XPS 8950, additional HDD info

That chart lists the largest drives that Dell has tested with the 8950 not the largest that can be installed. For example Crucial here lists their 4 TB SSD as compatible.

ok thanks, I'll check with Dell. But I have a feeling I should be ok installing my 6TB & 12TB. Fingers crossed.!

I wanted to buy a 8950 also, but the HDD size has to be less than 2tb stopped me.  Just curious what you find out from Dell.  I also like to use a 4tb SATA SSD too if possible.  

Thanks

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@mbakrania wrote:

Thinking of purchasing XPS 8950 desktop. I have two additional HDD 3.5 SATA internal, 6TB and 12TB. My 7 year old Dell XPS 8900 handles them fine, no issues. However I have stumble upon this. It appears 3.5 SATA HDD can only handle up to 2TB! Seriously?

Just cannot believe if this is true? Anyone can advise? Thanks

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Yes, they will work ... but it only holds ONE 3.5-inch HDD.

The other would need to be installed in something like this.

I have a XPS8950 and want to buy a 12TB Seagate external HDD and plug to the USB port. 

Are you able to install your 12TB HDD?

There are two 3.5 HDD drive bays in the 8950. Each drive bay has 2 power connectors.

Yes, I have TWO 16 TB HDD in my 8950. See my notes above.

There are only 2 drive bays. The 3rd you are referring to is a M2 slot for a NVMe SSD drive. There are actually 2 NVMe drive slots on the 8950 and 3 SATA data connections on the motherboard along with a SATA connection for an optical drive. (the white colored one). So if a person wanted they could have two 3.5 SATA HDD and two NVMe SSD drives or two NVMe drives along with three 2.5 Sata SSD or two NVMe drives with one SATA HDD and two 2.5 SATA SSD. ( I suppose a person could use 2.5 SATA HDD in place of the 2.5 SATA SSD, but why would you want to?)

My 8950 came with 2 power connectors in each drive bay for a total of 4 power connectors. It only came with the one SATA data cable that was used for the factory installed HDD.

TWO SATA DATA cables and ONE SATA POWER cable are in the 8950. You will need another SATA POWER cable for a 3rd HDD. Install it on the motherboard under the removable fan housing, you can then connect it to the 3rd drive.

Incorrect. I have an 8950. There are 3 HDD slots, one is in use by the boot drive. If you didn't purchased another HDD with the computer, you will have two HDD slots left. The extra cables (SATA data and SATA power) needed for the additional drives are in the 8950 (except for 1 SATA power cable for the 3rd drive). Buy the SATA power cable and connect it to the motherboard under the removable fan housing, then you can connect it to the 3rd drive.

As far as HDD capacity, there are no issues. I have a 1 TB sdd boot drive and TWO 16TB data hdd in my 8950.

Make sure your power supply has enough capacity for 3 drives. I have the 750W power supply.

@WillSt​ Hi, can you tell me how you got your 16TB drives to work with your XPS 8950?  I purchased my 8950 in November of 2022 and had the 1 TB SSD boot drive and a second 2TB hard drive (SATA mechanical).  However, I have found that the 2TB is not large enough and wanted to upgrade to install a 8TB drive.  I have tried an 8TB drive in place of my 2TB drive, while I am waiting on the caddy from Dell and the left angled SATA cable from a third party (Dell doesn't have them in stock).  I restarted my computer and the 8TB drive is spinning but is not recognized in windows explorer.  

I have spent almost 2 hours on the phone with Dell Support and Sales, and also via the chat.  What I am told is that it is not possible to have a single hard drive (SATA mechanical NOT SSD) with a capacity of over 12TB.  The sales/technical support personnel told me I can add another 2TB drive to the second open bay, but this is not what I want.  

Any advice or suggestions in terms of getting a SATA HDD 3.5" hard drive >2TB to work with my Dell XPS 8950 would be sincerely appreciated.  If in the end I can't I will look at other computer options that have this capacity.