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February 20th, 2025 17:42
[OptiPlex 7070 SFF] question about upgrading storage
Hello.
TL;DR: I would like to set up my OptiPlex 7070 SFF with an M.2 drive, plus two SSD drives attached to the Dell dual-drive caddy, but it is not listed as a supported configuration.
A quick question about upgrading storage on this SFF computer. In the "Storage combinations" section of the Dell OptiPlex 7070 SFF Setup and Specifications Guide (p.12) there is a listing of some supported combinations of M.2, 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SSD/HDD storage devices.
Some of these combinations include two 2.5-inch drives (I understand these combinations are achieved using the optional Dell dual-drive caddy), or M.2 + a single 2.5/3.5-inch drive. It is a bit surprising, however, it is not listed an M.2 drive + two 2.5-inch drives (either SSD or HDD ones).
Is it on purpose? Is a setup of three drives (one M.2 drive + two 2.5-inch drives attached to the dual drive caddy) unsupported? Mine arrived with a 3.5-inch caddy, obviously for a single drive, so it arrived with an extra power cable plus a single SATA data cable, intended for the 3.5-inch caddy.
Will adding a second SATA data cable and the power splitter cable provided with the dual-drive caddy, be an unsupported configuration? There is a free SATA port on the motherboard, and it looks BIOS will be happy with this setup:
[...]
PCI Information
Slot1 = {Empty}
Slot2 = {Empty}
Slot3_M.2 = Mass Storage
Slot4_M.2 = {Empty}
I understand Slot1 and Slot2 are the SATA ports on motherboard, while Slot4 is the M.2 slot destined to host the [optional] wireless adapter.
redxps630
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February 20th, 2025 19:39
three drives (one M.2 drive + two 2.5-inch drives attached to the dual drive caddy)
this is certainly supported
Re: adding a second SATA data cable and the power splitter cable
this will work
(edited)
user9486
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February 25th, 2025 15:18
@redxps630 Well, I think you are right. There is no reason for this one being an unsupported configuration if there is a free SATA port on the mainboard and BIOS seems to support two SATA devices plus an M.2 one.
Just wanted to make sure there is not a know issue with this set up. I guess Dell would have disabled one of the internal ports on a BIOS upgrade, if there are known problems setting up two SATA drives on this model.
Thanks a lot for the feedback on this matter!
redxps630
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February 25th, 2025 20:43
What Dell said in manual spec is what Dell offers as oem options, but not exclusively the only supported storage matrix for this model
if you look at table 6 Dell OptiPlex 7070 Small Form Factor Setup and Specifications
it basically shows Dell only offer one or two at most storage options. Dell typically does not offer three or more storage in its standard oem configuration.