[dmb83fan41]

I am thinking of purchasing a larger internal harddrive for my Dell XPS 400 and had a few questions. First, how do I know what kind of harddrive I should get? And second, with a fresh harddrive will I be able to load my OS back on using the restore CDs and all the software that came with my Dell?

Thanks for any help!!

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You can determine the hard drive type by looking at your build sheet, opening the case or punching your service tag number into Dell's support website.

I have an XPS 400 and it has internal SATA drives, but yours might be different. As for going through the hassle of OS re-installation, there is no need for that. You have a couple different options when upgrading to a new drive. If your XPS is like mine, it will have 4 SATA connectors on the motherboard. That means you can just install the new drive as a storage drive and leave the current drive alone. That way you don't have to do anything other than remembering to store your pictures, movies, etc on the new drive. Now if your problem is that you have too many programs currently installed, you'll need to go another route.

The other option is to use drive cloning software. This will make a bit by bit copy of your current drive to the new drive. Then you just format the old drive and use it for whatever you want. I know Western Digital supplies this software for free if you purchase one of their drives and I assume other manufacturers' do as well. If not, there are plenty of free 3rd party options.

Edited by Spyderturbo007, 04 January 2011 - 08:32 AM.

[Spyderturbo007]

You can determine the hard drive type by looking at your build sheet, opening the case or punching your service tag number into Dell's support website.

I have an XPS 400 and it has internal SATA drives, but yours might be different. As for going through the hassle of OS re-installation, there is no need for that. You have a couple different options when upgrading to a new drive. If your XPS is like mine, it will have 4 SATA connectors on the motherboard. That means you can just install the new drive as a storage drive and leave the current drive alone. That way you don't have to do anything other than remembering to store your pictures, movies, etc on the new drive. Now if your problem is that you have too many programs currently installed, you'll need to go another route.

The other option is to use drive cloning software. This will make a bit by bit copy of your current drive to the new drive. Then you just format the old drive and use it for whatever you want. I know Western Digital supplies this software for free if you purchase one of their drives and I assume other manufacturers' do as well. If not, there are plenty of free 3rd party options.

Edited by Spyderturbo007, 04 January 2011 - 08:32 AM.

[dmb83fan41]

You can determine the hard drive type by looking at your build sheet, opening the case or punching your service tag number into Dell's support website.

I have an XPS 400 and it has internal SATA drives, but yours might be different. As for going through the hassle of OS re-installation, there is no need for that. You have a couple different options when upgrading to a new drive. If your XPS is like mine, it will have 4 SATA connectors on the motherboard. That means you can just install the new drive as a storage drive and leave the current drive alone. That way you don't have to do anything other than remembering to store your pictures, movies, etc on the new drive. Now if your problem is that you have too many programs currently installed, you'll need to go another route.

The other option is to use drive cloning software. This will make a bit by bit copy of your current drive to the new drive. Then you just format the old drive and use it for whatever you want. I know Western Digital supplies this software for free if you purchase one of their drives and I assume other manufacturers' do as well. If not, there are plenty of free 3rd party options.

Thank you for the response. It appears that my XPS 400 is a SATA drive. It is only a 150GB and I was thinking of doing a complete swap with a new 1TB harddrive. In doing so, how would I go about putting the OS back onto the new harddrive. Can my Dell Recovery CDs be used? Thanks for the help, I'm not the greatest with using computers.

[Spyderturbo007]

Yes, you are more than welcome to use your Dell Recovery CD's if you so desire. But as I said in my original post, if you decide on a complete swap, you might want to employ some type of cloning software. Take a look at this software which is provided if you purchase a WD hard drive.

[dmb83fan41]

Actually, I went out today and decided to do swap the drive out for a WD Caviar Black 1TB. Did a clean install and put on my new copy of Windows 7. Everything went well! Only took about 20 mins.

My other problem though is I know my XPS 400 can have two hard drives, correct? I have two slots in the CPU. I put the smaller hard drive in the second slot and plugged in the only plug that fit it. But, it won't show up now under My Computer. I don't believe there is any power to the 2nd hard drive. Any advice you could provide? I'm not the greatest with computers so not sure what is up.

Thanks!

[Spyderturbo007]

Are you talking about the two carriage bays at the very bottom of the case? The hard drive lays on it's side and slides into the slot? You should have two plugs in each drive, power and data. It should look something like the bottom half of this picture.

My link


Also, I'm assuming that you plugged the other end of the SATA cable into the motherboard? Now if my memory serves me correctly, Dell turns off the other SATA ports when shipped from the factory. You'll want to hit F2 when you see the Dell splash screen appear. Once the BIOS loads I believe the setting you need is under "Drives" on the left side. Use your keyboard to highlight that field and press Enter. That will expand the menu. Do you know the number of the SATA port you used to connect the hard drive to the mother board?

If not, you can turn them on one-by-one until you see the Controller Field section show the drive data. Once you find the one you need, go ahead and turn off the ones you aren't using. Let me know how you make out.

[dmb83fan41]

Yep, I am talking about the two carriage bays at the very bottom. I went home and check it out. It appears that I don't have a second power supply cable. Would that be possible? If so, can I purchase one anywhere? I have the 2nd hard drive plugged into the data cable.

As far as the other end of the SATA cable plugged into the motherboard, I'm not sure I know what you mean. I simply unplugged the two cables from the old hard drive and plugged them into the new hard drive. Now I seem to be without a power cable but have the extra data cable.

[Spyderturbo007]

It appears that I don't have a second power supply cable. Would that be possible? If so, can I purchase one anywhere?

Yes it is, but you'll need an adapter. Something like this is what you will need.

Sorry for the delay responding, but I'm almost never online over the weekends. I get my fill of computers during the week and need a chance to get away from the darn things.

[dmb83fan41]

Awesome, thanks for the reply! Was able to get what I needed over the weekend and it now works just fine. I have both hard drives working! Thanks for the help!

[Spyderturbo007]

No problem! Glad I could be of assistance.