Adding several hard drives?

[akimartymar]

I just added a 500G hard drive to my Dell. This second drive took up the last slot in the computer. I've seen some people who have several hard drives for their computers. Is it possible to add more drives to my computer and how would I do that? It's a Dell E520.

[brad]

Depends on the motherboard.. some BIOS's will allow you to hook a half dozen hard drives up via the IDE interface.

Your other option is USB external drives... which should be limited only by the USB interface (256 devices, I think.. but you have to power those ports, too...)

[akimartymar]

Well I know I have at least one other SATA port open. I just have no idea where another drive would go. There is no other chamber for one. I have a 250GB external that I use for back-up, I just hate having to find room and power for it constantly. I'm looking for ways to back-up files within the system.

[srwatters]

I would suggest you add an e-SATA card and use an external enclosure to house your disk subsystem. Most standard PC power supplies are wimpy and I would not suggest trying to expand beyond two or three drives at most. Heat can also be an issue and is the main cause of premature computer failures. Of course, YMMV.

[laawaaris]

martin,

there is a forum that i use for computer configuration ... its a real, real handy website and as useful for computers as TPF is for cameras

Check out http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/forums/

post your question and i gather you'll be on your way to an answer in no time!