kapot wrote:
Hello,

I hope someone can help me with my situation here :)

I own a Dell Dimension 5150. It has 2 hard drives:

C: 250 GB (Original from Dell)
D: 80 GB (I added it from my old PC)

Both are SATA harddrive, and connected to the 2 SATA controllers in the motherboard.

Now, I want to add another hard drive, a third hard drive.

There is not much space anymore, because the hard disk bay is occupied by those 2 SATA hard disks.

My option is the empty spot underneath the DVD-Drive. So, I will use the IDE (PATA) controller from the same cable with the DVD-Drive.

My questions:

(1) Does this machine support Seagate Barracuda 750 GB IDE/PATA ?

 

Yes.

(2) What kind of Hard Drive "Bay" (Or bracket) should I buy for putting the disk underneath the DVD drive? Can I just screw it without a bay or bracket ?

 

If it's the second 5.25" bay, then you could use the following,

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16856999211

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817999003

 

Note: the D-5150 only supports two IDE drives, more than this, then you will need to install a PCI IDE controller card.

If it's the floppy drive bay, then you will have to find a workaround.

 (3) Am I correct that this machine only have 2 SATA controllers ? Well, we can add a PCI SATA but I dont want to go to this direction because this machine still have option for IDE/PATA.
 

  http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim5150/en/sm/techov1.htm#wp1067881

(4) Is this a good plan? Maybe you have another idea to add a third harddrive.

Btw, I dont want to use USB or Firewire external hard drive because it is slow. There is an option to use external eSATA hard drive, but it will be more expensive compared to the internal IDE/PATA hard drive.

Bev.

 

 

 

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Post the issue in the appropriate Board, where they will be answered.