Re: Upgrade harddrive suggestions for Optiplex GX270



added to previous post: Er, I should perhaps have added "plus any constraints
imposed by the system BIOS " as BIOS's reflect the limits of the then current
technology as much as do operating systems.

"spamlet" <spam.morespam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Hp6Qj.70048$Ff4.69666@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi all,

I've been browsing all afternoon trying to find out if I can fit a new,
bigger hard drive in tandem inside the box of our lay flat type GX270.
Dell's US site comes up with an option for a bigger drive, but I can't see
if the US included these lay flat type desktops we have in the UK. UK Dell
site just comes up with peripherals for our model.

Wiki seems to indicate there may only be connections for one drive in these
models.

As our existing drive is only 40gig and has a mere 2gig left, I would
ideally like to just put in a say 500gig drive beside the existing one and
move all the personal files over, without having to interfere with the OS or
any formatting.

Can this be done on our model?
If so, what should I be buying/what is likely to be compatible.

Much appreciate any light readers can throw on this for me!

Cheers,

S

It looks like you've got the small form factor SFF or what used to be called
a "pizza box". You can't fit two hard drives internally, in fact according
to the spec sheet only the mini tower has two internal HD bays.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/opgx270/en/ug/specs.htm

Assuming your HD is connected via the 7 pin serial ATA connector -

as shown on here -

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=serial+ATA+cable&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2

rather than an EIDE ribbon

http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=EIDE+ribbon&btnG=Search+Images


Your problem there is that with only a single serial ATA connector on the SFF
Motherboard it won't be possible to simply swap the contents of the HD onto
another larger SATA disk using a disk imaging program as would be the usual
suggestion. In which case you could either temporarily install a card with
a second SATA connector or swap the contents onto an EIDE drive connected
to one of the two EIDE slots on the motherboard. There may however be
performance issues of EIDE as against SATA.


If your present HD is EIDE ( the wide ribbons) -

then all you need do is disconnect whatever is presently hooked up to
the 2nd EIDE connector, presumably an optical drive CD DVD etc, hook up
the new drive onto that having first remembered to set the jumper if
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
necessary and copy the contents old drive onto the new drive using a disk
imaging progamme. Most people have their own favourites - mine
happens to be Ghost 2003.

You will need to do this with the lid removed and the new drive sitting temporarily
on top of the chassis. Or on the desk depending on the length of the ribbon. As with
pizza boxes there's no real alternative. Then with the copy made and the jumper reset
if necessary the new drive can be swapped for the old drive which might then be
kept in a drawer and used for backing up your most important files. Using a similar
sort of procedure as above.

None of this is cutting edge or particularly difficult.

I stand to be corrected but any make of standard 3 1/2 hard disk can be used
in any PC. The only constraints are the capacity of the disk in relation to the
Operating system - earlier systems won't recognise large capacity disks, and the
connectors which need to match those on the motherboard. Or any card which may
be fitted.

Er, I should perhaps have added "plus any constraints imposed by the system
BIOS " as BIOS's reflect the limits of the then current technology as much
as do operating systems.

The first thing to establish probably is whether the present disk is EIDE -
(wide ribbon)or SATA.



michael adams

....






.

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