deepdag 0 Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 Hi guys, I've a old Dell OptiPlex740 lying around, it's about 5-6 year old. Specs are AMD 64X2 Duo Core Processor 4400 2.3GHz 3GB RAM, DVD+WR I was hoping to transfer the motherboard, CPU & all hardware to a Lian-Li case which can house 4-6 hdd (at least 3 drives of 2Tb). My problem is the old motherboard of this PC which has only one HDD connection. Is it possible to buy a card which can have 4 esata port & can be added to connect the hdd & setting up WHS2011. Main purpose of the server is regular & auto back ups of my 3 laptops, my own cloud & save my old photos (40-50gb & home videos 10gb). Thanking you in advance for reading this post. Deepdag. Update - I've Win 7 running on this already. Link to post Share on other sites
jmwills 284 Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 Are you trying to add external or internal drives? One option would be to go with a RAID solution but there are numerous solutions for port multipliers. A search on the forum would give you some ideas. Link to post Share on other sites
Technogod 8 Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 Every Dell PC I've ever seen has a proprietary power supply. The power supply must be moved with the motherboard because of the proprietary power supply connector on the motherboard. The power supply may not fit in your new case. That coupled with the lack of SATA connectors and age of the hardware. I'd recommend BYOB (Building Your Own Box). Your Home Server must be dependable. Using new hardware decreases the likelihood that it will break when you need it the most. I found this out the hard way by hanging on to my WHS V1 too long with aging hardware. Link to post Share on other sites
deepdag 0 Posted January 26, 2014 Author Share Posted January 26, 2014 Thanks Jmwills & Technogod. I agree, it will be too much of a risk with old hardware. I will build a new box. There is not a huge difference in the cost but I was short of space at home so was considering recycling this old one. Thanks again. Link to post Share on other sites
ikon 439 Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Technogod, I'm sure I've replaced the PSU in a few Dell mid-tower units with plain old XT-style ones. Are you talking about some specific kind of Dell? Link to post Share on other sites
Andne 13 Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 For a little while BTX started to become popular and I know I saw a few Dell machines that used it, I'm not sure if the power supply was the same or not, but there was a difference in some of the component layout on the motherboard, in theory to help improve airflow. It was back around the Pentium 4 and other Netburst-based processors I think. Not sure if that's what Technogod was seeing or not. Other possibility may be that the computers were some of the small form factor computers, which often have custom designs compared to most in order to meet the compact size that is desired. Link to post Share on other sites
ikon 439 Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Certainly the SFF Dell computers do have non-ATX PSUs but, AFAIK, the mobo connector is the same as most other PSUs. I did check a mid-tower Dell I have in my basement and its connector is the normal one I'm used to. Link to post Share on other sites
Technogod 8 Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 (edited) Here's a link explaining what I was referring to http://www.pchardwarehelp.com/Power-Supply.php Scroll down to Dell Power Supply Facts. I knew I wasn't having a senior moment Edited January 28, 2014 by Technogod Link to post Share on other sites
ikon 439 Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Interesting. All I can say is I have never run into one of those oddball wired Dells; they've all had standard ATX pinouts. I've replaced PSUs in probably a dozen different Dell models over the years. Now, even if it didn't have standard wiring, it's actually relatively easy to extract the pins from these connectors and move them around so that they would match up with the Dell pinout. Link to post Share on other sites
Essexraptor 2 Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 (edited) Thanks Jmwills & Technogod. I agree, it will be too much of a risk with old hardware. I will build a new box. There is not a huge difference in the cost but I was short of space at home so was considering recycling this old one. Thanks again. I know it's fun to build "your own" but have a look at some of the cash back-deals ( for us in the UK ) on older N54L and N40L HP MicroServers as well. I found one the other day for sub £200 which means with the £100 cash back ............. !!!!!! Keep the old machine and recycle it to have a dabble with Linux based server solutions EDIT Just be sure to check that the supplier is ..... " a HP Preferred Partner " ... otherwise you will not qualify for cash back... Edited March 8, 2014 by Essexraptor Link to post Share on other sites
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