[SOLVED] how to add drives to new machine?

[luckydriver]

ive built towers before a long time ago so i know what i'm doing. but how in the world do you add a 2.5 and 3.5 drive to this machine?

https://flic.kr/p/2jsAYxi

View: https://flic.kr/p/2jsAYxi


hp TP01-0014 and specs say

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c06432435

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c06440145
1 PCIe x16; 1 PCIe x1; 2 M.2

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-pav...-drive-natural-silver/6366129.p?skuId=6366129

• Number Of Internal 2.5" Bays
  1
• Number Of Internal 3.5" Bays
  2
• Number of M.2 Slots

2

so i assumed i could toss in my friends old 2.5 so as not to waste it, and then i wanted to add a 3.5 in much larger drive for her backup drive. i dont want to buy an external and add clutter to her desktop. the preinstalled SSD is m2 so i was thinking like old school towers there would be room for 3 drives. based on the above specs. also found it in an independent review that it had the expansion slots mentioned above with 2 of the 3.5 bays.. what am i missing? alternatively if 2 of the 2.5s can fit in that space id be ok with that. the machine has a few spare sata but only one power cable so i need a splitter there for sure.

also under the open 'bay ' on top is the CD drive for the record. i havent figure out how to remove this cage yet though. i assume i can

 

[Zerk2012]

It looks like the screw holes are on the side of that bracket for a 3.5 drive, you can buy a adapter for that to mount 2 x 2.5 SSD's their or use the 3.5 drive and the SSD can really just hang out in the bottom of you don't really move the case.

 

[luckydriver]

oh cool. i'm so out of the loop. didnt know you can squeeze 2 2.5 into the 3.5 bay

what is your opinion of this kit? i may not need all the parts but id rather have extra. def seems to have any parts i may need and the price is good. would this kit just drop in the open space on top of my bracket in my pic. seems to be but i never wanna assume

thanks

https://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Inte...d=1596459674&sprefix=2+2.5+to+,aps,161&sr=8-4

 

[geofelt]

How much space is actually needed?
Keep it simple and good.
A 1tb ssd is not all that expensive these days.
You can buy a 1tb samsung QVO 2.5" ssd for $110.
The best use for hard drives is for EXTERNAL backup.
After a while, one tends to accumulate a ton of spare parts.
In your case, that kit would be fine and allow you to install a 2.5" ssd in the top bay.

If your 2.5" drives are hard drives, I would not use them since they are laptop drives and are slow.

 

[luckydriver]

currently my friend has the hybrid seagate 2tb in her laptop and i actually have that same drive as my data drive in my laptop now. i dont like it. def didnt speed up her bootup on that small partition like it was supposed to but it was just 60 bucks. i told her its just good cheap storage and now i want to reuse in her new computer solely as her data for documents and other things. currently she has 1.6 out of 2tb used on the old laptop. (old laptop i cannot troubleshoot what is wrong with it so she said just buy new. not worth getting into here as the new machine has been purchased)

so the 256 SSD preinstalled in the new machine is def good enough for office and internet browsers booting fast. thats all she does . email is her life as she is blind. so wont ever be gaming etc. just some basic surfing on the web.

but i def wanna use her 2tb hybrid at least temporarily to get her up and running as she has no money to buy 2 tb SSD which she would need to match her current 2 tb . also the hybrid will be ez to replace if needed. however you told me something i was not aware of. i hd no idea laptop drives are slower than the HDD in desktops. the reason i was going to get a 4 tb HDD internally was to unclutter her small place she has for her PC and get rid of the old MYclound 2 TB ethernet connected i was using for her backup currently. so her 256 SSD plus her 2 tb hybrid would def be able to be backed up on the new 4TB internal. (i always like to leave headroom for expansion/multiple backups etc)

i had assumed tossing in an HDD internally would be best/fastest for a backup. but if you are saying external to the USB is just as fast or faster that is very interesting. regardless i need the cage to at least temporarily mount the 2.5 in the current cage but i really did want to buy the backup drive from amazon at the same time

so now i'm in quandry between internal vs external 4TB. i wanted to future proof her needs. i guess ill research the speeds and present her the options. but since they are all the same price buying an external saves me the work of mounting it lol

 

[geofelt]

If you value data, you need EXTERNAL backup.
What would be lost if the pc caught fire?
What would happen if she contracted ransomware.
What would happen if she deleted the wrong thing?
You get the idea.

A HDD connected via usb is a decent way to get some protection.
Back up as required, then disconnect the device.

The only negative to a ssd is price per gb.
For active data, there is no substitute.
The samsung 860 QVO mentioned above comes in2 and 4tb versions(at a price)
A HDD is good for backup which is done sequentially. Laptop HDD devices may be 7200 rpm, but are more commonly 5400 rpm which conserves battery power.
Either will be ok for backup purposes.

 

[luckydriver]

she would never unplug the external as she needs it backed up every nite to be sure her docs stay safe. also she just wont remember to do it lol. my ideal backup would be setup one that has a 2 week lookback of documents as this recently was necessary and she didnt have it. something had happened to her one file and she needed it as of a date beyond the backup but i only had it setup for a week. rare thing to happen but it has. so now we are paranoid

if the security of an internal drive is the same as an always connected external, then its just a tossup which i get. large SSD will never be in her budget. that wont happen. but one benefit i do see to external is if we do need a new machine it will be easier to restore from the external vs taking out the old drive.

she does have norton so hopefully would protect her. she needs a setup and forget it setup, nothing that needs maintenance and she works on documents all hours of the day and middle of the nite. she def wont remember to plug and unplug something every time she changes a document.

i teamviewer her when needed for minor tweaks.

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regarding my own personal backup i have a NAS with raid, but i'm relying on norton and cyberreason to stop any ransomeware here. i certainly dont ever disconnect my NAS . now you got me wondering, how do people back up with NAS and not get malware/virus etc? cannot imagine people unhook these things. and i do daily differential backups of 2 things and then on weekends a single huge one of my movies

 

[geofelt]

If you will not disconnect the backup, then it is still exposed to ransomware and other perils.

Perhaps some sort of automated cloud service backup might be appropriate.

My backup needs are modest and occasional.
Your question on backup deserves it's own post and thread.
There are some moderators on this forum who will be able to give you better advice than me.

 

[USAFRet]

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regarding my own personal backup i have a NAS with raid, but i'm relying on norton and cyberreason to stop any ransomeware here. i certainly dont ever disconnect my NAS . now you got me wondering, how do people back up with NAS and not get malware/virus etc? cannot imagine people unhook these things. and i do daily differential backups of 2 things and then on weekends a single huge one of my movies

Space on a NAS that is directly addressable from the PC is also subject to whatever happens on the PC.
My NAS space has a whole separate space that is ONLY accessible from the NAS OS, not the PCs.
PC's back up to the NAS, NAS backs up to that other space.

Some changes made since this was written, but:

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

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