Renzatic on 13/6/2009 at 21:29
Yeah, SATA2 is there for a second drive. You're covered there. The only problem is finding a place to fit the second drive in your case.
You could try and take the drive and slide it up into one of those higher bays to see if it'll fit. I doubt it'll snap into place, but it could be snug enough in there to consider it secure. It's a little janky, but still better than my previous suggestion of leaving it hanging free.
Really, what you need to do is ask yourself why you're so intent on adding a secondary internal drive. If it's just for backup, I'd suggest keeping everything as is. No reason to break out the screwdrivers when you've already got a perfectly good solution right in front of you ready to go.
uncadonego on 13/6/2009 at 23:49
My comp only a 200gig HD, and I bought myself the same drive I was going to send Melan before I realized how expensive it is, so I am already using the one for external backup. My 200gig drive on my comp only has 35gig left of free space, so I thought I'd use the one I didn't send Melan internally. The empty slot just above the drive will accomodate the drive, it's just that the springy green plastic tabs aren't in the same place. I could stick it in there and just use cut to size wedges of vinyl eraser so it won't slide around, I suppose.
Renzatic on 14/6/2009 at 04:54
I suggest you keep it external then. Move all your media files over to it, and keep all your games and programs on the 200 gig. I'm guessing you might be concerned about file access speeds over USB 2.0, which is probably the underlying reason you've started this thread to begin with. But for movies and music, you won't notice a bit of difference between it and going internal SATA.
Alternately, you could try something like (
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817998041&Tpk=Syba%203.5%22%20SATA%20II%20Hard%20Drive%20Mobile%20Rack) This. Provided you've got space for another optical drive at the top of your case, of course.
uncadonego on 14/6/2009 at 13:18
Yeah but it takes real estate on my desk, plus it needs to be plugged in separately to a 120 source and then plugged into a USB slot and then the switch needs to be turned on. Then all of that in reverse when you're done. I just thought it would be neater and out of sight plus easier to use internally.
Ostriig on 17/6/2009 at 22:26
Have a look at that green plastic thing and see if there's any way to safely remove it so as to allow to put it back on if that doesn't help. I haven't seen
that system before, but it is becoming more and more common to see case manufacturers using easy slotting systems, but they're usually removable. God knows why aligning two holes and using a screw is considered complicated nowadays.
Anyway, if you can safely remove that plastic side, see if the case rack has any standard screw holes that may be hidden by it. Also, I think I see a screw above the optical unit in the picture, indicating that you have two of them. Again, I don't know how the green stuff works, but, on a standard case, if you can spare an optic drive bay you can install an HDD in there with an adapter (like (
http://www.bixnet.com/35to525drivm.html) this, for example).
uncadonego on 25/6/2009 at 16:37
Well, I took the external apart, and it fits OK. The clip holds the screw in place, only an inch or more out of place. It's OK though. Even though the new HD is sticking out in front of the tower about an inch, the design of the front face of the computer has a lot of empty space to accomodate it. I still have four screws in it, two on each side. The aren't super tight. They sort of slide on a track, and the one screw gets stopped by the green clip.
Weird thing though. Even though I took the drive out of its box with the little power and USB circuit, et al inside, my comp still calls it TREKSTOR instead of WESTERN DIGITAL. Do you think maybe it's because I plug the other external into my USB, so my registry remembers it as TREKSTOR? Not that it matters, just curious. My Device Manager sees it as a Western Digital though.
EDIT: Oh yeah, I forgot. You know what was weird? I bought a SATA cord kit and had to take it back. The serial data cord was OK, but the SATA power cord (4 prong to SATA) was useless. The four prong end was (accidentally?) manufactured with a FEMALE plug!! Bizarre. So I went to a different place.
Al_B on 25/6/2009 at 20:11
Are you sure that TREKSTORE is not just the volume label of the drive? Right click on it in explorer and select properties. You should be able to give it the name of your choosing there.
uncadonego on 26/6/2009 at 03:46
Yes it was just the volume label. It dawned on me when I ran convert.exe to change the drive from FAT32 to NTFS and I had to type the volume name in the command prompt window. D'Oh!
uncadonego on 27/6/2009 at 10:29
Hey, has anyone else ever run into a manufacturing mistake like that? That's the first time I've ever seen anything like that. The company that boxed the SATA power cord with a FEMALE four prong end was Nexxtech. Anybody seen funky mistakes like that?
