Used the Windows11 Gamer PC for 4 weeks to see there were no failures before putting in the big secondary disk I had bought.
The manual they give you shows where the main connectors are, and a blog post I found showed the process of installing a HDD into a Desktop MOUSE PC.
MOUSE PC don't recommend adding anything to the PC yourself and understand why now. Removing both side covers doesn't give you the access you need, and the liquid cooled CPU cooler plumbing is in the way.
The way the 2 big cooling black tubes come over the edge of the graphic card from the CPU cooler to the front fan unit means you cannot remove the graphics card that is covering access to the SATA data connections. Thought moving those fluid filled tubes at all was out of the question.
My initial thoughts were it wasn't possible to get to the SATA data connector on the motherboard once the Graphics card and CPU cooler had been installed in this GTUNE Small desktop model case! Looking closer showed it could, but without completely removing the Graphics Card as you normally would.
The following needs VERY VERY GENTLY added before everything being moved, plugged in or unplugged.
What I had to do was, unscrew the graphics card back panel retaining screws and bracket, unplug the 2 power cables for the graphics card, then very carefully get the graphics card out of its motherboard edge connector noting there is a clip on the right most edge that needs to be unlocked, then point that edge connector and board toward the bottom of the case enough, hold it there, then with the other hand plug in the SATA data cable to the top now just accessible SATA connector. Didn't have enough hands free to take any photos.
Not for the inexperienced at all.
Putting the HDD in the pull out holder and plugging in the SATA data connection was not hard. I didn't have a right angle SATA data connector though, so the side panel makes the cable curve going down to the motherboard tighter than I would have liked. The SATA power connector cables were all cable tied together, so that tie needed cutting and getting one suitable connector in the right place to plug into the HDD, then cable tying the rest back together, but not as tightly. A tight cable tie can eventually cut the cables it is holding.
It all went together, I assigned H: to the drive, did a quick format, and it was all working.
It would be much easier for anyone else to just buy the options for their MOUSE PC with the secondary HDD or whatever done at the factory. But for the same price I would have then had a 2TB HDD factory installed, rather than 4TB.
Back to work...
This new Win11 machine boots and is ready to work in seconds. My old Win10 machine, which has pretty much the same CPU with loads of memory, but a HDD C drive, takes way longer to boot, then you generally have to leave it 20minutes for updates and Defender to run before you can start work. End of normal support for it is under 4 weeks away now, but surely Microsoft isn't trying to make the Win10 experience worse by slowing it all down, is it?
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