Adding an additional hard drive to a Dell Dimenstion 9200

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phil49

New Member
I have a Dell Dimension 9200 which has run out of space on the HD. I wanted to add an additional HD 1.5tb - 2.0tb. I have read that adding them as a slave is very easy but when I opened the PC up today the only two HD slots are occupied with two 160 GB hard drives there is no spare slot to add a new drive. What's my cheapest solution?
I would rather have an internal upgrade than an external HD.
Is it easy to replace the 2 x 160gb drives or would that lead me to a nightmare scenario sorting out software?
Is it possible to replace one of the 160gb drives without upsetting the operating system/software?
Any help or advice would be appreciated.........cheers
 
If you start up your computer and go to my computer (Computer if you are using Vista or Win 7) does it show 2 160GB drives, 1 160GB drive,or 1 320GB drive?
 
Hi Sorry I am late getting back to you had to put the side back on the PC before I could fire it up and look for the info. I have looked but this info is not displayed it only gives total space 287GB nothing else. Is there anywhere else I should look for the info?
 
phil49 said:
Hi Sorry I am late getting back to you had to put the side back on the PC before I could fire it up and look for the info. I have looked but this info is not displayed it only gives total space 287GB nothing else. Is there anywhere else I should look for the info?
Click to expand...

The way you have it, as you have 2 drives and a total around 320GB (312.5GB actual GB), minus the Dell restore and diagnostics files, that brings you to the total you are seeing. That would mean they are in some sort of RAID array, which means the 2 drives work together as 1 single drive.

If you were to get a single 1TB - 2TB drive, you could copy your current system over, exactly as it is now, but with the extra space.


Acronis is pretty much the best there is, however it isn't free. It has a 30 day trial, which you could use for this, but then you would have to buy it if you wanted to use it again. You can download the free trial here:

http://download.cnet.com/Acronis-True-Image-Home/3000-2242_4-10168093.html

however, I wouldn't download and use it until you are ready to do the backup.
 
Hi
Sounds a bit scary but will give it a go. Will I be backing up onto an external drive and then asking the computer to re boot from there? Could a jerk like me sort this out and will the software you are suggesting guide me through? Is it an easy procedure to carry out?
I appreciate your time and help thank you.
 
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