Comments on: Help me buy a part that Dell doesn't want to sell me

Question: Help me buy a part that Dell doesn't want to sell me

Artifice_Eternity — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 12:10:31 -0800

I need to add a 3rd hard drive to my Dell Precision T1600 workstation. I want to buy this bracket to mount it in an optical drive bay. But unfathomably, Dell only sells that part in the UK and Ireland -- it's not listed on their US site. Help!

Someone with the exact same computer has posted a helpful explanation of how he mounted a 3rd hard drive in 1 of his optical drive bays. But the Dell bracket he used to do it is only sold overseas.

Why would Dell refuse to sell this part to customers in their largest market? I have no clue. I tried to order it from the UK, but the order form makes no provision for having purchases shipped to the US. I can't reach customer support via phone... but I need this pronto. I'm in the midst of a huge video editing project, and my existing hard drives are pretty much full to the brim.

Has anyone managed to get Dell USA to sell them this part, or some other part apparently available only to non-US customers? If so, can you share what social engineering hackery you used to accomplish this?

Failing that, does anyone have any ideas about how I could buy this thing in the UK and get it shipped to me in the US?

Or could I just buy some generic hard drive bracket that would solve the problem?

By: tresbizzare

tresbizzare — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 12:20:09 -0800

If you have the mounting screws, any 5 1/4 to 3.5 bracket should work.

By: deadmessenger

deadmessenger — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 12:21:32 -0800

I've had to rig a "field expedient" hard drive bracket using zip ties in the past. Basically, you need to go around the body of the hard drive and into the mounting holes for the optical drive. It's not an awesome solution, but it'll work in a pinch.

By: Artifice_Eternity

Artifice_Eternity — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 12:38:12 -0800

Thanks, guys. I've mounted extra drives in dedicated hard drive bays before, but never in an optical bay... I thought going with the Dell bracket would be the safe bet, but if this is solvable with a generic product, I'll try it.

By: defcom1

defcom1 — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 14:23:22 -0800

Use a generic bracket. Or zip ties. That's what all my drives are mounted with.