Elitedesk g4 mini 2 nvme and hdd

[flipper203]

Hello I have installed two nvme ssd drives to my g4 but now I can’t install the 2.5 hdd tray to add a 2To 2.5 hdd is it normal ? Is there a way to have 2 nvme and one hard drive ? 

[banhien]

@flipper203 

Its specs

        https://support.hp.com/au-en/document/c06045012#AbT10

which shows it has

Expansion slots	(1) M.2 PCIe x1 2230 (for WLAN) (2) M.2 PCIe x4 2280/2230 combo (for storage)
Bays	(1) 6.35 cm (2.5 in) internal storage drive

Looks like you can have 2 M,2 PCIe drives and 1 2.5" drive

Regards

[flipper203]

Hello I know it s in the spec but physically it doesn’t fit the hdd caddy can’t be placed if there is a second nvme as the nvme port is under  the caddy and too high. Is there any solution provided by hp to be able to have 2 ssd and 1 hdd il the g4 as described in the specs ?

[NameOfScreen]

Although these specs are cute and fluffy, reality is ugly: the HDD caddy indeed has a cut-out for the raised bolt where one could secure the NVMe in the 2nd M2 slot; however, as the 2nd slot is higher than the 1st slot, once the 2nd slot is filled, the HDD caddy's underside (elsewhere than the cutout for the mentioned bolt) will collide with the NVMe in the 2nd M2 slot before one could secure the HDD caddy in place. Or is HP suggesting i force the caddy in place by crushing my fresh NVMe (and possibly the motherboard)?

Is that by design? I'd like to shake hand with that product designer, that decided "nah, users don't need to have 2xNVMe & 1xHDD; let's make that physically impossible for them by adding some moar metal onto the HDD caddy 😈"

[NonSequitur777]

Hi @flipper203 and @NameOfScreen,

So, what you guys are saying is that once a #2 NVMe SSD is installed, the 2.5 inch SSD caddy doesn't close/fit properly anymore? 

[flipper203]

Yes impossible to put the caddy.

Is it safe to just put a SSD over the nvme without the caddy  ?

@HP no solution for that ?

[NameOfScreen]

Ahem, no. The NVMe positions indicated on this picture are wrong.

See this lovely video click here at 5:32 for the locations of NVMe slots UNDER the HDD caddy.

That said, indeed: once the second(!) NVMe slot is filled, the HDD caddy does NOT fit onto its position anymore due to.. deliberately malicious product design :)?

@flipper203, no, you do not want to put your SSD loosely over the electronics underneath it.

[flipper203]

ok so we can't put 2 nvme and a 2.5 SDD/Hdd....lovely desgin....I took it for this by the way.....

[NonSequitur777]

Hi @NameOfScreen,

Your link doesn't appear to work for me (bounces back to your reply) -I stand corrected: I created the NVMe outline picture based on the wrong time stamp (9:46) from this "HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Mini Guide and Review" YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdEf-dXl-_Y (the correct time stamp is 8:32 as displayed below).

What matters here, of course, is that the 2.5" SSD bay should fit even with the #2 NVMe SSD installed. To be honest, it is difficult to perceive an easy solution without some exceedingly undesirable "modifications"...

[EDIT:] And with 'undesirable' modifications, I mean something like this I had to do whilst upgrading an HP Pro 6300 SFF in order to fit 4 x 8GB Patriot Viper 3 RAM sticks rigged with metal "Black Mamba" heatsinks.  (See link: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Upgrading-HP-Compaq-Pro-6300-SF...), but in this scenario, it wasn't HP's fault, the new RAM + heatsinks were taller than OEM RAM.

[NameOfScreen]

@NonSequitur777 yup, seems that the only solution is to chew off part of the lower metal "carcass" of the caddy. Or if one doesn't have iron teeth, then saw or hammer it.
I was very much hoping to get a Certain Someone from HP to comment on this, to offer an alternative version of the caddy that would work for the 2xNVMe + 1xHDD configuration or someone from the product design group to make a case for this.. design choice, but i guess that wont happen ;).