Add Two SATA Drives to HP Envy 319Q7AA with Reno Motherboard

[CrimpOn]

I cannot find documentation for how to add two SATA drives to an HP Envy 319Q7AA.  It came with a 1TB M.2 drive on the motherboard, one SATA cable and one SATA power cable.  I used these to connect a 1TB SATA SSD drive which is screwed to the hard drive cage.  Cannot find documentation for how many SATA drives this motherboard supports or how many power connectors.  The part number for the power cable appears to be L68308-001.  Cannot find part number for the SATA data cable.  (Wouldn't any SATA data cable work?)

Did a chat with HP and got nowhere.  Internet search turns up video on putting drives in an Envy, but not this model.

[NonSequitur777 · Accepted solution]

@CrimpOn,

Welcome to our peer-to-peer HP Community Forum!

Your HP ENVY Desktop PC TPE01-3000i (4M0M1AV), as fitted with the Reno motherboard (SSID: 89B5), has one M.2 NVMe SSD slot, two SATA data slots: SATA2 (light blue) and SATA0 (darkish blue), which can each be fitted with either a SATA HDD and/or SATA SSD, such as this HP ENVY TE01-3xxx User did: https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/56016453.

The HP L68308-001 dual 15-pin SATA power cable you referred to can be purchased here: HP L68308-001 for sale | eBay.

And yes, in principle any SATA cable would do, but I think what you are looking at is the proprietary way in which HP does things: the aforementioned SATA power cable is to be plugged into the black 4-pin motherboard connector (see red box) :

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[NonSequitur777]

@CrimpOn,

Lest I forget: you'll also need two separate (HP) SATA data motherboard cables to connect to your SATA drives, which can be purchased here, for example: hp sata data cables for sale | eBay.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[CrimpOn]

I am doing something wrong.  That link to user 56016453 does not seem to lead to information about adding a drive.

https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/56016453 

This new HP case is certainly "different" from my old HP Envy.  In the older model, there were hard drive "slots" for full size drives and adapter sleds for the newer small format which have screws to "ride" the slot.  (I'd include a picture but the old Envy went to electronic recycling last weekend. (RIP).

The first additional SSD drive is attached to the hard drive cage.  It is not entirely clear (to me) how the second drive can be mounted.  This is a 4TB 3.5" traditional drive.  In older models of this "new Envy case", the hard drive was screwed to the inside of the front of the case (after removing the front bezel).

[NonSequitur777]

@CrimpOn,

Look, the purpose of the UserBenchMark link is to show you that an HP ENVY TE01-3xxx can be fitted with three drives: one M.2 NVMe SSD, one SATA SSD (or HDD), and one SATA HDD (or second SATA SSD) :

I agree that by the looks of it, you'll need some, well, ingenuity/creativity to build in two SATA drives in this PC, but it should be doable, especially if you want to install two SATA SSDs as there is more than sufficient space inside you case.

And by 'creativity', I mean just that.  Here is one example of me using a single zip-tie to secure a SATA SSD in one of my desktops:

Now, I usually don't do this, as I prefer more conventional means to secure drives.  But it shows you one way to secure a drive.  Another way is to use Velcro tape.  It really doesn't matter, as long as you know what you're doing.

Here is one YouTube video showing you how to install one SATA SSD: HP Envy TE01 3244 Add Additional SSD or HD Drive (youtube.com).

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[CrimpOn]

Thanks again.  The video is excellent.  Adding another SSD drive is almost trivial. (I have lots of Velcro!)

So the conundrum is:

• Use the 4TB hard drive that I already have, which may be awkward to secure, vs
• Purchase another SSD drive, which will be almost trivial to mount.

Time to open the case again and see if the power cable included in the case has one or two connectors.

Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this information.  (One would only hope that HP Support had nearly the same expertise.)

[CrimpOn]

To close this out.  It turns out that the 3.5" SATA drive will indeed connect to the inside of the front of the chassis.  (I could only get three screws inserted, but that seems like plenty.  Would have been a good idea to purchase a magnetic Phillips screwdriver.  "oh, well")  Was a bit "close" getting the power and data cables attached to the hard drive.  Required unplugging the existing 2.5" SSD drive and removing the drive chassis.  There MAY have been a method to attach the 3.5" drive to the drive chassis, but once I saw that the screw holes did in fact line up with holes in the front chassis, my "tunnel vision" took over.  Used an SATA data cable left over from a previous computer.

Turns out that this HP actually came with the correct SATA power cable with two connectors.

As an "aside" this Reno motherboard comes with two M.2 connectors and they are both in use.  One holds the primary M.2 SSD drive and the other the WiFi6 adapter.  Although the motherboard specs call these "Expansion Slots", when the motherboard is used in this specific HP Envy, they are both in use. The only expansion possibilities are the two SATA drive connections and the one remaining PCI slot.

Major kudos to @NonSequitur777   

[NonSequitur777]

@CrimpOn,

Thank you for your kind words, much appreciated!

Smooth Sailing to you,

NonSequitur777