XPS 8930, hard drives capacity, upgrades

If anything, there is a 4tb limit for each drive. There is never a "whole machine" limit.

But with UEFI, Windows-10 64bit, GPT-type, and NTFS-format ... you should be able to break the 4tb barrier.

As is shown here (12tb 3.5inch SATA-HDD installed in Aurora-R7):

https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-Desktops/Upgrading-my-Aurora-R7-HDD/td-p/6116601

Pretty sure two 6tb drives would-have worked fine ... The MB in XPS-8930 is similar to one in Aurora-R6/R7.

Thank you for the quick response

The limit didn't make sense but 3 separate dell employees told me the same thing about a limit to the stock 1tb (one bay 4tb, one 2tb, and one 1tb)  They did tell me Aurora had more capacity.   

Is there a way to check if bigger drives would work prior to purchase?  I would definitely like to put a 6tb even 12tb if possible.  

According to the XPS 8930 Setup and Specifications document, the hard drive capacity is up to 4 TB. I assume the limit is for each hard drive. My guess as to the reason why is that the capacity is limited by the BIOS and not the OS.

Thank you.  

I looked at the setup and specifications document and it does say 4tb capacity.  The previous reply by tesla1856 showed a thread with an aurora r7 which the owner placed a 12tb HD.  When I looked at the setup and specifications of the aurora r7 it shows hard drive capacity up to 2tb.  

Would placing a higher than suggested capacity have more risk of HD failure or any other adverse events?  I know the basics about computers so this upgrade process has been confusing!  I spent time calling dell but the average answer was 8tb total storage.  I would like to safely put as much storage as possible.  Is there a program that could test the capacities?  

It probably won't work or won't work well and then you will be stuck with an extra drive.

I know of no program that will test the hard drive capacity of a computer without first installing the hard drive. I do not believe you will risk hard drive failure; the most adverse event is that you will not realize the maximum capacity of the hard drive. I would not want to pay for a 8 TB hard drive and end up only able to use 4 TB.

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@XPSJP wrote:

 

1. The limit didn't make sense but 3 separate dell employees told me the same thing about a limit to the stock 1tb (one bay 4tb, one 2tb, and one 1tb) 

2. They did tell me Aurora had more capacity.   

3. Is there a way to check if bigger drives would work prior to purchase?

4.  I would definitely like to put a 6tb even 12tb if possible.  

 

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1. I can't really speak to what Dell employees let you. Sounds like maybe they were all reading the same notes?

2. I don't know why it would. The motherboards use same/similar chipset. 

3. Apparently, it's to read this forum. :Smile:

4. It will work (see previously linked thread). The question is should you.

I don't really even put spinning-HDD inside newer computers any more. They are noisy, power-hungry, run hot, etc. SSDs are just to cheap now-days. Other thing is ... if the house is burning down, it's a lot easier to grab the pet and this 12tb HDD (in external enclosure) off the desk ... and run. 

If you are going to buy one 12tb HDD, you have to buy another (or back it up somewhere). All HDDs crash/fail eventually due to the moving parts. The second one backs-up the first one. NAS and/or cloud are also options.

I'm guessing you are trying to build a make-shift file server. Instead, I suggest you look at the 4-bay Synology NAS units. Not only does it it have Server-like abilities, you can expand it. If you install 4 HDDs in it, you can have a Hybrid RAID-5 Array with 1-disk fault-tolerance. That along with SMART, it about as safe as you can get for on-premise storage (for consumers and SMB).

But even then, you are still suppose to backup the whole thing again (RAID is not a backup). To protect against fire/theft, that backup should be off-site. Candidates for that are:

a. Off-site cloud storage backup. This is the best. You are buying yearly space instead of HDDs. Full Backups and Restores might take weeks. There are other pros/cons. 
b. Back-it-up to a large-capacity USB-HDD occasionally, and just store it off-site (safety deposit box, parent's house, etc.). 

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@Vic384 wrote:

My guess as to the reason why is that the capacity is limited by the BIOS and not the OS.

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Good guess, but No, I do not think so. I think 99% of the time ... it's the OS (at least on newer machines from the last 4 years or so ... ones with UEFI capability).

With UEFI, Windows-10 64bit, GPT-type, and NTFS-format ...

The new limit is : 18 exabytes (~18.8 million terabytes) 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/configure-uefigpt-based-hard-drive-partitions

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@Vic384 wrote:

I do not believe you will risk hard drive failure; 

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In 20 years, in my small circle of managed machines and clients, I've seen about 15 HDDs fail. Many of those within the last 5 years (these newer larger disks, with higher areal densities). Also, with the large ones, that's a lot of data to lose all-at-once.

Some old, some new. Some OEM, some retail. Some internal, some external. Especially troublesome are the ones that die after 3-6 months.

All spinning-HDD fail eventually. The trick is to be finished using them before they do, or to have a backup. I also backup systems with only SSDs (but we have never actually seen one fail yet) . Hopefully, I'm not jinxing it. :Smile: However, we do usually over-provision installed SSDs and only use top-tier brands and models.

SMART really helps now-days. Not only do you sometimes get an early warning of impending doom, SMART is sometimes able to "shuffle the data around" to good areas and buy you a bit more time (sometimes, just enough time to save/backup data).

Now-days, Image files (as in Macrium Reflect) is a good tool in some scenarios. These are Full, Differential, and Incremental. However, sometimes just a straight-file-copy to a different drive or location is enough to save your data-files from extinction. We keep 2 copies of everything. 3 if really important or vital. Don't forget about using offsite/cloud.

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@Tesla1856 wrote:

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@Vic384 wrote:

My guess as to the reason why is that the capacity is limited by the BIOS and not the OS.

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Good guess, but No, I do not think so. I think 99% of the time ... it's the OS (at least on newer machines from the last 4 years or so ... ones with UEFI capability).

With UEFI, Windows-10 64bit, GPT-type, and NTFS-format ...

The new limit is : 18 exabytes (~18.8 million terabytes) 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/configure-uefigpt-based-hard-drive-partitions

 

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According to the XPS 8930 Setup and Specifications document, the XPS 8930 is listed as supporting OSs  Windows 10 Pro and Home 64-bit and its BIOS is UEFI yet the hard drive capacity is listed as "up to 4 TB". So if the OS does not limit the hard drive capacity to 4 TB then my guess is the BIOS. Of course the Dell document could just be wrong.

My response about hard drive failure was to address the OPs question about whether installing a hard drive of a capacity higher than his computer could handle would result in a hard drive failure. Obviously hard drives will eventually fail but I don't think installing a hard drive of a capacity higher than his computer can handle will result in hard drive failure.

@546insp that's what I wanted to make sure before I buy

@Tesla1856 tech support does seem to read from the same notes, I wish they would have more information beyond the documents.  Yes this forum has been the most help lol  I actually do have most of what you mentioned in #4 for backup, My previous xps 9100 only had 4tb in total and wanted at least 8tb total in this computer for my main source for editing/organization etc instead of relying only on externals.  

@Vic384 I don't want to pay double for a 4tb either lol, but I did see the document saying up to 4tb

Thank you everyone I appreciate your insight!  To be safe I will probably go with another 4tb HD

I have an 8930 and installed a seagate barracuda pro 10TB drive into the first HDD cage and it works fine. Booted without so much as a message showing the full drive available.