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Adding additional HD Problem
hi guys, i have a 4700 Dell Dimension and i tried opening it because i have this old HD that i have in school and was planning to add it on my system.
so when i opened up my dimension, i was surprised that there is no IDE cable connected to my HD, instead its a blue wire connected to it and the power chord thats it.
so the problem now is, how can i add an additional HD if there are no IDE cables connected to my dimension HD, instead its a blue cable directly connected from the MoBo to the HD. there is an IDE cable inside the system but its for my DVD ROM and CD RW. thats it, can someone please tell me how to fix this one out? thanks!
- The industry is shifting from parallel ATA (EIDE) to serial ATA (SATA). Before very long, most new drives will be SATA.
You can add an inexpensive ($30 or less) ATA controller to run the drive, or try a PATA drive to SATA controller converter. shesagordie
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Posted January 8th, 2005 23:00
soushi8.
If you have a spare PCI slot, then you could install a IDE PCI controller card for the IDE HD. Or, you could use a adaptor as shown here
http://www.cybercpu.net/review/sata/
Bev.
- I just did this with an 8400. I had a 250gb ide drive. The computer only supports 2 ide devices. I only have a DVD writer so I used the spare ide connection and it works just fine. I foolishly tried asking tech support about this and wasted several hours talking to idiots in India and didn't get an answer.
I think you are out of luck unless you give up either your CD or DVD drive. shesagordie
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Posted January 9th, 2005 00:00
soushl8.
SATA = Serial Advanced Technology Attachment, these are newer technology hard drives than the PATA = Parallel Advanced Techology Attachment drives.
For more information , read the following http://www6.tomshardware.com/storage/20020812/index.html
"whats the advantage over the PATA?" At this time, there's very little advantage.
Bev.
- The SATA connector is about 1/2" wide and the ide connector is about 1.5" wide. The 8400 supports 4 serial HDs and 2 IDE devices.
Why not replace your DVD-ROM and CDRW with a DVD writer for $65 delivered? This would free up an IDE connector. I just replaced the CD it came with a DVD writer . The DVD writer writes both DVD and CD. I bought my 8400 reconditioned and took what I could get paying $604. shesagordie
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Posted January 9th, 2005 04:00
soushi8.
The D4700 motherboard has two SATA connectors for two HDs, you use a separate cable for each drive [SATA 0) & SATA 2] and there's one IDE connector [J6J1 for two IDE devices.
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4700/sm/techov.htm#wp1052362
Bev.
soushi8
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Posted January 8th, 2005 23:00