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    Two hard drives inside a Dell Inspiron laptop possible?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by KingMustard, Dec 16, 2012.

  1. KingMustard

    KingMustard Notebook Enthusiast

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    Next week, I'll likely buy a refurbished Dell Inspiron laptop from Dell (15" or 17").

    It will come with a standard hard drive and, I presume, an optical drive.

    I do not need the optical drive.

    I want to buy an SSD to boot from, and use the HDD as a secondary drive.

    Is this possible?
     
    KingMustard, Dec 16, 2012
    #1
  2. yeuemmaimai

    yeuemmaimai Notebook Consultant

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    Yes, buy a caddy for the HDD that fits in the optical bay. the 17" might have 2 hdd bays. I know my dad's 17" studio does...
     
    yeuemmaimai, Dec 16, 2012
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  3. KingMustard

    KingMustard Notebook Enthusiast

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    How do I be sure it matches the case design? Do you have to match the caddy model to the laptop model? Or will they all look fine regardless?
     
    KingMustard, Dec 16, 2012
    #3
  4. Commander Wolf

    Commander Wolf can i haz broadwell?

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    For the optical drive caddies, the internals are basically all the same; they will all "work" in the functional sense. If you want something with a bezel that matches the case, you might have to pay more (ie buy it from Newmodeus) or find a caddy on which you can snap the stock optical drive bezel.

    EDIT: On some models you may also have the option of installing an mSATA SSD and then a conventional 2.5" drive.
     
    Commander Wolf, Dec 17, 2012
    #4
  5. KingMustard

    KingMustard Notebook Enthusiast

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    You mean the laptop has space for two drives?

    I will try and get a laptop with a 17" screen to aim for that, but if it's a 17" screen-laptop with space for only one drive, I'll just get a 15" screen-laptop.
     
    KingMustard, Dec 17, 2012
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  6. Commander Wolf

    Commander Wolf can i haz broadwell?

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    Are you talking about the mSATA? If there is an Inspiron that supports an mSATA drive, there will technically be space for two drives, but obviously one will have to be the mSATA drive.
     
    Commander Wolf, Dec 17, 2012
    #6