thing gave me nothing but problems when I tried to reinstall the os.

Well I replaced the R2 drive a few months ago now, and everything is working fine. I was up all night doing it and having some issues, yeah. But I eventually got it working and the freedom of the amount of size was worth it.

Would there be any possability I could just put this hard drive into the R3? I'd be cool with 2TB still.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by Mail me to the moon:

Get a usb 3.0 to sata adapter and buy a decent hard drive or two online.

You can grab a 3tb for about $80 these days.*

Id advise against replacing the hard drive in the machine, I got a 2nd hand r2 and that thing gave me nothing but problems when I tried to reinstall the os.

So you just don't what you're doing?

You simply boot from USB drive, like any other machine, and the port you use for that needs to be a 2.0 port.

Just add more external USB 3.0 storage. If its not a drive you're using on-the-go, buy an external enclosure that can fit a 3.5 inch Desktop Drive, USB 3.0 outside, SATA-III inside. Then go grab whatever Desktop Drive you wish. Just ensure the Enclosure supports such large drives, like beyond 2 - 3 TB

[TacticalFaux]

Originally posted by Bad_Motha:

Originally posted by Mail me to the moon:

Get a usb 3.0 to sata adapter and buy a decent hard drive or two online.

You can grab a 3tb for about $80 these days.*

Id advise against replacing the hard drive in the machine, I got a 2nd hand r2 and that thing gave me nothing but problems when I tried to reinstall the os.

So you just don't what you're doing?

You simply boot from USB drive, like any other machine, and the port you use for that needs to be a 2.0 port.

Just add more external USB 3.0 storage. If its not a drive you're using on-the-go, buy an external enclosure that can fit a 3.5 inch Desktop Drive, USB 3.0 outside, SATA-III inside. Then go grab whatever Desktop Drive you wish. Just ensure the Enclosure supports such large drives, like beyond 2 - 3 TB

I'd like to avoid against using an external drive at all since I will be moving it around. I was looking for large hard drives I could place inside to replace or add on to the one(s) in there. I believe there are 2 slots, but could be wrong.

[rotNdude]

This may help.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2581408/windows-support-for-hard-disks-that-are-larger-than-2-tb

Now you need to figure out if you can do GUID partition table and system’s base firmware interface must use the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) and not BIOS.

[Washell]

I looked at the service manuals of both the R2 and the R3.
The R2 specifically mentions that it comes in two models, one which fits a single 2.5" SSD/HDD, which you have, and one that fits two M2 SSD modules.

The R3 service manual only mentions one model, which will fit two M2 SSD modules, which means that for a "mere" $2600 ;), you can get 4 TB of space in there. There are no hard drives in the M2 format.

You'll have to find a different model/brand, or accept living with external storage.

[TacticalFaux]

Originally posted by Washell:

I looked at the service manuals of both the R2 and the R3.
The R2 specifically mentions that it comes in two models, one which fits a single 2.5" SSD/HDD, which you have, and one that fits two M2 SSD modules.

The R3 service manual only mentions one model, which will fit two M2 SSD modules, which means that for a "mere" $2600 ;), you can get 4 TB of space in there. There are no hard drives in the M2 format.

You'll have to find a different model/brand, or accept living with external storage.

The R2 I have only has one slot. When I said I believed there was 2 I was referring to the R3, which like you said, only comes that way. So I take it my one R2 drive won't fit in either of the R3 drive slots? And if not what drives that are NOT SSD's, and therefore cheaper and larger, can I put in the R3?

[Washell]

Originally posted by x_Vex_x:

And if not what drives that are NOT SSD's, and therefore cheaper and larger, can I put in the R3?

The M2 format is sort of like PCIe slots. It only fits circuit boards/expansion cards. No conventional drive will fit there. Only SSD's. It has two slots, because two of those fit in the same space as a single 2.5" drive.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147593&cm_re=m.2_ssd-_-20-147-593-_-Product

[Bad 💀 Motha]

You already have a 2TB SSHD, that's about as good as gets if you're limited to one drive.
Otherwise you're gonna have to shell out alot of cash for a 1TB or 2TB M.2 SSD

If the Laptop has only a choice between 1x 2.5 inch SATA drive versus 1x or 2x M.2 SSDs