SSD too short for my laptop?

[Akaya]

Hi guys, my Alienware m15 R4 laptop was running out of disk space so I decided to pop in another SSD. I read up the specs and bought a gen3 2280 drive according to the supported specs. I opened the bottom plate, popped the drive in the empty 2280 slot aaaaand this happened. I thought I need some extra proprietary heat shield but the primary drive seemed to fit with or without the original shield. Booting up the system with the drive attached like this and the drive is not recognized by both the OS and the BIOS. Now I have some electrical tape lying around but would really appreciate any help so I don't end up like this the next time around. Thanks in advance!

[SImoHayha]

Try reinstalling it again and put some electrical tape down to hold it into place. Checking w google says it's the same size as what your laptop has which is size 2280

 

perhaps there is a BIOS option to turn on that specific slot perhaps? Also did you try disk management and seeing if the drive was assigned a letter?

[porina]

Found an image elsewhere which shows what looks like a heat shield used over both M.2 slots to hold the SSD in place. Did you get 2 heat shields, one for each? If the 2nd is missing, I'd guess it may need some additional pressure to get the right contact angle in the slot.

[Akaya]

Um guys I figured it out. For the rando finding this post a decade later I'll lay it out.

So I opened up the laptop again and took a look at the primary drive with the heat shield. Same length 2280 and the screw fit just right. When I put the primary back I realized I had to lift it a bit for the shield bit to slot in. Then I went and checked the new drive. Turns there was some space right below the actual slot that was high enough for the SSD to slide in and also tight enough to feel like a slot and hold the SSD somewhat in place.

 

So yes, stranger years from now, we essentially:https://youtu.be/-zHVW7Zy_vg?si=IgvG8HPxE4cqW2wO

 

Thanks guys for the help.