Can I add another internal Hard drive

[OptiEng]

Hello all,

I have an Intel® Desktop Board DQ45CB (see link below for specs)

http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/motherboards/dq45cb/dq45cb-overview.htm

Can anyone help me and tell me if I can add another hard drive to this motherboard. It currently only has one 120GB hard drive.

Thanks very much for your help.

 

[johnb35]

You have 6 SATA ports so you can have up to 6 sata devices hooked up. So the answer is yes, you can add another hard drive.

 

[OptiEng]

Thanks, which type of internal hard drive would be suitable for this motherboard. How can I find this out?

Thanks.

 

[strollin]

The motherboard will definitely support additional SATA drives. What kind of a case do you have the board installed in? If you have a very compact case it may not have any available bays to install a 2nd drive. If you have a spacious tower then you would want to look for a 3.5" SATA drive to install. How big of a drive do you want and what is your budget? Here's a 640G 3.5" SATA drive that may work for you for $60. Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB

Another possible concern is your PSU, although HDDs don't draw a lot of power, if your PSU is very marginal an extra HDD may cause you pwer problems.

 

[OptiEng]

Thanks for you input. Could I run programs and files off an external HD (just like an internal HD), I have a USB 2.0 connection? Is this possible? Also, what would be the drawbacks.

 

[Okedokey]

Super slow performance if it is possible but I wouldnt recommend it.

Just buy another Hard Drive for a Desktop Computer and install it like this: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1919242/how_to_install_a_hard_drive_into_a_desktop/

in regards to the PSU, if you have a cheap PSU it will have more on the 5V rail anyway so don't worry about it.