Adding second hard drive to Dimension 9100

Question

...and I'm at a total loss.  It used to be a ribbon cable connected the hard drive to a controller or directly to the motherboard as in my old 8100.  But the hard drive that came with the 9100 is not connected with the old familiar ribbon cable or power line...instead, a thick blue cable seems to have replaced the ribbon, and the power supply line is totaly foreign to me.  The hard drive I'm trying to add requires the old-school ribbon and clunky white power supply cables.  There is a power supply cable available, but no ribbon...and I don't see any controller or spot on the motherboard to plug in a ribbon cable.  Am I resigned to purchasing a controller card here?

Kronofile · Answer

Thank you both...SATA, eh?

To shesagordie : Why do you prefer the controller to the converter? Is there some kind of read/write speed loss there?

To rickmktg : I'm assuming the Promise card is a brand of PCI controller? What would you do for a temporary transfer? Something more involved than a cable/network connection?

shesagordie · Answer

Kronofile

The D-9100's motherboard has only one IDE connector for two IDE devices, if you have two IDE devices already installed and there's a spare PCI slot, then you could buy a IDE PCI controller card [cost $30-$50] that has two IDE ports, allowing you to install four more IDE drives. You could also, buy a converter kit to convert IDE drive to SATA.

Personally I would prefer to use the PCI controller card, but if you don't have a spare PCI slot, then you will have use the convertor.

http://www.addonics.com/products/io/ide_sata.asp

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim9100/en/SM/parts.htm#wp1060547

Bev.

rickmktg · Answer

@Kronofile wrote:

Thank you both...SATA, eh?

To shesagordie : Why do you prefer the controller to the converter? Is there some kind of read/write speed loss there?

To rickmktg : I'm assuming the Promise card is a brand of PCI controller? What would you do for a temporary transfer? Something more involved than a cable/network connection?

Promise is the leading manufacturer of controller cards. For temporary, unplug the DVD/OPTICAL drive on the middle connector and use that.

rickmktg · Answer

@Kronofile wrote:

...and I'm at a total loss. It used to be a ribbon cable connected the hard drive to a controller or directly to the motherboard as in my old 8100. But the hard drive that came with the 9100 is not connected with the old familiar ribbon cable or power line...instead, a thick blue cable seems to have replaced the ribbon, and the power supply line is totaly foreign to me. The hard drive I'm trying to add requires the old-school ribbon and clunky white power supply cables. There is a power supply cable available, but no ribbon...and I don't see any controller or spot on the motherboard to plug in a ribbon cable. Am I resigned to purchasing a controller card here?

Using the Advanced Forum Search on the bottom of this page, you can quite easily find the answer to this often asked question.

This is asked nearly daily. If you have two DVD/CD devices, and you want this hard drive always connected (vs. a temporary transfer), you need to buy a Promise card that gives you two more IDE ports. $27.

Your system has SATA hard drive.

shesagordie · Answer

Kronofile wrote: 'To shesagordie :  Why do you prefer the controller to the converter?  Is there some kind of read/write speed loss there?' As far as I know there is no loss and the reason for prefering the controller card,  it seem's to be more reliable than a IDE to SATA convertor. Bev.

Kronofile · Answer

I really appreciate all your help, you've both saved me some major research time.  I hope I can figure out the proper jumper configuration now.... Thanks again!

rickmktg · Answer

@Kronofile wrote:

I really appreciate all your help, you've both saved me some major research time. I hope I can figure out the proper jumper configuration now....

Thanks again!

Glad to help.

Always Cable Select.

Kronofile · Answer

I seem to have gotten everything working now. I don't have much to offer in return for your help, but I would be happy to send each of you a gmail invite as thanks. If you are interested let me know.

Thanks again,

-JP

Storage, Drives & Media

Adding second hard drive to Dimension 9100

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