UNSOLVED
Adding second HDD to Dimension 4700
As my Dimension 4700 is now about 6 years old, I wonder how much longer the HDD will last so am thinking of adding a second one, initially to serve as additional backup but probably to replace the existing one in time.
My existing one is 160MB Western Digital drive so I think I would use another WD but probably a larger one. My first question is about the connection - I assume the existing drive has SATA connection; is that correct? If so, the new drive should use SATA but does the necessary connecting lead come as standard with a new drive?
Second question, what is best in terms of making a copy of the existing disk before I change them over? I understand there is software available from WD (called something like Adonis?). Is that the best option?
shesagordie
12 Elder
•
46017 Posts
316
0
Posted October 24th, 2010 08:00
Paul_f9
Both Western Digital and Seagate provide their own free versions of Arconis TrueImage, that can only be used with their hard drives.
How to install a second SATA hard drive in the Dimension 4700.
The primary C: / hard drive, connects to SATA-0 and the second [Slave] drive to SATA-2, See HERE.
Dell's instructions for installing a second hard drive, are HERE.
There should be a spare SATA power connector inside the case, but you need to buy SATA data cable for the second hard drive.
After the drive is installed, check in the SYSTEM SETUP that the hard drive is set to "Auto" [on].
Bev.
Thanks for this Osprey.
Is the cable from the motherboard to the existing HDD likely to be SATA? I don't know how large the SATA connectors are but this one seems to have a very small connector on the HDD end of it (compared with the drawings of SATA connectors I have seen on the WD site).
osprey4
6 Operator
•
34230 Posts
316
0
Posted October 24th, 2010 05:00
Hi Paul_f9,
You'll need a data cable, but there should be an available power cable.
If you buy a retail hard drive (as opposed to OEM), it should include software for cloning your existing drive. I'm not sure which manufacturer provides Acronis.