Dell Optiplex disk size limit
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According to the Dell Optiplex 745 technical specification, SATA-II drives of up to 250GB are supported. I have a couple of these systems with one such drive in, and now want to put in a second drive. Is the size limit a BIOS limitation, or just marketing fluff? Has anyone successfully added a larger disk to one of these? (And I'm still smarting from the 'feature' of Symantec AV Corp Edition which stopped these puppies from booting, even in safe mode, until I applied a registry patch. Talk about 'fitness for purpose', although I suppose Symantec's legal weasels would argue that you cannot become infected by a computer virus if the computer won't boot, so it provides the protection they're claiming...)
Steve S Developer for hire
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According to the Dell Optiplex 745 technical specification, SATA-II drives of up to 250GB are supported. I have a couple of these systems with one such drive in, and now want to put in a second drive. Is the size limit a BIOS limitation, or just marketing fluff? Has anyone successfully added a larger disk to one of these? (And I'm still smarting from the 'feature' of Symantec AV Corp Edition which stopped these puppies from booting, even in safe mode, until I applied a registry patch. Talk about 'fitness for purpose', although I suppose Symantec's legal weasels would argue that you cannot become infected by a computer virus if the computer won't boot, so it provides the protection they're claiming...)
Steve S Developer for hire
I think that's a per physical disk limit but you can have as many at/under that size as you want (at least that's what I thought). But it's Dell. Have you asked on the Dell Community site? I ask that not meaning to push you off or be a smart @$$ I'm really just wondering if you have and what kind of response you got. http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums[^]
My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered process, husband to a murdered thread. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next. - Gladiator I work to live. I do not live to work. My clients do not seem capable of grasping this fact.
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I think that's a per physical disk limit but you can have as many at/under that size as you want (at least that's what I thought). But it's Dell. Have you asked on the Dell Community site? I ask that not meaning to push you off or be a smart @$$ I'm really just wondering if you have and what kind of response you got. http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums[^]
My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered process, husband to a murdered thread. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next. - Gladiator I work to live. I do not live to work. My clients do not seem capable of grasping this fact.
I have two free SATA connectors internally, (since there are four, one in use for HDD and another for DVD), and I am assured by Dell that I can connect in another hard drive. I looked on the community site first (of course!), and it kind of implied that there used to be a BIOS cap, but that this doesn't apply to SATA drives, so it doesn't really answer the question. Dell have a vested interest in this, since they want to sell me their drives, and point me at the literature which says up to 250GB per drive, so I don't expect a thorough answer. Empirically, I could determine it, but I'm not buying a bigger drive just so I can try it, since I'd then lose on reselling the drive if it didn't work. I wondered, therefore, whether anyone frequenting these forums had done this already.
Steve S Developer for hire
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I have two free SATA connectors internally, (since there are four, one in use for HDD and another for DVD), and I am assured by Dell that I can connect in another hard drive. I looked on the community site first (of course!), and it kind of implied that there used to be a BIOS cap, but that this doesn't apply to SATA drives, so it doesn't really answer the question. Dell have a vested interest in this, since they want to sell me their drives, and point me at the literature which says up to 250GB per drive, so I don't expect a thorough answer. Empirically, I could determine it, but I'm not buying a bigger drive just so I can try it, since I'd then lose on reselling the drive if it didn't work. I wondered, therefore, whether anyone frequenting these forums had done this already.
Steve S Developer for hire
Well the short answer is no. I have not done this. I've stacked in two SATA drives at 320 gigs and 160 gigs and not had any trouble. That put me at 480 gigs total but I'm not even sure if there was a cap on that particular system. You are right to not trust Dell in that regard. I just recently learned (and almost regretted) that if you buy one of their servers don't plan on much freedom for IRQ's and adding devices you just won't have the option. All I wanted was dual video cards and getting them to work proved to be an exercise in patience and practice. I think I shot 40 hours right out my behind getting them to work (and I did get them to work, even though Dell said it wouldn't). So I at least cannot give you a definite answer but hopefully others can. I'd be willing to bet a silver dollar you should be able to drop one in and not have any trouble. But certainly don't try that because my remarks inspired you to do so. You'd have take that decision under your own advice... if you do go that route keep a bottle of Advil close by and you should be okay. "Numb the pain and the brain will follow.":-D Call me sadistically curious but reply back here if you take the plunge and let me know your results.
My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered process, husband to a murdered thread. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next. - Gladiator I work to live. I do not live to work. My clients do not seem capable of grasping this fact.
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Well the short answer is no. I have not done this. I've stacked in two SATA drives at 320 gigs and 160 gigs and not had any trouble. That put me at 480 gigs total but I'm not even sure if there was a cap on that particular system. You are right to not trust Dell in that regard. I just recently learned (and almost regretted) that if you buy one of their servers don't plan on much freedom for IRQ's and adding devices you just won't have the option. All I wanted was dual video cards and getting them to work proved to be an exercise in patience and practice. I think I shot 40 hours right out my behind getting them to work (and I did get them to work, even though Dell said it wouldn't). So I at least cannot give you a definite answer but hopefully others can. I'd be willing to bet a silver dollar you should be able to drop one in and not have any trouble. But certainly don't try that because my remarks inspired you to do so. You'd have take that decision under your own advice... if you do go that route keep a bottle of Advil close by and you should be okay. "Numb the pain and the brain will follow.":-D Call me sadistically curious but reply back here if you take the plunge and let me know your results.
My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered process, husband to a murdered thread. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next. - Gladiator I work to live. I do not live to work. My clients do not seem capable of grasping this fact.
The Optiplex GX620 isn't "protected" against adding a larger drive, as I've seen a 750GB drive and a second 160GB added into one, although of course, there were additional cables required, since the chassis only has power cables supplied to the first and second drives, so an extra power cable and 2 data cables were needed. Now if only they'd let me borrow the 750GB drive :) ...
Steve S Developer for hire