Question Concerning Adding Additional SSD To My HP Compaq 8300 SFF Desktop Computer

Hello,

Hopefully my question won't be considered as too dumb, I recently wanted to add a second hard drive to my desktop computer as I had a spare ssd that wasn't being used for anything. I quickly discovered that the only way that my computer would recognize the drive was to disconnect the sata data that was connected to my dvd drive and connect it to the ssd. also, since I had an extra power connector available that made getting the second drive ready for use pretty simple. I had already formatted the drive as well as creating a new ntfs partition on it, I was actually hoping that it might be possible to install a second operating system on the new ssd. I quickly discovered that evidently the way this motherboard is setup that's not possible, does anyone have any ideas as to what I might be able to do to get around my current issue ? Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions. Just for your reference I'm enclosing a link to the HP Compaq 8300 SFF Illustrated Parts & Service Map: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c03612803.pdf , hopefully by including this it may provide some help for any replies. After viewing some additional information in hp literature concerning the motherboard of the computer being referenced in this post it appears as though the addition of the ssd that I'm wanting to utilize on my computer should be connected with a data cable like this 12in SATA Serial ATA Cable - SATA Cables | StarTech.com , I have a similar cable already on hand but unless I did something incorrectly or the cable is defective in some way the ssd that I wanted to utilize wasn't recognized by my system. Per the hp system board diagram on page 177 of illustrated parts & service manual the sata data cable should be connected to connection # 8 labeled as sata 3.0 - sata1 - light blue - 2nd hard drive, or 2nd optical drive if a esata adapter cable exists.

David

Davy49 said:

I was actually hoping that it might be possible to install a second operating system on the new ssd.

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This should 100% be possible.

HP Elite 8300 SFF - Second hard drive not recognized in Windows 10

On this link the comments state that the BIOS just needed updating. I'm not sure if this is true to all installations however.

I hope this gets you further even if just a tiny bit in finding an answer, but I'm sure other people with more experience will be able to give further details

James said:

This should 100% be possible, I'll further look at this in a bit.

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I'm ALWAYS so appreciative of receiving some help when I need it as well as providing some help whenever possible!

Davy49 said:

I'm ALWAYS so appreciative of receiving some help when I need it as well as providing some help whenever possible!

Click to expand...

See my updated post - it might not be too helpful, sorry about that - but others might be able to hopefully help further

Davy49 said:

Hopefully my question won't be considered as too dumb

Click to expand...

P.S no such thing as a dumb question

James said:

This should 100% be possible.

HP Elite 8300 SFF - Second hard drive not recognized in Windows 10

On this link the comments state that the BIOS just needed updating. I'm not sure if this is true to all installations however.

I hope this gets you further even if just a tiny bit in finding an answer, but I'm sure other people with more experience will be able to give further details

Click to expand...

James,
Thanks so much for sharing that 'link' about a user having a similar issue, like that user stated and it also applies to my computer, by my hp elite 8300 sff being an older model (which I can surely relate to as I'm currently 74+ years old) I've already updated my bios to the latest version available, who was provided to me by an expert member of the hp support community itself.
David

I have one of those.

You could boot nvme disk via pcie adapter.


In terms of sata, I havent got the machine in front of me, but from memory there are 4 sata ports. The two blue are sata3 the other two are black and are sata2. So sata ssd should ideally be attached to one of the blue ports.

Sata data cables that come with motherboards are usually pretty good as the clips are firm, although any sata data cable you have lying around should do.

Does it show up in bios ?

SIW2 said:

I have one of those.

You could boot nvme disk via pcie adapter.

Install and boot from an NVMe SSD on a HP Compaq Elite 8300 SFF

How to install an NVMe SSD into a HP Compaq 8300 Elite and modify the BIOS to enable native boot support using an SPI Programmer.

www.tachytelic.net

In terms of sata, I havent got the machine in front of me, but from memory there are 4 sata ports. The two blue are sata3 the other two are black and are sata2. So sata ssd should ideally be attached to one of the blue ports.

Sata data cables that come with motherboards are usually pretty good as the clips are firm, although any sata data cable you have lying around should do.

Does it show up in bios ?

Click to expand...

SIW2,
I'm so glad that I decided to become a member of the various forums that shawn moderates so well, it's nice to know that you are at least familiar with this particular model of hp computer. Just for your reference in trying to help me, here's a link to the hp 8300 sff maintenance & service guide:
HP8300 Pro SFF Maintenence&ServiceGuide.pdf the system board diagram is on page # 177, at the current time I don't have the ssd installed inside of my computer, instead I'm using a handy little cable that I purchased quite awhile ago that has a male usb connector on one end and a male sata data connector on the opposite end, at least by utilizing this cable I'm able to get some use out of the ssd.