Can I use a 3.5" form factor Hard Disk for Optiplex 755 (SFF)

[Yesaswi]

Hi,

I am planning to buy, DELL 7200rpm SATA 500GB hard disk for my Optiplex 755 (SFF).
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=342-3006

The form factor is 3.5". So can it fit without any problem?? My only worry is that Optiplex 755 MT and DT are there in the compatability list in the website but not SFF. I thought all of them use the similar Hard Disk Compatibility.

Please tell me if this purchase of mine can suit to Optiples 755 (SFX)

Thanks,
Yesaswi

 

[wildfire707]

By the looks of it, that computer runs a 3.5" SATA hard drive. You can replace the existing one, but it will not fit two disks in the SFF case. Here is a link to the user's guide for the Optiplex 755 (it covers all form factors, so you have to make sure you are looking at the pages for the SFF model):

ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_desktop/esuprt_optiplex_desktop/optiplex-755_user%27s%20guide_en-us.pdf

That computer is pretty old, so it may have problems with drives that use the newer Advanced Format - that is probably why your model is not in the compatibility list.

The fact that it likely does not support Advanced format limits the drives that can work with the unit. I am aware of only one drive that is a 500GB model that does not use the Advanced Format, the Western Digital Blue WD5000AAKX - you can find it at many sites, including NewEgg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769

Good luck!

 

[Yesaswi]

How can we identify if it is an advanced format or not?
My interest in this is only because of the low price. There are some other hard disks, which they say are compatible with all modelsof optiplex 755. So i think form factor is not the issue. And also the hard disk is just 720rpm. So i feel itcan link to the mother board. My only concern is the website listing..

Also i did not understand the fitting of two disk thing. Can you please elaborate??

Thanks alot for the reply!!!

By the looks of it, that computer runs a 3.5" SATA hard drive. You can replace the existing one, but it will not fit two disks in the SFF case. Here is a link to the user's guide for the Optiplex 755 (it covers all form factors, so you have to make sure you are looking at the pages for the SFF model):

ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_desktop/esuprt_optiplex_desktop/optiplex-755_user%27s%20guide_en-us.pdf

That computer is pretty old, so it may have problems with drives that use the newer Advanced Format - that is probably why your model is not in the compatibility list.

The fact that it likely does not support Advanced format limits the drives that can work with the unit. I am aware of only one drive that is a 500GB model that does not use the Advanced Format, the Western Digital Blue WD5000AAKX - you can find it at many sites, including NewEgg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769

Good luck!

 

[wildfire707]

The SFF case can only have one hard drive in it. The other cases can have up to two drives.

Most new hard drives use Advanced Format now. There is a Wikipedia article on Advanced Format at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Format

Basically, drives have their storage split into pieces called sectors. Because drives keep getting more and more space on them, the original size and method of tracking these sectors became obsolete. The old method can be used on drives that are fairly large (up to 2 TB, I believe), but its efficiency goes down as the drive gets bigger.

I have not seen any current drives that do not use Advanced Format that are larger than 512GB recently. You can load compatibility software to make Windows XP be able to use Advanced Format drives, but it will not support it natively. I assume that the Dell you are talking about has XP on it, and the motherboard itself may or may not be happy with Advanced Format drives (the drives used to come with a jumper on them so that they could pretend to be old style drives - but this is no longer offered any more).

Basically, the Western Digital Blue model WD5000AAKX drive that I mentioned will work in the system, and it is one of the few that can work.

 

[Yesaswi]

So can I buy this??
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Cache-Desktop/dp/B00461G3MS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410882453&sr=8-1&keywords=WD5000AAKX

The SFF case can only have one hard drive in it. The other cases can have up to two drives.

Most new hard drives use Advanced Format now. There is a Wikipedia article on Advanced Format at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Format

Basically, drives have their storage split into pieces called sectors. Because drives keep getting more and more space on them, the original size and method of tracking these sectors became obsolete. The old method can be used on drives that are fairly large (up to 2 TB, I believe), but its efficiency goes down as the drive gets bigger.

I have not seen any current drives that do not use Advanced Format that are larger than 512GB recently. You can load compatibility software to make Windows XP be able to use Advanced Format drives, but it will not support it natively. I assume that the Dell you are talking about has XP on it, and the motherboard itself may or may not be happy with Advanced Format drives (the drives used to come with a jumper on them so that they could pretend to be old style drives - but this is no longer offered any more).

Basically, the Western Digital Blue model WD5000AAKX drive that I mentioned will work in the system, and it is one of the few that can work.

 

[wildfire707]

So can I buy this??
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Cache-Desktop/dp/B00461G3MS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410882453&sr=8-1&keywords=WD5000AAKX

The SFF case can only have one hard drive in it. The other cases can have up to two drives.

Most new hard drives use Advanced Format now. There is a Wikipedia article on Advanced Format at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Format

Basically, drives have their storage split into pieces called sectors. Because drives keep getting more and more space on them, the original size and method of tracking these sectors became obsolete. The old method can be used on drives that are fairly large (up to 2 TB, I believe), but its efficiency goes down as the drive gets bigger.

I have not seen any current drives that do not use Advanced Format that are larger than 512GB recently. You can load compatibility software to make Windows XP be able to use Advanced Format drives, but it will not support it natively. I assume that the Dell you are talking about has XP on it, and the motherboard itself may or may not be happy with Advanced Format drives (the drives used to come with a jumper on them so that they could pretend to be old style drives - but this is no longer offered any more).

Basically, the Western Digital Blue model WD5000AAKX drive that I mentioned will work in the system, and it is one of the few that can work.

Absolutely. It should work fine.