Installing a 3rd hard drive in Dell Dimension 9200 (XPS 410)?

[Lunar21]

Hello,

I want to add a 3rd internal hard drive to my Dell Dimension 9200 (XPS 410) and would appreciate some advice.

I currently have 2 x 160GB serial ATA (7200 Rpm) internal hard drives installed in the 2 hard drive bays and want to install a Seagate 3TB 3.5 inch 7200RPM 64MB Cache SATA3 6GB/s Hard Drive

The 2 Hard Drive bays are both in use, so I need somewhere to install the 3TB Seagate HD. I currently have 2 x DVD drives and a card reader installed but I don’t have a floppy disk drive so there is space in the floppy bay. Would the vacant floppy bay be the most suitable location to install the hard drive?

I am looking to purchase some accessories from amazon.co.uk to install the hard drive. If the floppy bay is a suitable option, what type of housing will I need to purchase to install the hard drive securely in to the floppy bay (please can you provide links)?

I don’t have any Sata cable, could you advise which cable I should purchase to connect the HD to the power supply and motherboard (please provide links).

I have looked on amazon.co.uk but I am a bit confused as the cables all look different.

My current system has the following specifications:

Model: Dell Dimension 9200 (XPS410)
Windows Edition: Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
Motherboard: Dell Inc. 0CT017, Intel P965/G965, 82801HH (ICH8DH)
BIOS: Dell Inc. 2.5.3
Processor: Intel Core QUAD Q6600 SLACR 2.40 GHZ/8M/1066/05A
Internal Hard drive: 320.00GB (2x160gb) serial ATA (7200 Rpm)
OCZ - 700W ModXStream Pro ATX Power Supply Unit.
Memory (Ram): 4.00GB (4 X 1GB PC2-5300 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM 240pin)
Video type: PCI Express
Expansion Bus: PCI x 3, PCI Express one x1, PCI Express one x4, and a PCI Express one x16

Thanks,
Lunar21

 

[lazylizard]

I reckon the floppy bay should be just fine for your new HD.
Aren't they the same width? I can't see a problem.

You just got to make sure the sata cable is long enough to
reach from the HD in it's floppy location to the Sata
connector on MoBo.

What you are looking for is basically a plain Sata cable
(of sufficient length) and a Sata power cable if your
XPS' power supply doesn't have one.

Cheers
Computer Repairs Langwarrin

 

[Kisianik]

You have 6 SATA connectors on motherboard

So no problem in this department
I seen reports about HDD in floppy place, so you good, just measure cable properly.

Anything else I can help you with?

 

[Lunar21]

I have installed the hard drive in the floppy bay and I need to purchase the sata cables but my power supply only accepts 6 pin connectors. It appears that most sata power cables only have 4 pins. Please let me know which sata power cable and any adapters I will need to connect my hard drive to my power supply?

Thanks,
Lunar21

I reckon the floppy bay should be just fine for your new HD.
Aren't they the same width? I can't see a problem.

You just got to make sure the sata cable is long enough to
reach from the HD in it's floppy location to the Sata
connector on MoBo.

What you are looking for is basically a plain Sata cable
(of sufficient length) and a Sata power cable if your
XPS' power supply doesn't have one.

Cheers
Computer Repairs Langwarrin

You have 6 SATA connectors on motherboard

So no problem in this department
I seen reports about HDD in floppy place, so you good, just measure cable properly.

Anything else I can help you with?

 

[lazylizard]

You don't have any free connectors looking like this??????

4 pins is right.

I have no clue which six-pin connector you are looking at but you want a 4-pin adapter connected to a 4-pin Molex pictured above.

If this doesn't make sense to you you might have to post a picture of that
6-pin.

 

[Lunar21]

Here is a picture of my power supply:


As you can see in the picture the PSU only accepts cables with 6 pins and the two sockets on the right are for PCI Express. I don't have any connectors or adapters that would convert a 4 pin into a 6 pin.

Thanks,
Lunar21

You don't have any free connectors looking like this??????

4 pins is right.

I have no clue which six-pin connector you are looking at but you want a 4-pin adapter connected to a 4-pin Molex pictured above.

If this doesn't make sense to you you might have to post a picture of that
6-pin.

 

[Kisianik]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

You have standard ATX PSU, and very good one.

What you are looking at is modular part. You suppose to have OSZ extra cables left, you did not use them all, is this correct?

You suppose cables like those left after you initially installed your PSU:

When you plug all your OSZ cables it will look like this

This picture is even better, I think those are all cables you suppose to have

So, do you still have them, one more time, those missing are OSZ cables, which you did not use from the begining.

Anything else I can help you with?

 

[Lunar21]

The two cables at the bottom of the last picture are the ones that I have spare. They are both identical, will one of these cables connect to the sata hard drive?

Here are some other pics of the cable:






Thanks,
Lunar21

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

You have standard ATX PSU, and very good one.

What you are looking at is modular part. You suppose to have OSZ extra cables left, you did not use them all, is this correct?

You suppose cables like those left after you initially installed your PSU:

When you plug all your OSZ cables it will look like this

This picture is even better, I think those are all cables you suppose to have

So, do you still have them, one more time, those missing are OSZ cables, which you did not use from the begining.

Anything else I can help you with?

 

[Kisianik]

I think I understand now your situation, let me be sure.

Look at this picture, I edited it for easier reference

You have 2 hard drives at the bottom of the case, correct?
1. How many cables going to those hard drives? One or two? (should be cable number 1 only one cable)

2. How your DVDRWs are connected, using which cables? (should be another cable number 1, because you have 2 of them).

Now each cable number 1 has 3 SATA connectors, can you reach your new hard drive using SATA cables which powers DVDRW?

This is your situation, check it up.

 

[Lunar21]

Yes that's correct I have two hard drives at the bottom of the case.

1. Yes, cable number 1 is connected to the two hard drives at the bottom of the case.

2. The 2 DVD drives are also connected with the other cable number 1.

Yes, the sata cable which powers the 2 DVD drives will reach the hard drive and the connector plugs in.

So all I need now is a data cable to connect the hard drive to the motherboard, correct?

Thanks,
Lunar21

I think I understand now your situation, let me be sure.

Look at this picture, I edited it for easier reference

You have 2 hard drives at the bottom of the case, correct?
1. How many cables going to those hard drives? One or two? (should be cable number 1 only one cable)

2. How your DVDRWs are connected, using which cables? (should be another cable number 1, because you have 2 of them).

Now each cable number 1 has 3 SATA connectors, can you reach your new hard drive using SATA cables which powers DVDRW?

This is your situation, check it up.

 

[Kisianik]

Lunar21 said:
So all I need now is a data cable to connect the hard drive to the motherboard, correct?

You are absolutely correct, just get SATA cable.
By the way, how did you buy your 3 TB HDD, OEM (just HDD) or in BOX (box include one usually short SATA cable and instructions)?

Anything else I can help you with?

 

[Lunar21]

Great that's it all sorted then. Thanks for all the help and for your patience.

The HDD is OEM so to complete the installation I will have a look on the Seagate website for the instructions. I have ordered a 18" 6GB/s Sata data cable which should easily be long enough to connect the hard drive to the motherboard.

No further help is required.

Thanks again,
Lunar21

Lunar21 said:
So all I need now is a data cable to connect the hard drive to the motherboard, correct?

You are absolutely correct, just get SATA cable.
By the way, how did you buy your 3 TB HDD, OEM (just HDD) or in BOX (box include one usually short SATA cable and instructions)?

Anything else I can help you with?

 

[Kisianik]

You very welcome.

P.S. To help others, please finalize this thread by picking the most helpful solution from above, this will move this thread into SOLVED category.

 

[lazylizard]

Wow! I was thinking of modular cables to a prime PSU
but we were talking Dell Dimension so I thought that
can't be right.
Well, that sorts your HD issue.

Happy computing!

 

[ggoyins]

Having to contact the PS mfr to get a 6-pin modular to SATA power cable is unfortunate.
It's not uncommon to inherit or reuse a PS and be short some cables.
Is it a tested fact that the 6-pin Molex-style modular power port pin assignments
on the various modular PS boxes are not, in general, the same?

The only reason they need differ is to hamper the inexpensively priced
adapter cable market, there is no electrical reason. That said, besides
paying an extortionate price for a replacement, one can do a couple
things.
a) measure the power supply voltages at the 6-pin port (or read it on the side of the PS)
b) buy a $3-4 SATA power cable and chop off the typical 4-pin molex connector
c) wire up to the 6-pin connector (you can solder or crimp) and you're done with
the power supply part of the equation.