New Dell Optiplex 9020 with i7 haswell is Small Form Facotr case. is that bad?

[nowandthen]

I bought a refurbished Dell off eBay, supposedly with Dell 3 year support. When I opened the box I discovered it was the small form factor case. I haven't re-read the eBay ad yet. I wanted to ask a few questions here first before checking to see if the seller will even consider taking it back or exchanging for a mini tower.

This unit has the thinner hard drive, and it is only 500GB. My intention was to swap the hard drive out or add my 2TB drive from my dying Hikvision NVR. Obviously I can't so that as a standard hard drive will not fit in this computer.

If I instead use external drive/drives, will it/they perform as well as an internal drive with regard to data transfer speed? I currently have 4 3MP HIkvison cameras and 1 4MP camera. I may possibly add 1-3 more. I've read where the mechanics of the drive are the bottle neck, not eSATA or USB2.0 or USB 3.0.

If no difference for surveillance purposes, then I'll keep this computer. I can see an advantage to external drives as they can be hidden/secured away from the computer.

I will be using Blue Iris.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. I use motion recording.

 

[fenderman]

I bought a refurbished Dell off eBay, supposedly with Dell 3 year support. When I opened the box I discovered it was the small form factor case. I haven't re-read the eBay ad yet. I wanted to ask a few questions here first before checking to see if the seller will even consider taking it back or exchanging for a mini tower.

This unit has the thinner hard drive, and it is only 500GB. My intention was to swap the hard drive out or add my 2TB drive from my dying Hikvision NVR. Obviously I can't so that as a standard hard drive will not fit in this computer.

If I instead use external drive/drives, will it/they perform as well as an internal drive with regard to data transfer speed? I currently have 4 3MP HIkvison cameras and 1 4MP camera. I may possibly add 1-3 more. I've read where the mechanics of the drive are the bottle neck, not eSATA or USB2.0 or USB 3.0.

If no difference for surveillance purposes, then I'll keep this computer. I can see an advantage to external drives as they can be hidden/secured away from the computer.

I will be using Blue Iris.

Thanks in advance.

I would not use external drives to save recorded video data. Some users do, but if you are starting fresh, use internal drives. If you intend to record to nas on your network then it doesnt matter.

 

[gwminor48]

Does this have several sata ports? 4 maybe? If so you can probably figure out a way to mount that 2TB drive in that case. I haven't seen the inside of the small form factor so I don't know for sure.

 

[Zorac]

could use an external sata case? something like this:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/ORICO-3519SUS3-Full-Aluminum-Tools-Free-3-5-inch-SATA-to-USB3-0-e-SATA-eSATA/32271067121.html?ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_1,searchweb201644_3_505_506_503_504_301_502_10001_10002_10016_10017_10010_10005_10011_10006_10003_10004_10009_10008,searchweb201560_8,searchweb1451318400_-1,searchweb1451318411_6451&btsid=f98c4b79-8687-42dd-8ac8-3c1c51b09e37

more complicated than having it in the computer, but if you cant return it, its an option and still lets you run all sata

 

[nowandthen]

Thanks all. It does not have an esata port. The interior is pretty full. Not enough room for much of anything. I will see if seller will take it back in exchange for mini tower or even full tower, or I'll dump it on eBay myself. Will likely loose because I'm not sure the warranty is transferable. Will research that.

 

[fenderman]

Thanks all. It does not have an esata port. The interior is pretty full. Not enough room for much of anything. I will see if seller will take it back in exchange for mini tower or even full tower, or I'll dump it on eBay myself. Will likely loose because I'm not sure the warranty is transferable. Will research that.

Warranty is transferable.

 

[Ion Barker]

I just walked down this road last week. I picked up a i7, small form factor case. 500GB HD and DVD drive.

I added a 250Gb Samsung SSD and 3TB WD purple drive (removed the stock 500 GB HDD)

There are THREE SATA data ports

There is only ONE SATA power output. I had to get a splitter for the HDD and SDD. The DVD has its own slimline power cable on the motherboard.

I don't have any "after" photos but here is the inside before mods. The system boots off the SSD and it up and running in 6 seconds after the splash screen. (Win10 pro)

Don't fear the SFF unless you plan on adding multiple 3.5" full size HDD's

After adding the SSD, HDD and DVD... my kill-a-watt meter was showing 26 watts with Blue Iris open and a 19% CPU load.

 

[nowandthen]

I contacted the seller on eBay, not expecting any relief. Surprisingly, I received a reply from the seller within minutes. I would get 100% refund! Of course I have to pay return shipping but that was expected. Outstanding! I'm not a regular ebay shopper as I generally expect caveat emptor. Hopefully this is not against forum rules but I want to commend ebay seller best.computers for outstanding customer response and no hassle returns!

Dang! I just missed a 9020 Optiplex i7 on Dell Outlet (note you have to google dell outlet coupons to see the full discount of PCs. I always see 30% discount). By the time I came back and added it to my cart it was gone.

 

[nowandthen]

Ion,

Very interesting! I admit to not looking too closely at this unit. When I took the cover off, it seemed too packed to add another hard drive or swap to a larger drive. The drive is not the standard 5.25" drive is it? Are you saying a standard 5.25" drive fits? (can't see into the unit very well and don't want to risk taking it apart and void return). Thought I read that it was a "thin" drive, or something like that (trying to dig up where I found that"). What should I shop for? Dell website is not the greatest on defining cases, components, etc. I'd like a 2-3TB drive. A single drive would suffice, and if it fits in the existing drive space, fantastic! I don't think I need more than the one 2-3TB drive. That's wee bit of space you tucked that SSD in.

 

[Ion Barker]

Ion,

Very interesting! I admit to not looking too closely at this unit. When I took the cover off, it seemed too packed to add another hard drive or swap to a larger drive. The drive is not the standard 5.25" drive is it? Are you saying a standard 5.25" drive fits? (can't see into the unit very well and don't want to risk taking it apart and void return). Thought I read that it was a "thin" drive, or something like that (trying to dig up where I found that"). What should I shop for? Dell website is not the greatest on defining cases, components, etc. I'd like a 2-3TB drive. A single drive would suffice, and if it fits in the existing drive space, fantastic! I don't think I need more than the one 2-3TB drive. That's wee bit of space you tucked that SSD in.

Yes the drive it ships with is a "thin" drive and not the standard full size 3.5" drive. The HDD sits right under the DVD drive.

This is the full size 3TB HDD I have in my unit... it will fit right into the Dell hard drive carrier bracket and slide back in. http://amzn.com/B00IMPO5N8

I used a 18" SATA data cable for the SSD drive.

I purchased a 6" power splitter cable... BUT if you go this route, get an 8" cable. The 6" was very tight and had to move things closer.. you can make it work but if you have to buy it anyways, might as well get a little slack. http://amzn.com/B002N2EHVQ