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February 1st, 2006 15:00

How many SATA hard drives on a Dimension 8400?

Dear Dimensionphiles,

How many SATA hard drives can a dimension 8400 support? On p. 89 of the manual, it states that the machine can support up to 2 hard drives. However, the mother board has 4 SATA connectors on it and the power leads that connect to my (current) 2 drives have a third connector on them.

So which is it 2, 3, or 4? Are the two other SATA connectors dead -- not hooked up on the motherboard? Is the limitation the power supply? Not enough power for more than 2? Or is the power there but not the capacity for cooling more than 2?

If I want to connect 3 drives or 4 drives, what are the mods, if any, needed to make them work?

I will greatly appreciate any helpful responses.

--Alan Peters

11.9K Posts

February 1st, 2006 15:00



lamoid wrote:
Dear Dimensionphiles,

How many SATA hard drives can a dimension 8400 support? On p. 89 of the manual, it states that the machine can support up to 2 hard drives. However, the mother board has 4 SATA connectors on it and the power leads that connect to my (current) 2 drives have a third connector on them.

So which is it 2, 3, or 4? Are the two other SATA connectors dead -- not hooked up on the motherboard? Is the limitation the power supply? Not enough power for more than 2? Or is the power there but not the capacity for cooling more than 2?

If I want to connect 3 drives or 4 drives, what are the mods, if any, needed to make them work?

I will greatly appreciate any helpful responses.

--Alan Peters

Alan - this is the INSPIRON forum, not the Dimension forum...

All 4 connectors are live, there are two hard drive bays, the PSU is fine.  If you want more info, post on the Dimension - Hard Drive forum. 

13 Posts

February 1st, 2006 16:00

Dear RickMktg,

I had to laugh. I can't believe I submitted this to the wrong forum *again*! (Well, actually I can. It's entirely consistent with the way I do things.) Is there any hope that I can do this upgrade myself?!

Nevertheless, thank you for your response; it was most helpful.

Alan Peters
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