Question Making my Alienware Aurora R4 Great Again!

Jaynyx

Junior Member
Jan 19, 2021
3
1
36
Hello all, glad to be here. I was hoping someone could potentially shed some light on the easiest way of upgrading my 2012 Alienware Aurora R4.

The Current basic specifications are (but not limited to):
-Intel i7 3930k Processor OC'd to 3.9 GHZ
-32GB of RAM installed
-2 Nvidia GTX 555ti's (SLI)
-4TB (NON-SSD) of Disk Space
-Four bays that support HD ONLY.

From what I have researched, I would need to purchase an Icy Dock (or similar HDD to SSD adapter/bay), then install the bay manually into the Aurora R4's case. From here, I would set up the boot order within BIOS so that it boots directly from the SSD instead of the HDD. I would move all my documents, pictures, and miscellaneous programs not related to my startup to the HDD allocation. Right?

I am curious if there are any problems I could potentially run into (it's no secret Alienware make their products hard to upgrade), that would impact being able to use the computer, as well as any additional advice or input anyone has in regards to this.

As far as the outdated graphics cards; I plan on getting a 1080ti sometime soon once I address the issue currently at hand.

I truly appreciate any feedback or advice and thank you for your time!

Sincerely,
J
 
Last edited:

MalVeauX

Senior member
Dec 19, 2008
653
176
116
Hi J,

You can get typical 3.5 to 2.5" or SSD adapter slide-ins, so you can install SSD or any small drive as if it were 3.5" HDD and fit fine. Your biggest upgrade right now will be to move to SSD. Pull your HDD's out and put in your new SSD. Install OS. Boot up and get everything good to go. Then put your other HDD(s) into a USB external controller, or plug them in one by one back onto sata on your motherboard (assuming no OS on some of them?) and choose which to boot from (boot from SSD). Copy the files you want to keep. Then wipe the drive to remove the OS stuff to avoid all that fuss.

Very best,
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jaynyx

Jaynyx

Junior Member
Jan 19, 2021
3
1
36
Hi J,

You can get typical 3.5 to 2.5" or SSD adapter slide-ins, so you can install SSD or any small drive as if it were 3.5" HDD and fit fine. Your biggest upgrade right now will be to move to SSD. Pull your HDD's out and put in your new SSD. Install OS. Boot up and get everything good to go. Then put your other HDD(s) into a USB external controller, or plug them in one by one back onto sata on your motherboard (assuming no OS on some of them?) and choose which to boot from (boot from SSD). Copy the files you want to keep. Then wipe the drive to remove the OS stuff to avoid all that fuss.

Very best,

Hi there!

Thank you for your reply! I definitely agree that the SSD is worth it and my biggest upgrade right now. There is no other OS apart from Windows 10, no. Just a basic 2TB 3.5" Seagate Barracuda and another 1TB Seagate HD I have in there for extra space. I have a lot of heavy packaged libraries mostly pertaining to graphic resources, Perl, and MySQL server on my local for testing purposes so I am sure you can imagine why I'd want this upgrade as well.

But thank you so much; what you replied with sounds exactly like what I have been attempting to do though, so at least I am on the right track to a certain extent but thank you for clarifying some of the specificities in regards to the adapters. My biggest concern is compatibility and fear of potentially experiencing BIOS errors on bootup after installing the SSD. I would of course set the boot priority to the SSD though. However, I am wondering which would be best for it the boot order in BIOS for my configuration. One of my friends told me to do Legacy and another said UEFI.

I appreciate it once again though. I kind of had a general idea of what to do but now that I know that it's as simple as that, I will definitely be giving this a go and post my results after.

Sincerely,
J
 
Last edited:

MalVeauX

Senior member
Dec 19, 2008
653
176
116
Heya,

If you can boot via UEFI, do that. More options and control. Legacy is for ancient hardware. If you have issues with UEFI, then do legacy as a backup plan. Boot with just the SSD and install Win10 on it. Unplug the other drives. Makes it very easy. Then add things back after that, as you'll have a working system and not have to deal with dual booting multiple drives, etc, which will be a headache at first.

Very best,
 

Jaynyx

Junior Member
Jan 19, 2021
3
1
36
Heya,

If you can boot via UEFI, do that. More options and control. Legacy is for ancient hardware. If you have issues with UEFI, then do legacy as a backup plan. Boot with just the SSD and install Win10 on it. Unplug the other drives. Makes it very easy. Then add things back after that, as you'll have a working system and not have to deal with dual booting multiple drives, etc, which will be a headache at first.

Very best,

Awesome, I figured UEFI, hehe. I just wanted to make sure. Thank you for your prompt replies and helping me out.

Also,
Then add things back after that, as you'll have a working system and not have to deal with dual booting multiple drives, etc, which will be a headache at first.

Amen to this! :D

Cheers,
J
 
  • Like
Reactions: MalVeauX