Inspiron 3670, HDD enclosure?

Question

I recently purchased an Inspiron 3670 and would like to add a 2TB slave 3.5' hard drive but I see that there are no free drive bays in the unit. Is there an HDD enclosure sold that would work? I hate to simply set the new hard drive on top of the existing.

speedstep · Accepted Answer

Since you have USB3 I would recommend an ORICO enclosure. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GAML7OK

nyc10036 · Answer

@addylo wrote:

I recently purchases an Inspiron 3670 and would like to add a 2TB slave 3.5" hard drive but I see that there are no free drive bays in the unit. Is there an HDD enclosure sold that would work? I hate to simply set the new hard drive on top of the existing.

Tons of 3.5" SATA enclosures available.

Tesla1856 · Answer

@speedstep wrote:

https://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/inspiron-3670-desktop_service-manual_en-us.pdf

Actually, not a bad-looking internal design for an entry-level consumer-class desktop (compared to some others I've seen lately).

speedstep · Answer

https://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/inspiron-3670-desktop_service-manual_en-us.pdf

1. There is no master or Slave in SATA. Drive 0 1 2 3

2. The 3670 has 4 sata ports and Two 2.5 inch mounting and one 3.5 inch mounting.

3 Hard Drives

3. There is ONLY 1 mount for a 3.5 inch hard drive. HOWEVER you can mount 2 drives of the 2.5 inch size on that bracket using a SilverStone Technology 3.5-Inch to 2 X 2.5-Inch Internal Hard Drive HDD/SSD Bay Converter, Silver (SDP08).

https://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-Technology-3-5-Inch-Converter-SDP08/dp/B002BH3Z8E

You may also need a sata power splitter cable

https://www.amazon.com/ZRM-15-Pin-Splitter-Extension-Locking/dp/B07C2TJ82P

addylo · Answer

Thanks.  I should have mentioned that the 3.5' HDD I would like to install was pulled from my previous (now defunct) desktop so I'm just needing an enclosure or some way to mount it.  It seems a shame to waste 2TB's of drive space I already own.

Tesla1856 · Answer

Check Orico's recent models . I say 'cheap but works nice'.- USB 3.0- UASP support- Large capacity HDD support- External Power Don't worry, spinning-platter HDD are already so slow, USB-3.0 doesn't really make them any slower. :Smile:

speedstep · Answer

You could sit a 3.5 inch drive on top of the current 3.5 inch drive and use a custom plate bolted to the side.

That might be a power problem however.

They make a 365W Power Supply T1M43 DSP-365CB to replace the 290W stock unit.

This is not a standard power supply. The power for drives comes from the motherboard.

365W T1M43

addylo · Answer

I hadn't thought of that.  Will running a second 3.5' drive off the motherboard pose a power issue?  I didn't realize the power supply was so low.

addylo · Answer

That ORICO enclosure may be my best solution, especially since it would not pull from the power supply.  The second drive is primarily to house my photography images (I have nearly a TB) so speed is not necessarily a concern.

nyc10036 · Answer

@addylo wrote:

I recently purchased an Inspiron 3670 and would like to add a 2TB slave 3.5" hard drive but I see that there are no free drive bays in the unit. Is there an HDD enclosure sold that would work? I hate to simply set the new hard drive on top of the existing.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182145

546insp · Answer

I doubt very much if power would be a problem and you can mount a HDD 'anywhere'. Many people don't realize double sided tape will easily hold an HDD. I had a noisy large HDD in my XPS 8920 and mounted it outside the cage with weather stripping and it not only worked well but knocked out all the noise. They are secured well when made just because of shipping, getting banged around, potential complaints, etc. I had to pry my HDD off when the time came.

TacoPete · Answer

Power is NOT an issue when adding HDD. They munch very little power compared with other components. I have 6 (six) internal 3.5 inch HDDs in my inspiron 3670. Where? I just stack 3 on the factory 3.5 in and stack 2 on the power supply. I have an add on RAID PCIe controller card for extra Sata ports and use a power splitter cable (1 to 4). I also have a NVME boot drive.

So you see...power not an issue.

I buy a new Dell every 14 years for the last 25 years!!!!!!

546insp · Answer

That's nice but I doubt if that NVME is working at full potential.

homey_biz · Answer

Here is my solution as I wanted to accomplish the same thing. I pulled my 2TB 3.5' second internal drive from my old computer which held all my data files. By being able to install it internally in the new Inspiron 3670, my old setup was maintained without having to migrate all that data. The description below refers to the side view of the PC depicted when you open the case as shown in the previously posted diagram pic. I used the following bracket to piggyback/stack my old 3.5' 2TB on top of the existing 3.5' 1TB HD: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MM52T35/ Please note: Remove the 5.25' mounts from the brackets as they are not needed. You will only be able to use 1 of the brackets on the far/left side of the HDs since you will still need to remount/screw the original HD onto the PC chassis the way it was originally (2 screws from the bottom of the PC and 2 on the right/front face). You will need to bend back some of the chassis that prevents the piggybacked HD from sitting flush on the right/front side. Screw tight on the right/front side and the bottom mounting holes will come back into alignment. Make sure to get similar 90 degree sata and power cords as it is the only way everything fits inside. and, voila...you have a 2nd internal 3.5' drive. They really didn't have to make it this much of a PITA!

speedstep · Answer

With 365w power supply its fine with the 290W its not.

They have mounting for 2X 2.5 drives on the front of the case but they dont come with the Data and 6 pin power cable for this by default.

@DELL-Chris M might have the part numbers for these.

Inspiron Desktops

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