Adding hard drive to Optiplex 5060

T

TuckNTruck

Pulling my weight
Aug 16, 2022
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My BI pc is a SFF Dell Optiplex 5060. It has a 512GB SSD and nothing else for storage. Currently everything saves to the SSD and then files are transferred to a USB attached external hard drive. I don't record continuously, but I want to start so I need to add a hard drive. Looks to me like I can add a 3.5" HDD (does it just click into the blue tray?) or do I need to open up some more space for it by removing the CD drive which I never use? If that's the case do I just not use a tray at all or is there a different tray I need to buy? There are two cables available at the bottom of the tray and it looks like they plug directly into a new HD?

I've seen recommendations for the WD Purple drives. Is there a max storage size these machines can handle (4TB, 8TB, etc)?

Picture of my PC's internals attached.

IMG_4816.jpg
 
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So that blue cage is the HDD mount. You see the center part next to CPU fan. You pull that inward while lifting up and that cage comes out. Then you mount the HDD into the blue cage by setting the HDD into the other pins and then make sure the side with arrow seats. Then you slide the cage back into the computer starting with the side without the arrow facing the front. set it into the computer and should click into place. Then attach the cables for the HDD, if you don't have any then you can use the cable that are in place for the CD seeing you said you don't use it.

Not sure the size it supports but I am sure 4 or 8tb would be fine. Edit: I had gb meant TB lol.. So changed it.

Personally Purple is great, I do have a few computers that I use WD Black in.. Some people use RED.. I would use Purple for Blue Iris.
 
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Before you buy another drive, be sure to examine the motherboard of your system and verify you have another SATA port available to plug in the additional drive. Many manufacturers have models with just the minimum amount of ports available, which can limit your expansion options
 
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I found a manual for the OptiPlex 5060 () and in the storage section it lists the SSD, 3.5” and 2.5” options and the 3.5” says “SATA 3.0 up to 6 Gbps” and capacity is “up to 2 TB, up to 7200 RPM”.

But when googling it, I’ve found forums where people say this, “2tb is the limit of MBR for partition sizes, not the whole disk. That limit may only apply to the size of the drive it's able to boot from. For larger data disks, you should use the GPT partition table.”

So now I have no idea what to buy, but to be worth doing I think I’d like a HDD that’s at least 8 TB. Anyone have experience with this?
 
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There wouldn't be a spare hard drive tray in these OEM machines if the motherboard couldn't support it. Plus, there is a power and SATA cable directly below the HD cage which is clearly intended to be used to connect a drive mounted in that cage.

Long story short, there is no problem adding a drive to that cage. As Revo stated, the cage should be removable from the chassis, and then you simply bend it slightly to allow the 4 pins in the cage to fall into the screw holes on the hard drive itself. It's a "toolless" design that doesn't actually use screws or other fasteners to hold the hard drive in place.
 
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The Automation Guy said:
There wouldn't be a spare hard drive tray in these OEM machines if the motherboard couldn't support it. Plus, there is a power and SATA cable directly below the HD cage which is clearly intended to be used to connect a drive mounted in that cage.

Long story short, there is no problem adding a drive to that cage. As Revo stated, the cage should be removable from the chassis, and then you simply bend it slightly to allow the 4 pins in the cage to fall into the screw holes on the hard drive itself. It's a "toolless" design that doesn't actually use screws or other fasteners to hold the hard drive in place.
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Yep, that’s kinda what I’ve figured out from watching a few YouTube videos. Thanks for confirming.

Any idea of the capacity limitations for this drive? The manual says 2 TB, but other forums say that’s not necessarily true, but I haven’t found anyone who has said they’ve been successful or unsuccessful with higher capacity drives.
 
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Well, there was an open box 4 TB WD Purple at Best Buy for $50, so I figured I'd at least try that for now. It snapped right into the tray, plugged in the two connectors, turned on the PC, disk management saw the new drive and I had it set up in a minute or two. Entire process took 5 minutes, no problems at all.

Now to get continuous recording set up. I guess I'll see how many days worth of storage the 4 TB will handle and maybe try an 8 TB or bigger drive later on if the 4 isn't enough.
 
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