2nd hard-drive on Dell latitude e6400

hello,

Which kind of 2nd hard-drive can you add to Dell latitude e6400 laptop ?
Is it 2.5" or 1.8" hard-drive size ?

Is it easy to remove it from the bay to bring it with you when you can not take your e6400 with you ? so you can always have your data with you when you use another PC (ideally via USB)

Thanks, Chris

 

2.5" SATA. The second drive plugs into a drive bay that is sort of hidden, you have to take out the battery and also take off the bottom cover. (But it's real easy once you see the instructions - two screws and then slide the plate towards the front.)

The second bay will have a funky connector when you look at it. That's because there's an interposer that goes between the drive and the connector. You don't have to order it with two drives to get the interposer; it's "hidden" in a little block of foam that comes packed inside the empty drive bay, along with screws and stuff that you need.

I'd actually go for putting the main OS drive in the secondary bay since it's harder to get to. Means it would be easier to add / swap the secondary later, since it's just under the battery cover.

 

Can we have a photo? I can't see space for a second HDD inside my E6400.

AFAIK the only option for a 2nd HDD is in the media bay and, at present this is only available for a 1.8" HDD although someone has reported than common sense may have intervened at Dell and they are working on a 2.5" HDD media bay option.

John

 

I was actually talking about a 2nd hard-drive in the media bay. So it is only 1.8".. yes 2.5" would have been nicer.

And do you have pix of this 2nd hard-drive in the media bay ? is it possible to easily take this 2nd hard-drive with you when you need your data but not the whole laptop ?

Chris

 

See the service manual for the modular bay HDD.

John

 

Thank you for the link, very useful.
-> so I can not have perfect tool I wanted: being able to take the 2nd hard-drive with me when not using the e6400 in order to be able to plug it via USB to an other PC.

 

I would put the second HDD in an external enclosure which has both USB and eSATA ports. You can use the eSATA with the E6400 and USB with other computers. It's not in the bay, but I always like to have my optical drive available so I would want to put the HDD in the bay.

John

 

As i have understod things you can "push button" replace the optical drive for a second hard drive, so far unfortunatly only a 1,8" disc but there is some hope for a aftermarket 2,5" disc. This can also be mounted in the External Media Bay Module. And that way make it portable. However his unit may only have a eSata contector (this I am not certain of).

 

Oh whoops, I thought you were talking about an M6400. These model numbers are easy to misread for me.

 

Yes, it is confusing.

John