Z400 3.5in bay, front panel access

[bamber2000]

    My Z400 chassis has a 3.5in drive bay between the HDD cage and the optical drive bays (see photos(.  The bay has a metal blanking plate screwed over it and the front bezel has nothing that I can push out to give me external access.  I have the HP Z400 Workstation Maintenance and Service Guide in which there is no mention of the bay.  The overall impression is of a bay that was never meant to be used, and yet … I want to use it, for a USB and memory card panel.†

    I’m planning on cutting a hole 😱 in the front bezel, but before I perform surgery I’m checking here whether there might be an alternative bezel available to save me making what might, despite by best efforts, turn out to be a ragged rectangle.

Thank you for reading.

† http://akasa.co.uk/update.php?tpl=product/product.detail.tpl&type=USB&type_sub=Internal%20USB%20Pane...

[SDH]

That bay would have been for a 3.5" form factor drive such as a floppy drive, or a multimedia card reader insert. I've never seen an official HP front plastic face that included a removable insert offset to the left like that is. Why don't you just use a very nice now pretty rare HP 3.5 to 5.25 form factor insert with the 3.5" hole centered, and place it in one of your spare 5.25" bays? Such as HP P/N 468770-001:

What I've used...

Here's one of those with a floppy drive in it:

Not what I'd do, however...

That HP adapter is very well built and can be bought off eBay from the Alan guys... good company. Get the one with the green plastic tab shown. For you to get USB3 to work out front in the Z400 you'll need a PCIe-to-USB3 card. I've posted in the forum here about a project I did that you could find now via google, using a HP "2x2" Texas Instruments based card. That uses the same TI chipset as was used on the Zx20 next generation of HP workstations, so drivers are easy to find, and actually are included in the W10/W11 installer.

Inserted into a Z400 PCIe slot that is PCIe Gen2 you'll have the bandwidth to get USB3 speed. You get USB3 out front via a dual "USB3 motherboard" cable that goes from the HP TI card's 2x10 pin header to the rear of your Akasa card. Not all USB3 PCIe cards have that type of a header port included. The "2x2" means two USB3 ports on the backplane and the card's header is used for getting 2 more out front if desired. Part numbers and pics are in my post which you won't find via our forum's somewhat anemic search capabilities... use google.

The cables from your Akasa device will need to reach their attachments... they are longer than suggested by the diagram below:

I'm sure they'll be longer than shown...

[bamber2000]

Thanks SDH.

Presently I have a twin SSD carrier (the nice, HP one with the recessed handle) in the top bay and my optical drive in the middle bay.  (I'll need it to install some rather older versions of Flight Simulator that I have on optical disk.)  I was planning on keeping the bottom bay free in case I want more space for HDDs/SSDs.  I think I'll deferthe bezel surgery and use that HP 3.5 to 5.25 form factor insert that you've recommended.  (If they're rare then I suppose that if I were to resell it at some point it should fetch close to what I might pay for it.)

I wonder why HP made a chassis with 3.5in form factor bay (presumably, as you say, for a FDD) but never make a bezel for it.  Perhaps it was a chassis component used in other models of chassis but never carried anything in the Z400 chassis.

[bamber2000]

BTW, having followed your advice several months ago I already have the HP "2x2" Texas Instruments-based card installed and working.  The Akasa unit will give me the USB3 ports that I want at the front (as well as some current spec memory card slots).

[DGroves · Accepted solution]

yes HP has used the same base chassis in several different models changing the chassis slightly as needed

a prime example is the z800/820/840 cases, they are each slightly different but overall the same

you can best see it in the z820/840 pictures where the earlier z820 has one more 5.25 drive bay than the z840 even though the front grills' on each are the same size and have the mounting clips in the same location (same for the z800)

[bamber2000]

FYI, I've ordered a HP 3.5 to 5.25 form factor insert that I found on ebay.

Thanks for the advice.

[SDH]

Those are easier to find on eBay once you know the right part number. Happy to help. They used to be available by searching for HP media card reader but the used kit version (with both included) have not existed in my recent searches.

I've noticed a USB drive inserted in one of the USB3 ports added to a Z400/Z600 via that card goes invisible after sleep. You just pull and replug the thumb drive to reactivate. I thought W11 OS load would fix that but so far no. I bet it is a BIOS issue because the same TI chipset soldered onto the Zx20 motherboards does not exhibit this small downside.