Inspiron 3050 Micro Desktop SATA Cable

Question

I see in many forums that others are looking into how to add a 2.5" disk to the Inspiron 3050 (micro Desktop) PC much as I am. The problem is that this isn't a standard SATA cable, it's an "Interposer" cable (shown on pg. 46 of the service manual).

Dell Parts & Accessories help says the cable is only available if you order the 3050 with the 500GB disk, but that is not a selectable option at this time.

Has anyone found an alternate cable that will work? Or does anyone know if Dell will make this a user-serviceable/replaceable part we can order it to upgrade/add a 2.5" SATA drive later? Or the part number we can order? Or possibly provide a close-up of the cable and how it connects to the interposer so I can see if I can fabricate one?

tgwaste · Accepted Answer

Ok time for some good news.

First and foremost there is a blog that some of us are using to discuss this machine here. I highly recommend reading it, its full of great information.

Now about the cable. We have a winner!

This is the model of the cable that will work with this machine and drive:

HP Envy 17 J Series 1st Hard Drive HDD SATA Cable Adapter 6017B0421501

You can buy them off of eBay for about $14 shipped. Here is a link to one.

You will need to make a modification to the cable in order for it to work!

Using a pair of sissors cut the two little plastic tabs at the Envy 17 ribbon cable end to the main board, you can't miss it, just two simple straight line cuts in order to have the ribbon cable fit properly and deep inside the ribbon SATA holder on the 3050 board and Voila! make sure to pull the little white holder outward with your fingernails or a little screwdriver.

If you read the blog I linked above you will see screenshots of the 2nd drive working.

Its truly a shame that we have to buy some 3rd party HP cable from eBay in order to make our Dell products work 100%. Its also a shame that we had to take the time ourselves to hunt, test and find a solution (which we thank tornado4u2 immensely for).

I will post my own results once I receive my cable which I purchased yesterday.

DELL-Prajwal S · Answer

Hi,

Thank you for writing to us. Since this machine can support only one drive, you will need to remove the one within the system to fit in a new one.

When you remove the existing drive, you can disconnect the interposer(it is similar to a clip) from that drive and you can connect it to the new one. This system supports only up to 1 TB.

Let me know if you have any further queries

ljohnstone · Answer

The question was not answered. Will an interposer such as the one in the user manual page 47 be available and what is the part number??

DELL-Prajwal S · Answer

Hi, I cannot confirm if this part is currently in stock, but you can contact the sales team and provide the part#JV5H9 .

ljohnstone · Answer

Thank You Prajwal.

I called the sales team and they confirmed the part number but they have none in stock and referred me to do a search on Amazon to see if it was there. Really pretty sad, brand new unit, Dell is pushing it like crazy, the sales team sells me a SSD drive to upgrade the unit then sends me on a Amazon wild goose chase to find the connector?????

Does anyone with authority read these forums? They had a nice opportunity to make a hit with this product but choose to let customers flounder on their own with upgrades. Very disappointed again by Dell.

jodyl1 · Answer

When I look up the part number Prajwal gave, it is an Interposer, but it's the one listed for the Inspiron 2350 AiO desktop, not the 3050 micro. Can someone confirm that they are the same? And does the part number Prajwal gave include the cable that connects to the mainboard?

I am also a bit disappointed here.

tgwaste · Answer

It is just utterly crazy that we have to hunt for this. I too was sent the wrong cable and now I have to go through the process of sending it back and trying to find the right one.

Dell: Was is REALLY that hard to just put a standard SATA connector on the board? You sell us a PC capable of another hard drive but then don't empower us to use that hard drive.

ugh: Why or why do I keep buying things from Dell. You would had thought I would had learned my lesson by now. And don't even get me started on the 'Wont boot without a monitor thing". You're telling me you refuse to let me run this headless??

ANSWERS DELL! NOW!

DELL-Prajwal S · Answer

Hi,

The interposer card will be compatible with all SATA drives and the connector is the same. You can use it on your system.As mentioned earlier,I cannot guarantee availability of spares.The part number is for the card that connects directly to the board.There is no cable involved.

jodyl1 · Answer

I tried the part @ given, wrong part when I finally got it. I gave up and got the HP one off ebay for $13, cut the tabs, and all happy now.

demotda · Answer

The only trick is you must enter setup (F2) during boot and save the new settings. If you don't explicitly save the settings, the drive appears in setup but Windows doesn't see it.

Old as Dirt · Answer

The 3050 will support 2 drives at once..  Up to 1 TB Sata and use the SSD onboard as a reserve(some are running 250 GB SSD which goes against the 'Said' can't go bigger than 128GB SSD).. been done already..

speedstep · Answer

Its an MSATA M2 2242 so its 42 mm.  You cant use 60mm drives. http://www.amazon.com/ADATA-USA-Premier-SP600-ASP600NS34-128GM-C/dp/B012ASBZEO

demotda · Answer

With a little ingenuity I physically installed a 250Gb M2280 and it works perfectly as a data drive. Unfortunately, when I put a system on it, it won't boot, so my system is on the second SATA drive. The board supports short (i.e. - original 32 Gb M2) and long (i.e. - M2242) cards. I would concur that it's preferable to use one of those lengths. Additionally, my boot problems may be a Dell imposed limitation apart from physical form factor. Follow the link posted by tgwaste on 21 Jun 2015 for a lot more information plus pictures.

Old as Dirt · Answer

No more time wasting... the correct SATA cable for the 3050 is PN HM06J.. can only be ordered through chat support, because it isn't listed in parts.. they are using a restricted, internal sales tool..

OK, to also dispel some other issues..

Can't use more than one drive in the 3050.. and 128GB SSD is the max size drive.. hogwash on Dell for claiming this..

I'm running a "MyDigital" superbootdrive 256GB onboard SSD in the 42mm size.. works perfect..

Also upgraded to 8GB "Crucial" Ram..

Using the Dell PN HM06J(which fits perfect without trimming, unlike the HP cable on EBay for 5 times the price) I am running a 1TB WD Blue 2.5" 9.5mm thick disc drive as secondary storage.. perfect..

Also confirmed you can run an extended desktop(two monitors) by utilizing the HDMI and the Display Ports at the same time.. Now.. the little Micro 3050 is rocking!!!

Proof:

picasaweb.google.com/.../Dell3050

Mikey_Dread · Answer

Well,

I bought my 3050 last year 2015 and decided to install a hard drive (2016).

After hunting around and finding the part number. I was happily informed that the cable will cold 30 UKP, but it does include postage, I was happily informed..

Bah!

The part number is HM06J

Locked Topics – Desktops General

Inspiron 3050 Micro Desktop SATA Cable

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