Adding a 2nd hard drive to Dell 2400....

[Larryboy]

Anybody had success doing this? Bought a Dell 2400 with 80 GB hard drive a month ago. I'm planning on doing video editing and burning my home movies to DVD. I've heard from many people that I should install a 2nd hard drive and only store videos on it during the editing process. Anyway, I bought an additional 80 GB hard drive but when I opened the case to the dell, there is no slot for a 2nd hard drive -- in other words, no bracket to attach the hard drive to. Dell will not sell brackets for the 2400, they claim that the 2400 was not made to handle 2 hard drives. Of course, this was not mentioned when I ordered the PC.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has had success adding a 2nd hard drive to a Dell 2400 and how they attached it. Also, Dell claims the 200W power supply included with the PC is not enough to support a 2nd drive. Has anyone had problems with this? Is there a simple (and relatively cheap) solution to these problems?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

[attgig]

Larryboy? that's my handle when i game!!! :P

yeah, i never realized taht abuot 2400's. I just checked the manuals on dell's site.
http://docs.us.dell.com/docs/systems/dim2400/sm/drives.htm#1106385
and they don't have a section for adding a second hd like they have for other computers.
:(

perhaps just get a huge hard drive (160+) and just partition it. or, get a firewire hard drive (usb's too slow to do video)

[Larryboy]

I guess I could partition my existing 80 GB hard drive as 20/60, and use the 60 GB partition to store videos. Is this easily accomplished with Windows XP? What are the advantages/disadvantages to doing this vs. adding 2nd hard drive (assuming I could find a way to add a 2nd drive)?

[mcs328]

really? You don't have an extra cd-rom bay you can slap it in? I have a 2350 and I slide a second HD into it. Mine doesn't have a AGP slot which I wish I knew beforehand.

[Larryboy]

I have a DVD-Rom and a DVD writer filling up the front slots.

I'd prefer to add a 2nd hard drive, if I can find a way to connect it and be assured my system can handle it.

[Jeffbx]

You might be able to shoehorn it into the floppy bay, if you don't mind removing the floppy drive from your system. Otherwise, your best bet may be an external firewire enclosure.

[mcs328]

Hmmm...remember seeing an add-on "cage" somewhere. Your HD is vertical right? Mine stands up as opposed to lying flat. I'll look around.

External enclosure is probably easiest tho.

[Joshua]

I've wiggled my way around this on a couple of PC's before. Quick and dirty suggestion? Zip Ties!

I know it's not the high tech proper answer most of us want, but you take two plastic zip ties and wrap them through the existing drive cages and around the new drive and VOIALA! - Instant mega cheap drive cage.

[attgig]

if you need a floppy kit, you have to call them and order the rail.

[GilbertsGrape]

hear you go
http://www.issue-resolved.com

http://www.issue-resolved.com/dimension-2350-Bracket.jpg


personaly i would just go to the hardware store and get some thin pieces of metal and dril a couple few screw holes and make my own bracket. or some tin snips and a old cookie tin and u could make some dandy brackets

http://www.rickmktg.com/images/dimension2350bracketCAD.jpg

$1.50 for brackets in hardware store that will do acomplish the same thing with better ventilation

http://www.bitterapples.com/apex/dell.jpg

[Larryboy]

I pulled out the floppy drive and mounted the 2nd hard drive to the bracket the floppy drive was in. Seems to be working fine. Thanks for all the suggestions.