Adding another internal hard drive

[Gothiic]

I want to add another hard drive. HP told me that the PC can take another internal hard drive. So I got a Toshiba 2Tb today. Opened up the PC side panel, only to find that there are no spare cables or spare?

I have just got off the phone to HP support and have been told that this is purely a gaming machine and cannot be upgraded with an internal hard drive.

I have already got an external hard drive attached and is now full. I write music and perfom and needed a fast PC than my other one for recording adn since each track uses a lot of space I need a compuetr than I can add more hard drives.

Is there anyway I can add an internal hard drive? Or have I wasted money on a computer and hard drives purchased today?

[TheOldMan]

According to the MANUAL, that unit has three drive bays.  The manual shows on page 8 and page 12 how to get there.  On that picture it shows all three occupied.  If your unit is as pictured, then it appears to have no empty bays. 

[wb2001]

@Gothiic

The confusion with what you were told, and the visual inspection is easily explained.

There are over 30 variations, and several different motherboards, with different processors.

That model ( 870-275na)  is the extreme gamer version. The motherboard has only 3 Sata headers.  As equipped, it came with the nominal DVD drive, and 2 hard drives, ie; 256GB SSD and a 2TB hard drive for data.  While the basic manual has Pg 12 displaying a 3 slot hard drive bay, the motherboard only has the above mentioned headers.

Now, the model 870-097 has 5 Sata headers.

 @TheOldMan,

The use of the generic manual is standard fodder. 

Solution: Add an internal Sata card.  Although it's a dual header, it will allow you to utilize that last internal bay.  Be aware that you will need 4 Fillister head screws, as standard drive screws will not secure the drive.  The drive will slide down the rails until it locks into place.

[Gothiic]

hi thank you for your reply. and you are exactly right about there being a spare bay. I even pointed this out to the HP tech guy, who had the same page opened. He too agreed that the picture shows that there are three drives. hopefully this picture shows you.

However, there are no spare Sata data drive sockets left and you cannot share or split a data cable as you could with a power cable.

On the Motherboard there are 3 sata sockets. One for the Optical drive, one for SSD and finally one for the hard drive that is already there.

I have also looked into getting a sata RAID card, but this would then be too close to the Graphics card cooling fan.

I am annoyed at the way the PC was advertised, saying it is fully upgradable. It isn't.

I wanted to avoid using external drives as I have one already and that is full. I got the internal one and now it seems I am going to have no choice but to put that in an external case and use the one remaining USB3 port I have left.

[Gothiic]

Hi thank you for your reply. I very much appreciate your comments

I am now in process of demanding a full refund, under the sales of goods act. As the PC is not as described at point of sale. Also, prior to the purchase of the computer, I was told by a HP tech guy, that this PC (870-275na) is fully upgradable and I can add one further drive internally and have an external drive as well.

I also was not told that this was a gamer PC. I do not need this type of computer, I am a musician and need a high spec machine for recording.

To have a manual that covers such a wide range of computers is kind of pathetic. As I saw and others have seen, the manual does look like the 870-275na can have another internal hard drive.

I am annoyed at myself a my old pc (gave it away) may have only had the GTX7700 graphics card but I had 6TB of storage on it. I just got persuaded by sales pitch.

A very expensive lesson. I now have had to get an external case to put the drive in. that now clutters desk along with mixers etc.

I have stayed loyal to HP with all my PC equipment being HP. This is now my final item with HP and now I have to go and buy another PC.