Which M2 drive for Alienware 15 R3?

[Slam]

I want to upgrade this laptop with an SSD, have seen that the 500GB Samsung 860 Evo is at a good price. But reading up it seems that some drives (eg 1 TB Samsung 960 Evo) are incompatible.

I've seen this answer by an Alienware forum moderator but need someone to translate for me!

This computer has 3 M2 PCIe ports:

-Two in size 2280 that work at 4x
-One 1 in size 2242 running at 2x

Yes, the PM961 will work.

Here you have some of the compatible SSDs for this system:

SSD, 1 TB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/3.73mm, NVMe, Three Level Cell, Toshiba

SSD, 256GB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, NVMe, 512MB, Hynix Semiconductor Inc.

SSD, 1TB, PCIe34, 80S3, 22mm/80mm/2.23mm, NVMe, 512MB, Toshiba, (Class 40, XG5).

SSD, 128GB, Non Encrypted, SATA3, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, 512MB, Hynix Semiconductor Inc, (SC311).

SSD, 512GB, Solid State Drive, P34, 80S3, SMSNG, PM981.

SSD, 1 TB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/3.73mm, NVMe, Multi Level Cell, LiteOn, (CX2A).

SSD, 256GB, P34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, Samsung, (PM951).

SSD, 512 GB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/2.38mm, NVMe, 512MB, Samsung, (PM961).

SSD, 1TB, Non Encrypted, PCIe34, M.2, 22mm/80mm/3.8mm, NVMe, Hynix Semiconductor Inc, (PC300)

 

[MrRockliffe]

Looks like the 1TB is compatible:

https://www.samsung.com/us/computin...-drives/ssd-860-evo-m-2-sata-1tb-mz-n6e1t0bw/

They key bit you're looking for is the 2280 I believe.

However, the 860 Evo is only a SATA based SSD, so if you want full performance, you want an NVME based SSD.

https://www.samsung.com/us/computin...-drives/ssd-970-evo-nvme-m-2-1tb-mz-v7e1t0bw/

It's also a 2280 form factor.

 

[Slam]

Thank you
The 970 Evo is now top of my list and apparently you can get OS cloning software from Samsung that works with their drives.
Next thing is to check if I have the M.2 screw, apparently the laptop might not as a M.2 drive wasn't supplied with it.