Replacing Dell Optiplex 790 SFF DVD drive with HDD

[nws194]

I recently acquired a Dell Optiplex 790 and have been in the process of making some upgrades.

I replaced the original HDD with an SSD without difficulty. However, I don't have any use for the DVD drive and would like to replace it with a large HDD for storage purposes.

The thing is, this is not a standard slim DVD drive and so could not be replaced by a simple 12.7 mm ODD caddy. I believe that I need a larger adapter, namely the F728T. I just wanted to ask here if anyone has experience replacing the DVD drive with an HDD... I want to be sure that a standard 3.5" HDD will fit this adapter/slot. Here is the adapter: http://txcesssurplus.com/dell-f728t-hdd-optical-drive-cage-optiplex-780-790-990-7010-usff/

And here are some pictures of the computer with the DVD unit removed (HDD next to the DVD drive for comparison's sake): http://imgur.com/a/nlMcc

It's very strange proprietary Dell construction, but then I suppose they never intended for these enterprise machines to be expanded in this way. I just want to see if anyone can confirm that I'm doing this correctly... Thanks for your help!

 

[nws194]

I will answer my own question and say that I don't think this will fit. Just comparing the width of my DVD unit with that of the f728t (which is supposed to accommodate a 12.7 mm ODD if desired), I can see that the adapter is too wide. It is intended for the USFF version of the 790, and holds both a 12.7mm and a 2.5mm hard drive. (you can see this better here: http://i.imgur.com/NUr2LMF.png )

Anyway, it appears that I may have no options for an adapter for this particular configuration, which is too bad. If anyone knows of a way to set this up, please let me know!

 

[hang-the-9]

Get a 2.5" laptop drive for the system. It has mounting holes on the bottom. Drill a few holes in the mounting cage for the optical drive to line up those holes, attach drive.