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Optiplex 9020 SFF's HDD/ODD Connector Cable with 3 SATA Power Plugins
I am planning to use my Optiplex 9020 SFF as a home server. After opening it I found there are 3 SATA Connectors on the board, however only 1 SATA Power plugin. That seems odd to me.
Is there a way to run three 3.5" HDD or 2.5" Drives from those 3 SATA Connectors? I can use SATA Extension cables to have extra two HDD out of the chassis.
Chino de Oro
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June 22nd, 2024 20:38
Re: Is there a way to run three 3.5" HDD or 2.5" Drives from those 3 SATA Connectors?
There is no space to run three 3.5" HDD. But you can run three 2.5" drives from the 9020 SFF. You can install two 2.5" drive on the HDD cage and one 2.5" drive on optical adapter.
The OptiPlex 9020 SFF should have a SATA power cable that connected from motherboard and providing two SATA power connectors. There is a 15-pin connector for HDD/SSD and a 6-pin connector for slimline optical drive.
To connect two 2.5" drives, you will need a drive caddy and a power splitter cable for the 15-pin connector.
To connect a third 2.5" drive, you will need a 12.7" optical drive caddy to replace current optical drive.
You will then having all three power connectors and mounting spaces for your three 2.5" drives. They all will be connecting to three SATA ports on motherboard via standard SATA cables. You should be able to source the items below in your region/market.
Dual drives kit for your 9020 SFF.
SATA power splitter cable for 9020 SFF
Existing power cable with two SATA power connectors
Universal optical caddy for HDD/SSD.
redxps630
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June 23rd, 2024 10:40
Chino ‘s reply is very thorough. If OP just want three sata power connectors and do not care about where to install two additional hdd, a dual sata Dell proprietary cable plus a sata Y splitter as chino illustrated will do.
Dell designed only two regular sata power connectors b/c mobo color coded sata ports are black/blue for hdd/ssd and white for dvd. The white sata slot is slower speed than the black/blue ones. The SFF manual spec says: 1.5, 3, 6 Gbps for white, black, blue.
now the bonus question: if you have a ssd which color of sata slot is the 6 Gbps ?
Well if you guessed right, Blue is the Dell answer, traditionally SATA 0 at 6 Gbps
Black= SATA 1 at 3 Gbps, White=SATS 2 at 1.5
https://dl.dell.com/topicspdf/optiplex-9020-desktop_owners-manual_en-us.pdf
(edited)
godspeed88
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June 23rd, 2024 12:36
@Chino de Oro Thanks a lot. I didnt know there is a thing called Optical Caddy.
Can I use SATA Power Splitter cable to attach two 3.5" HDDs? One will be the OS disk and another for Data Storage?
Someone told me to not do it, since power is coming through Motherboard and it may damage it.
@redxps630 If thats the case, I can use LSI HBA Card to have additional SATA Ports @ 6Gbps.