Newb here trying to get started on a Blue Iris set up. I purchased a refurbished HP EliteDesk 800 SFF G4. It has an optical drive and an SSD drive. I also bought two WD Purple drives to install in the two available HDD slots. Today I started trying to install the HDDs and figured out that there is no spare data cables to attach to the drives although there is a power cable for two HDDs. The computer has three connectors on the board. Two of them are being used by the optical drive and the SSD. I have been trying to figure out a data cable to buy but am wondering if there is only one connector on the board and I need to connect to two HDDs, how is it going to work? Do I need to unplug the data cable from the optical drive and use it on one the HDDs and then get a new cable to use for the other HDD? Is there any kind of data cable that has two heads so that you can use one cable to attach to two HDDs? I haven't been able to find any such thing. Surely there is a way to have two HDDs, an SSD and an optical drive in this machine. Thanks for any insight or ideas.
HDD Data Cable for HP Elitedesk 800 SFF G4
- Thread starter El Duderino
- Start date
fenderman
Staff member
- Mar 9, 2014
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The unit has 3 sata ports + two NVME slots for NVME SSD. If you want to use a 2.5" ssd you will need to disconnect the optical drive which is useless in 2021.
Thank you! Do you think I can unplug the data cable from the optical drive and plug it into one of the HDDs? Also, the instructions for the desktop say a specific connector on the board should be used for the "primary serial ATA hard drive". If I have Blue Iris and Windows on the SSD drive, would that be considered the primary SATA hard drive rather than one of the WD Purple drives?
fenderman
Staff member
- Mar 9, 2014
- 36,891
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Plug the SSD into the primary SATA port. If my memory serves me right there's a specialized connector for the optical drive so you won't be able to use it with a standard hard drive.
Thanks again. It's nice to hear from someone that knows something. I spent a lot of time chatting with HP and just got the runaround with no answers. I also checked back with the seller on ebay that I bought the HP from to see if they mistakenly left out the data cable. They said it was not there when they got it. I'm not sure I buy that but I don't guess there is anything I can do about it. Thanks again.
fenderman
Staff member
- Mar 9, 2014
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The seller is being truthful. The cable is not included. They are a few dollars.
Neftci
n3wb
- Apr 28, 2017
- 12
- 14
Just picked up a HP EliteDesk 800 G4 SFF i5-8500 on ebay to get set up as a BI machine. I am a complete computer noob so dumb questions to follow…
My unit appears to have only 3 SATA data ports. One is connected to an existing optical drive, another to an existing SSD, and a third unused. The unit has enough SATA power cables to power 4 devices. I would like to be able to have 2 HDDs for my BI setup.
If the connector to the optical drive is specialized per fenderman’s comments, how would I be able to install 2 HDDs? Would I be able to add a SATA port to the motherboard? Seems strange that the 800 G4 has the room and power for an SSD, 2 HDDs, and an optical drive, but not enough SATA ports, so am I missing something obvious?
Thanks in advance
fenderman
Staff member
- Mar 9, 2014
- 36,891
- 21,407
Just use a standard sata connector. Basically replace the cable. There are also two m.2 SSD slots which is the best option.
Neftci
n3wb
- Apr 28, 2017
- 12
- 14