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January 2nd, 2025 03:40
XPS 8950, why can’t I add a 4TB HDD?
I have a 500GB SSD as my Windows OS drive and I currently have a WD 1TB SATA drive and a WD 2TB SATA drive. I want to upgrade to two WD 4TB HDD SATA drives but my XPS 8950 doesn’t recognize the drives in the bios? I’ve read where others where able to get a larger drive to read but I can’t figure out how to get the XPS 8950 to recognize the drive?
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redxps630
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January 2nd, 2025 03:59
Is your bios>sata operation currently set as AHCI?
you want to replace 1TB + 2TB with 4 TB + 4 TB.
If already in AHCI, test the 4 TB HDD in another desktop pc.
WD seems to have quality issue sometimes so it pays to confirm the new drive is actually good before install in XPS.
we heard better things for Seagate. the fact you have two good WB 1/2 TB is not guarantee the new 4 B x 2 are good.
(edited)
Conman1
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January 2nd, 2025 04:13
@redxps630
When I changed it to AHCI I got a blue screen saying it couldn’t find the boot record.
I want to keep the os on the ssd and then replace the 2 additional hdds as you outlined in your response.
ispalten
4 Operator
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January 2nd, 2025 12:34
I wonder if the new SATA disks are not formatted for Windows only?
I recall hitting this with a WD External drive. The box said for BOTH Windows and Apple devices, and was ExFat.
It might be you'd have to Format the drives in NTFS before the BIOS or even Windows will see it.
If this is the case, you'd have to use DISK MANAGEMENT. With all the drives in, boot 'normally' (with the BIOS not seeing the drives) and open Disk Management (enter in a Command Prompt DISKMGMT.MSC) and it should how the drives as disk 1 and 2 with 0 being the Boot Drive SSD. Just right mouse button click on those 2 drives and FORMAT them to NTFS. You can assign the drives the letter you want with it as well.
This is my guess though. Worth trying but I'm not 100% sure unless the box did say it was for both or that it is formatted in EXFAT. There is a 'slight' possibility that Windows could read it but BIOS can't?
redxps630
9 Legend
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January 2nd, 2025 15:08
OP, your 1/2 TB hdd are linked to SSD in RAID, therefore when you swap em for 4TB hdd it would not work.
try switch to AHCI using safe mode to allow you to boot
https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/optiplex-desktops/how-to-boot-after-changing-from-raid-to-ahci/6716d53eb33994192335c92c?keyword=Ahci
tip: disable Windows PIN before attempting safe mode
(edited)