Adding a second hard drive to a Dell Dimension 2400??

blobert

I'm a bit annoyed I only got the 40 gig hard drive with my Dell. At the time I didn't want to pay for a bigger one seeing as their prices were not great.

However there doesn't seem to be room for a second drive. I know I could just get rid of the one I have, but that would be a lot of work.

Is there any way around this. I saw a bracket for sale on ebay in the states that allows you to attach another hd on the back of the existing one. Are these for sale in Ireland?

Since getting this damn 1mb broadband connection 40 gigs suddenly isn't enough!

Thanks.

Col_Loki

You more than lightly have enough room for atleast one more hard drive have another look (mabye even take a photo). It will usually be up or down from where the hard drive is at the min.

The only thing involved really is putting the second hard disk in, make sure the little jumper setting on your existing hard drive is set to MASTER, and the new one is set to slave, then connect it to the middle part of the cable (IDE one thats already plugged into your existing HD) and boot up.

Pop into Control Pannel -> Administrative tools -> something (doh) -> Disk management and click on the drive and then format it.

If you have windows XP with Service pack 1 then get what ever size drive you want. If not post your OS and SP , some wont see over 127gb.

VeVeX

The hard disk in my dell 4600 is mounted verically at the front of the case. There was however another cage to the rear of the existing drive for expansion where I installed a 120gb drive.

The 2400 is a bad choice for future expansion. This HD case is one reason the other would be the lack of an AGP slot.

Pacifico

Yes there is space for a second drive. Right beside the one that was in it! It has to go in a similar "cage". And it uses the existing one for support. I dont know where you would get one though.....

Dr Bolouswki

nope - the 4600 and 8300 have space for a 2nd drive - the 2400 has no space for a second drive

komplett have a special on a 250gb firewire external hard drive at the moment - standard cost is about (that's ABOUT fact fans) of a euron a gig - though usually yhe bigger you go the cheaper it gets...

only other choice is maybe to mount it in the 5.25 external bay - brackets available through most online pc stores (see sticky on this forum for suggestions)

Pacifico

Originally posted by Killah_B
nope - the 4600 and 8300 have space for a 2nd drive - the 2400 has no space for a second drive

Eh yes there is. I installed one last week!!

blobert

Are you sure Axel?

How did you manage this?

Pacifico

Originally posted by blobert
Are you sure Axel?

How did you manage this?

Yes i'm Sure!

Firstly you will have to aquire the "cage" thing. Identical to the one that is in it already (where you will get it i dont know :dunno: Maby give Dell a ring) I had one lying around from an old compaq.

After this, get yourself an IDE cable that can take 2 Hard drives (can be got in PC World etc) As the one with the dell can old take one.

Attatch the second cage to the first, They go togeter pritty easily. Set either hard drive to Slave or Master as outlined on the Drives. Connect up the cable. The master one will have to be connected to the end of the cable (ie not the middle connection)

Thats it!

You can PM me if you need more help

blobert

Thanks for the advice Axel,

I've had a look around for one of those cages but I'n not sure where to get one from.

I found some on the US Ebay site but chances of getting them to post over here are remote.

I'll continue looking I suppose...

Stephen

You could try removing the floppy drive and mounting the HD in its place. Who needs floppies in these days of USB memory keys?

blobert

Well I didn't actually get the floppy drive installed so there is just a plastic pannel on the front covering it up. I'm not sure if there is a slot on the inside to mount another drive.

Could I mount a standard hard drive in this and what would I need to get to do so?

Thanks,
Robert

Pacifico

Originally posted by blobert
Well I didn't actually get the floppy drive installed so there is just a plastic pannel on the front covering it up. I'm not sure if there is a slot on the inside to mount another drive.

Could I mount a standard hard drive in this and what would I need to get to do so?

Thanks,
Robert

If there is something behind that pannel (It is unlikely) then just put it up there and throw in a screw, run all relevant cables to it

kmb

Hi blobert


,Ihave one of the cages you need which is like a floppy drive cage and fits in the 51/4 slot Behind blanking plate.
I used to use them for extra hard disks n raid format but the ones i have left are brand new.
Make me a offer on this?

regds kieran

blobert

Thanks Kieran,

Can I just fit a normal hard drive into this? Is it difficult to do (I'm by no means an expert!)

It will cost me about €25 to get one of the special brackets sent over from the states, but it might take quite a while.

Let me know.

Thanks,
Robert

kmb

if you have a spare 51/4" space then this will just screw into sides and your harddisk is screwed into this.


http://www.hammerplc.com/man_item.php?id=118&cid=46&mid=13

Whereabouts are you based?


regards,kieran

Ps i have about 10 of these new if anyone else needs one!!!