Adding internal HDD to a PC

georgiac

Hi, thanks fpr all your advice - here is the inside of my ( v.dusty) PC!

debitcardmayhem

looks like adding a new drive is straight forward, it would help if you can tell us what you have you have in terms of o/s and current disks

if you can run msinfo32 and tell us eg

georgiac

Hi DCM, I hope this helps!

debitcardmayhem

Good ,

1) you're running W10 iwth a legacy bios i.e. MBR Dos partiton table not GPT

2) You Have 8 GB of ram

3) You have a free slot/cage and it looks like a spare power lead and sata cable.

So how do you want to go forward, I would get a 1TB sata SSD and do a clean install of Windows 10 on to that to speed up that trusty i5, partition the SSD to say 250GB Windows and 750GB for data. Then you can move your data etc from the old disk and then use that as a more data/backups etc. But you may want to do otherwise so have a think and I am sure that others will come in and give opinions too.

georgiac

debitcardmayhem said:

Good ,

1) you're running W10 iwth a legacy bios i.e. MBR Dos partiton table not GPT

2) You Have 8 GB of ram

3) You have a free slot/cage and it looks like a spare power lead and sata cable.

So how do you want to go forward, I would get a 1TB sata SSD and do a clean install of Windows 10 on to that to speed up that trusty i5, partition the SSD to say 250GB Windows and 750GB for data. Then you can move your data etc from the old disk and then use that as a more data/backups etc. But you may want to do otherwise so have a think and I am sure that others will come in and give opinions too.

Thank you so much - you have made that sound very easy ( I haven't got a clue where to start but I will youtube instructions!)

Please could you point me in the direction of a suitable SSD or are they all the same?

Thanks again

debitcardmayhem

I am just about to cook our dinner , but I have a Crucial 1TB from amazon, and a Samsung too I will dig out links in a while , you just need SATA NOT M2 .

facade

If you look at the drive cage, there is a 2.5" drive at the bottom, which could well be a 500GB ssd.

There isn't a spare power connector, and the mounting hardware is missing for a second 3.5" drive.

The way forward would be

1) unplug the PC!

2) get a paintbrush and your vacuum cleaner, hold the nozzle a few inches away from the dust and gently brush the dust off so it is sucked up. DON'T let the vacuum spin the fans at crazy speeds, use the brush to keep the fan still.

3) Check you haven't disturbed any wires, plug in and ensure it works.

4) Do the MSINFO32 thing again, this time goto storage > Disks   and it will tell you what the disks actually are

I'm betting one will be an SSD.

4) power off, unplug again, and disconnect the flat RED lead, next to the plug with P3 (the power plug) on it. There may be a tiny latch on the bottom of the plug to release.

5) Power on and see if it boots up etc, I think it will and the top drive is the D:Drive, you won't be able to see the D  : drive any more in windows.

6)  Power off, and reconnect the lead.

Then decide how much extra storage you need.

You can add another SSD to what you have already, or replace the 500GB HDD with a 2TB, 4TB etc HDD and copy the files across.

georgiac

Hi, thanks for the response. I'd prefer to add another ssd if pos, but can I install a third hard drive without a power connector? Thanks

facade

The st500dm002-1bd142 is a seagate barracuda 500gb 3.5", and is the top drive with the red cable.

There is another disc with the blue cable that may be an SSD, scroll down a bit more!  The Sony is something plugged into the USB ports.

There is space under the DVD drive to add another drive, and a power connector for it spare.

You can add an SSD, and double sided tape it to the drive casing, or there might be room to add a 3.5" HDD in a 5.5" to 3.5" converter tray, I'm not sure if something is blocking part of the lower bay, and it isn't deep enough for a 3.5" drive.

Anyway, to add a drive.

You need the drive, a SATA type. 500GB SSD is about £50, a 1TB is about £100, you'll get a 2TB 3.5" HDD for about £50.

A sata data cable

For a HDD, a 3.5" to 5.25" mounting plate/converter. These are ridiculously expensive for what they are- just something to make the drive wider so you can screw it down

The screws, 4 for the drive and 4 for the converter, they may come with the plate.  3.5" drives use UNC threads #6-32 (a number 6, 32 tpi) you will only get them for computers, metric will not fit.

Fit the hard drive- this video shows the idea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_idq89b6pA

If it is an SSD, just stick it down after the cables are connected, it doesn't matter if it sticks out slightly.

Connect the spare power cable to the drive, and the sata cable from the drive to the spare connector on the motherboard, next to the orange cable. The connector is L shaped inside, so you can't fit it incorrectly

Power it all on, and you won't see the drive, so type disk management into the search box and run disk management-called create & format disk partitions (they cant spell disc properly) as an administrator

It will be obvious which is the new disc, the others all have names & information.

Right click in the blank part of the disc information, and select "new simple volume" then just agree with everything. It might say something like "The disk is not initialised" click "initialise disk" and agree with the suggestions.

You could add a drive to the lower bay, but the mountings are missing, and will cost ££££££££££££ as spares from Dell, and there is no power connector that will reach. eBay sell sata power extenders, or splitters to get a power connector there, but these often set the computer on fire (I really don't know why, it should be trivial to make a reliable connector)

georgiac

Hi, thank you so much for such incredibly detailed and helpful advice. I think I'll go down the Blue Peter approach and get a ssd with double sided sticky tape!

I seem to have several sony usb things attached but no idea what they are. Possibly a card reader or similar.

I'm a bit wary of DIY but I am determined to give it a go after you have taken so much time out of your day to be super helpful.

Many thanks once again.