How do I increase my storage space on an Alienware laptop?
i am as ever a huge pc dummy but my storage space is hella full and i would like to get one of those whats-it-called seperate storage drive thingamabobs to run bigger games on.
is that possible to do on an alienware? they seem pretty "you get what you buy no changes ever" sort of brands.
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I think it's a 17R but I already checked that and they said it's not possible. It's a REALLY big internal drive tho like 2TB that's why I was looking at an external
That's funny you should say that; I have an older Alienware laptop (a 2017-era 17 R4), and it's a very flexible machine as far as upgrades go. Since I've had it I've added more RAM, changed out the spinning-platter drive, and added a second NVME drive (in addition to the boot NVME drive, and it still has an available 2230 size slot for a third one). About the only things it forces you to stick with are the CPU and GPU, as both are soldered to the motherboard.
Their philosophy may well have changed over the last five years; certainly my machine, which is big and heavy, pre-dates the introduction of MaxQ, and "thin and light"(-ish) gaming laptops. I can easily see how those machines could be less flexible when it comes to upgrades, while a bigger machine like mine can afford to offer more user-serviceable options.
Steam | XBL
This should help.
https://youtu.be/SBvVuOPa-xM
The PC Build Thread can help recommend replacement drives.
they do not, sadly
Alienware's naming conventions leave a lot to be desired, it can easily get confusing as to which model is being referred to.
(The 17 R4 in that video is the one I have - again, a five-year-old model now.)
Steam | XBL
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07V1X8G4L?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
but the games don't seem to be running very well and sometimes crash if they're installed on it. it's connected with a type-c cable. what did i do wrong?
edit: nm, looks like it's just a few games that don't like to run on the ssd
It was Agents of Mayhem. Frame rate kept hitching and it would CTD whenever I pressed start.
If you need the 2TB of space in the laptop for productivity purposes like working with large files/video editing etc then sure. But if you have a 2TB drive that's mostly full of games.... well move the older games off the internal drive... or just uninstall them.
What I am talking about is having Windows compress some select folders, like for example the folders you have installed programs in. Since it is handled by Windows it will be transparent to the programs you run, simply put Windows compresses files stored in the folders you select and automatically decompress them when needed.
Depending on how your drive is formatted it may be as simple as this:
For you to use the compression build into Windows you need your drive to be formatted in the NTFS file system, it should be pretty much standard for internal drives - with external drives it is more likely they are in FAT32 and if so they need reformatting.
There is also something else you can do to free up space, that is getting rid of temporary files, files stored by Windows for use if uninstalling updates to Windows and older version of for example graphics drivers - and there can also be some to delete in your download folder. Now all this is more complicated and deleting the wrong files can cause problems, so take care and if in doubt then don't delete until you're sure. A tool like Treesize Free can be handy to spot where the is possible gains.
i put a bunch of other games on it and they seem to run fine. i just have way too many games i want available at any moment especially since my internet provider is so fucking greedy about my data limit now
I'm genuinely appalled that this is still a thing.