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XPS 8950, number of 3.5" SATA drives?
Can someone knowledgeable tell me the maximum number of 3.5" SATA drives that can be installed into an XPS 8950? Pictures of the chassis suggest there are two bays but the specs mention 3 SATA ports for HDDs and 1 for the optical drive.
redxps630
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December 2nd, 2021 12:00
two 3.5 hdd bay at right and left upper corner of case, each one accommodating one 3.5 hdd or two 2.5 hdd/ssd if you use Dell 2.5 to 3.5 adapter. Note Dell sata power cable already has two sata power connectors precut to exact length to support two 2.5 hdd.
system board has three sata III (blue black) for hdd/ssd and one sata I (white connector) for odd.
XPS 8950 Service Manual (dell.com)
Original Dell Optiplex 2.5"SSD - 3.5" HDD Adapter Bracket Caddy Tray R494D F767D
kras1
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December 2nd, 2021 12:00
I ordered an XPS 8950 and I noticed the same thing. I'm surprised there isn't any mention of 2.5 inch drive bays.
rh310
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December 16th, 2021 09:00
Oh wait, there's 4 SATA ports on the MB. So if I don't need the optical drive, I could install FOUR 2.5" HDD/SSD in the two 3.5" bays using the adapter above? I can't believe they thought to include a side-by-side pair of power connectors on the cable that runs to those 3.5" bays.
rh310
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December 16th, 2021 09:00
Interesting. So with 3 SATA connectors, one could have 5 "HD's" total?
2 - m.2 on MB
2 - 2.5 in a 3.5 bay using the adapter shown above
1 - 3.5 in the other 3.5 bay
Do I have that right?
Of course even more m.2's could be added via add-in cards in the pair of x4 slots.
redxps630
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December 16th, 2021 12:00
The white sata port assigned to odd may be a slower speed one like sata I. Dell has not released detailed info of its speed. but if you connect a mechanical hdd to that port its speed is comparable to the slower port.
rh310
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December 16th, 2021 12:00
Good point. I should do a speed test on my XPS8900 - not that it's a direct comparison. I didn't need the ODD in it so I removed it some time ago and added an HDD.