Installing 2nd and 3rd hard drive in E521

atlanticcanuck

 

The E521 motherboard only supports SATA, there is no support for ATA/IDE, except for a floppy drive.  If you want to add an IDE hard drive, then you need to install a PCI IDE controller or use a powered external USB 2.0 IDE enclosure.

 

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dimE521/en/SM_EN/techov.htm#wp1053345

 

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dimE521/en/SM_EN/specs.htm#wp1052310

 

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dimE521/en/SM_EN/parts.htm#wp1043338

 

Bev.

 

 

 

 

 

Please don't send me questions about your system by DCF Messenger.
Post the issue in the appropriate Board, where they will be answered.

 

I bought an external USB connected hard drive enclosure from New Egg to connect my extra drive on my new E510.  works like a charm and doesn't take any power from the PC.  You  would also need Y connectors to get ATX style power for the drives internally, too.

new technology!

 

I'm just kidding I love it.

 

So!  At the end of the day, is it just easier for me to buy two hard drive enclosures and run them through the usb ports?

 

I do not have any available pci ports so I think that route is a bust.

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atlanticcanuck wrote:

It all seems rather lame that they make it more difficult to add additional parts.  Considering that the old model dem 4550 was a piece of cake to add two additional drives.  I even noticed that the dvd burner is connected by the sata method.

 

Is this method more reliable than the orginal method?  Or is dell just rtying to make you buy spare parts at the dell store?

 

It's not Dell, it's the industry.  SATA offers higher transfer speeds than PATA and all machines will soon be all SATA.

 

SATA is non-Dell specific, you can buy drives and cables anywhere.

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atlanticcanuck wrote:

new technology!

 

I'm just kidding I love it.

 

So!  At the end of the day, is it just easier for me to buy two hard drive enclosures and run them through the usb ports?

 

I do not have any available pci ports so I think that route is a bust.

 

If you have no PCI slots (not ports), then it's not easier to buy enclosures, it's your only option, right?

Whats the difference between slots and ports?

 

I have the video card

and  fire wire adapter on there now.

 

And If I went with a pci, do I have to purchase anything else with it.

 

Thanks man you have been a great help.

It all seems rather lame that they make it more difficult to add additional parts.  Considering that the old model dem 4550 was a piece of cake to add two additional drives.  I even noticed that the dvd burner is connected by the sata method.

 

Is this method more reliable than the orginal method?  Or is dell just rtying to make you buy spare parts at the dell store?

 

 

 

Thanks again man!  

 

I will go with the external option.

 

Later!

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atlanticcanuck wrote:

Whats the difference between slots and ports?

 

I have the video card

and  fire wire adapter on there now.

 

And If I went with a pci, do I have to purchase anything else with it.

 

Thanks man you have been a great help.

 

I have no idea what a PCI port is.  Never heard of one.  A PCI slot is the slot in the computer where you plug in cards.  Your video card is in a PCIe slot.  If your slots are full, you have no options except the usb or firewire external drives. 

 

The card may, or may not, come with IDE cables.

Folks - this Thread is great - thanks for all the info.

 

I also just bought E521 without realizing IDE port has been removed from the motherboard.

 

I have 1 old Hard Drive and 1 DVD R/W drive that are both IDE that I'd like to move over.

 

From what I read here, PCI IDE card is a safer choice (always works with optical drives, etc.)

 

Are there specific cards that you'd recommend, and do I need anything else?

I saw this one on Newegg and thought it would do the job, but wanted to ask:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16816132005

 

Do I need power converters or any other items?

 

Thanks

drabin

 

The IDE PCI controller shown should be fine,

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16816132005

 

But, you may find this IDE Promise controller, a better product,

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16816102007

 

You will need 4-pin power Y splitters, because thare's only one 4-pin power connector [P-10] inside the case, like the units shown here,

 

  http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat%5Fid=925&sku=03166

  http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dimE521/en/SM_EN/techov.htm#wp1053345

 

Bev.

 

 

 

 

Please don't send me questions about your system by DCF Messenger.
Post the issue in the appropriate Board, where they will be answered.

 

 

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drabin wrote:

Thanks again for all the advise. I purchased and installed the Promise IDE controller, but now it seems that my computer can only see the IDE drive, and can no longer see the SATA drive and therefore can't boot up. I am not sure if the IDE drive is master or slave, but I moved it to a separate IDE channel, so I don't believe that's the issue. What do I do?

 

Thanks,

 

 - drabin

 

You can remove the IDE drive and read the lable to see how the jumpers are set...

 

Make sure in bios that the SATA drive is before the Promise card, which often shows as ROM DEVICE.

 

Make sure you installed it properly.  Card first, boot, then shutdown and hookup drive.

Thanks again for all the advise. I purchased and installed the Promise IDE controller, but now it seems that my computer can only see the IDE drive, and can no longer see the SATA drive and therefore can't boot up. I am not sure if the IDE drive is master or slave, but I moved it to a separate IDE channel, so I don't believe that's the issue. What do I do?

 

Thanks,

 

 - drabin

I tried what was recommended above, and am still not working.

 

I purchased and installed Promise Ultra 133 Tx2 into a Dell Dimension E521 system that otherwise only has SATA connection. When I installed the card, it was fully recognized, shows up in Bios, etc. When I connected the IDE DVD-RW drive, the sytem found the DVD drive but was still able to boot off the primary SATA drive (as desired). When I connected my IDE hard drive (160GB Samsung drive which is formatted and has data, but is not bootable), the system finds the new drive during Bios scan and identifies the Samsung drive. It then fails to boot (screen goes blank, and Windows XP never boots off of the SATA drive). I've tried both IDE channels, and both Master and Slave setting on the Hard Drive. What should I do?

Drabin,

 

Very strange... I have the exact opposite problem.  I'm have:

 

Dimension E521

Sony DRU-810a DVD RW drive

SIIG Ultra ATA 100 IDE adapter card

WD 120GB PATA drive

 

When I have the WD HDD installed, system boots up using the SATA drive and all is good.  I can read the data on the WD drive with no issues.  With the DVD RW drive installed in place of the WD HDD drive, the system fails to boot.  It does not see the boot drive at all.

 

Have you had any luck with resolving your problem?