Re: 1) Can I install a third (and maybe later a fourth) drive in the remaining 2.5" bays? Yes you can install up to two 2.5” drives.  The motherboard has three sata data ports.  The catch is the proprietary Dell psu which uses 6 pin without sata power connector. Therefore the 2.5” power has to come from the proprietary 8 pin hard-drive power cable connector (SATA PWR) on motherboard.  This power cable usually provides up to two sata power connectors.  if you install two 2.5 ssd, you may have to give up the current 3.5” hdd because there are only two sata power connectors to share power, unless you use a custom cable to provide a 3rd connector. [IMAGE]   2) Can I install a second (and maybe later a third) SSD?Yes up to two 2.5” ssd. 3) Can the PCIe x4 or x1 slots be used for SSDs? I've seen some M.2 to x4 adapters but I don't know if this is a good idea Yes. a nvme or sata ssd of M.2 form factor can be installed using a PCIe adapter. Details depend on the adapter spec.  It is a good alternative as you are no longer restricted by the 2.5 sata power connector issue.  On the other hand an M.2 ssd is more expensive than 2.5 ssd which is the oldest form factor. 4) Can I install SSDs in the 2.5" bays using SATA and if so would this result in lower through put than using the PCIe x4 slot with an adapter (as per 3, if this is possible)? Yes you may.  a sata ssd will have same speed whether it is 2.5 or M.2 in form factor. a NVMe ssd will be faster than sata ssd.  However you may not notice the difference as both are quite fast.
Hi, I'm trying to add a second SSD to my PC.  I'm coming at this from a position of a little knowledge but a lot of confusion not helped by two calls to Dell Tech Support where I was given blatantly incorrect or nonsensical information in each.  Apologies in advance for any/many stupid questions   My PC currently has a 1TB SSD in the only M.2 slot I can see (2280). I believe there's also a 2230 but a) I believe it's supposed to have a Bluetooth/Wifi module installed already and b) I can't see it on the system board. I have a 2TB HDD installed in the 3.5" bay. Dell have told me that I can only have 2TB storage maximum across all drives (obviously nonsense as I already have 3TB) and also that I can only install 2 drives total (seemingly nonsense as the machine has the M.2 slot plus 1x3.5" and 2x2.5" bays). Details of ports and connectors are on page 15 of the specs manual: G5 5000 Setup and Specifications (dell.com) There are apparently 3 PCIe slots (x16 which I think is where the graphics card is installed) as well as one each of x4 and x1. I think these last 2 slots are labelled 'Slot 4' and 'Slot 1' on the system board but I'm not sure as they're not listed on the diagram on page 45 of the service manual: G5 5000 Service Manual (dell.com) So, questions I really hope you can help me with: 1) Can I install a third (and maybe later a fourth) drive in the remaining 2.5" bays? Or are Dell really right when they say I can only have 2 storage devices in total? 2) Can I install a second (and maybe later a third) SSD or can the system board only handle a single SSD as Dell told me? 3) Can the PCIe x4 or x1 slots be used for SSDs? I've seen some M.2 to x4 adapters but I don't know if this is a good idea vs 4) Can I install SSDs in the 2.5" bays using SATA and if so would this result in lower through put than using the PCIe x4 slot with an adapter (as per 3, if this is possible)? I'm so confused by what Dell have told me not helped with my patchy knowledge of the new (to me) PCIe and M.2 form factors so I really hope someone can shed some light on this for me. I really appreciate any help and advise. Thanks everyone.
G5 5000 adding second SSD - SATA or PCIe?