adding an extra hard drive

tonytooth

Hi folks.
I need to add another hard drive to my dell dimension 2400.
There's no slot beside the existing one,
so is it straightforward putting one into the free 5 1/4 inch slot with mounting brackets?
anything else i need to consider?
cheers
tony

everythingblogcast

First thing is that you need the ATA* type as your computer just has that connector.
I would try to get you getting a Seagate because of the 5 year warrenty on it, and get an external one, as when you get a new computer you can plug the USB into the new one.

EDIT:* http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1610

tonytooth

cheers.
i'd rather get an internal one if i could.
have a small external one i use to back up files
thanks
tony

everythingblogcast

Update, got what you have to do, just incase http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim2400/en/sm_en/drives.htm#1106871

Antexter

buy a laptop harddrive and a laptop harddrive encloseure makes a good external harddrive.

williamrobb88

Hi

I'm an ex computer engineer, and in my time I have seen a million different ways of mounting an internal drive inside a computer, from glue, selotape to solder, and even rope. If you can't find room next to the other one, although it is not ideal, you can fix the other hard drive in with Silicone or a hot glue gun. OK, it's not ideal, but if you're on a tight budget, this will be fine.

I await the replies to my answer telling me that this answer is primitive and shoddy, but at the end of the day this will suffice and keep your costs down.

everythingblogcast

williamrobb88 wrote: »

Hi

I'm an ex computer engineer, and in my time I have seen a million different ways of mounting an internal drive inside a computer, from glue, selotape to solder, and even rope. If you can't find room next to the other one, although it is not ideal, you can fix the other hard drive in with Silicone or a hot glue gun. OK, it's not ideal, but if you're on a tight budget, this will be fine.

I await the replies to my answer telling me that this answer is primitive and shoddy, but at the end of the day this will suffice and keep your costs down.

It is a good item since silicone and hotglue does not allow a current to pass.

MarkyMarkD

I have exactly the same PC and I have two hard drives.

A person on eBay sells second hard drive holders which mount inside the case. They are properly made and exactly for this model. They are good value too! (Between £10 and £11 including delivery from the US!)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Hard-Drive-Bracket-4-DELL-Dimension-2350-2400-3000-1100_W0QQitemZ130146546875QQihZ003QQcategoryZ51064QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

External hard drives are more expensive and a far less elegant solution IMHO.

Poppycat

We added a old 80gb hard drive to a Dimension 2400 mounted it with brackets into a spare 5 1/4 drive bay. We used the spare cable to the cdrom as the hd only had a master not slave. It booted fine at first yeah I no it will run slower due to it using cdrom but after a day of daughter using pc it wouldn't boot up until I disconnected the spare hd