Dell Dimension 2400 2nd hard drive

[Inchoate]

About six months ago I bought a Dell Dimension 2400. Overrall, performance has been fine. But now I find myself wanting to add a second hard drive to set up Linux and an Apache/Php/MySql programming environment (having an AGP slot on the motherboard would have been nice too, I would have loved an All-In-One Radeon card to watch TV). Dell cautions that a second hard drive for the Dimension 2400 may cause too much power strain on the power supply: http://forums.us.dell.com/supportfor...cending&page=6

Has anyone added a second hard drive to a Dimension 2400? Any adverse reactions? After how long?

Thanks for your help.

[EzyStvy]

Welcome to PCMech

It won't kill the machine to pop in the extra drive. I'd run with it for a couple of days and try and tax the system by using the cd rom etc...If windows doesn't error out then try and load the other OS.

[Inchoate]

Originally posted by EzyStvy Welcome to PCMech It won't kill the machine to pop in the extra drive. I'd run with it for a couple of days and try and tax the system by using the cd rom etc...If windows doesn't error out then try and load the other OS.

So, you suggest I install the 2nd hard drive, format it, install the Linux OS, and wait a few days to see if XP Home Edition accepts it. If no errors appear after a few days that go ahead and boot from the Linux OS 2nd drive?

You said "tax the system by using the cd rom etc..." did you mean hard drive?

I suppose I should have mentioned that I have also added an adaptec PCI 3-port firewire card. Would the combination of the PCI card and the 2nd hard drive be too much on the OEM power supply?

Thanks for the help.

[glc]

There's a reason the 2400 is so inexpensive - they did not build any extra capacity into the components. The power supply issue is valid (200 watts), and you are going to have to fabricate a bracket to hold the second drive.

Why don't you just partition your existing drive, or replace it with a huge drive and partition it?

[Inchoate]

I thought the power supply might cause problems. Someone on ebay is offering a second hard drive bracket for $30.00 but if the power supply can't handle it, then there's no point in installing a second hard drive.

I have considered partitioning my existing hard drive of 40GB (I'm only using 15GB) with FIPS. I followed all the instructions and defragmented the hard drive but I have immovable data at the end of the hard drive. If I remember what the FIPS documention said, the immovable data was cache or some other bit of information that was okay to delete. I got cold feet at that point and never partitioned the hard drive out of fear of ruining the hard drive. I'm somewhat reluctant to spend $30.00 on partition magic.

I may just go the route of buying a larger hard drive and partitioning it. Although...I may decide to save myself the cost of a new hard drive and just backup my existing 40GB and then partition it using FIPS.

What would you suggest?

Thanks for the help.

[SamuraiWarrior]

You don't need to remove the extra data it is very small and you won't notice a difference. If you buy a bigger HD here is one at new egg for $72. A good buy and has a 8meg buffer which is a lot faster than the 2meg.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...=BROWSE&depa=0

[glc]

Back up your data before using FIPS - if everything goes well, you are fine, worst case you reinstall anyway. If 40gb is enough for your purposes, no need to buy a new drive.

[Inchoate]

Excellent advise. I think I'll just backup my data and go the FIPS route. If I need more data down the road then I'll buy a new HD and just replace the OEM one instead of having two hard drives. Sometime this week I'll let you know how the partitioning went.

[Tallgeese]

I dont know how your dell will run but i have a dimension 2350, with a 250 psu and i added a dvd rom drive and a 200 gb 7200 hd while keeping the original hd in there. That was about 2 months ago and my dell is running fine.

so technically a 2400 should be able to run it if mine can.

[glc]

Well - the 2400 PSU is only 200 watt, that extra 50 watts might be important.