Can I add a 2nd SATA Hard Drive to an M55 Desktop?

[Mike_Lynch]

There are two SATA Drive Connectors on my M55 8808-8HU Desktop's Motherboard.

One goes to the Hard Drive.

One goes to the DVD Drive.

I do not have an open PCI Slot for an Expansion Card.

There is no Floppy Drive on the System.

Is there a SATA Interface Cable "like" the old IDE Interface Cables that allows the connection of two Drives, one as the Master and the other the Slave?

If so, please refer me to a URL where I can purchase one.

Thank you for your positive responses.

Best regards,

Mike Lynch

[VicCam]

No, you cannot connect two drives on one cable, read the "Installing Disk Drives" section

of the "User Guide" that came with your computer to install a second hard disk or go to

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/product.do?subcategoryind=0&familyind=329862&brandind=11&...

and save the PDF file to your desktop.

VicCam

[JohnOfFloreat]

G'day

The URL in VicCam's post appears to be truncated

Does this post say I can't add a second HDD as well as the DVD, or does the link point to instructions how to do it (not using the existing SATA ports)?

Thanks
John

[SamKook]

It says you can't do it. And I assume the link just point to the manual which will tell you what you can and can't do(no solution for your problem in it)

There is no splitter or 2 connector cables for sata so you can't put a second sata hdd unless you unplug your DVD drive or free up a PCI port to install an expension card.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

SATA doesn't support slave and master.

[losmeme]

Are you sure you only have two SATA connectors on your motherboard? The system board diagram (and my memory) make me think there are actually three connectors. Have a look at this diagram of your board:

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product-and-parts/detail.page?DocID=PD000966

[JohnOfFloreat]

Hmmmm

Thanks for the tip
Unfortunately I’ve drawn a blank.  I can see where there is provision on the motherboard for a third SATA connector, but it’s not there.

http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/j351/JohnOfFloreat/Lenovo/3SATAports.jpg

Bigger: http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/j351/JohnOfFloreat/Lenovo/DSC00648640x480.jpg  
Too bad.  I don’t use the CD ROM anyway.  BTW it IS an M55!

http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/j351/JohnOfFloreat/Lenovo/Computerspecs.jpg

[losmeme]

You could always find a replacement motherboard that does have the three SATA connectors.

Not the first time I've seen a Lenovo motherboard that does not conform to book specs. I purchased an A52 tower last year and the motherboard, while carrying the correct part number for the machine, only had 2 out of 4 SATA connectors present, with a completely different layout than the book diagram.  I replaced the motherboard with one that had the identical part number, but also had all 4 of the SATA connectors. I think Lenovo must supply these reduced capacity motherboards for large corporate customers, it makes working on these machines difficult as you're never certain what you'll find. You could always search your part number on eBay and look at the pictures of the item to confirm it has all three. A replacement at this point would be relatively inexpensive given the age of the machine.

[paul_pongratz]

Yes! I had this same issue, as there are only two SATA headers o the motherboard.

What to do?

I purchased a JMicron JMB36X (aka "ULTRA") PCIe X1 card. It cost me only $9 USD and change!

It is advertised as a 'RAID' card and includes 2 SATA and 1 PATA interface.

This card plugs into the lower slot on the 'expansion' card at the right-rear of the case (inside)

Yes, this slot looks funny! But it is an actual PCIe X1 slot.!

Plugged the card in, installed the driver 'mini-cd' that came with it.

Note: you will need to add a 'Y' cable for SATA power - as there are not enough plugs on the PSU.

Then I installed a 500 Gb laptop (2.5") drive in the tiny space just above the CPU heatsink...

...Why? There is no room in this case for a regular 3.5" drive and the best place to put the 2.5" drive

was in the only slot left (it was meant to be a slot for a floppy, I beleive)

Careful use of double sided foam tape allowed a proper mount for this new laptop drive.

(it can still be removed and used in a laptop or disk enclosure if need be)

Also note that you need to partition and format the disk BEFORE you install it.

I built this system for a relative who need lots of file space but a low price (bought the 8808-8HU

on an off lease sale for less than $120) so this was the ticket for certain !

You can also install a PCI video card in the 'other' part of the expansion bay. I tried such an effort

with an old PCI video card (Nvidia) and it workied just fine.

Be carefull of the small PSU - it can't takie much more (in the way of output) than it already does!

Trust me - it works !