Adding second drive to ATC-780

gcole
gcole Member Posts: 5 New User
edited March 1 in 2018 Archives

I just purchased an ATC-780-UR61 along with a standard 2.5" ssd that I was going to add as a second drive as the boot disk and use the 1tb drive for storage. I now understand that there are only 2 SATA connectors on the motherboard - one used by the 1tb drive and 1 by the dvd drive.

 

Is it possible to add a second drive to this PC? I've read some other models include a M.2 connector to add an ssd drive to, but I don't see any documentation that the ATC-780 has this.

Best Answer

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓

    i can confirm:

    NGFFM1 M.2 SSD connector

     

    it's on the right side of the motherboard, near the 2 SATA ports.

    I'm not an Acer employee.
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Answers

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer

    be patient, i just asked for more detailed specs about your model.

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓

    i can confirm:

    NGFFM1 M.2 SSD connector

     

    it's on the right side of the motherboard, near the 2 SATA ports.

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • gcole
    gcole Member Posts: 5 New User

    Thank you IronFly.

     

    Looking at M.2 SATAIII SSD's, it looks like they come in two lengths - 42mm and 80mm. Can you confirm the size that fits the ATC-780? I would assume it would be the 80mm. I should be reciving this system tomorrow and would like to have an ssd ready to go in.

     

    Thank you for your help.

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer

    2280, so 80mm

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • gcole
    gcole Member Posts: 5 New User

    For those that may look at this in the future, there is indeed an M.2 SATAIII 2280 connector in this computer. I added this Crucial MX300 275GB SSD (CT275MX300SSD4) and it is working great.

    location1.JPG

     

    location.JPG

  • miklet
    miklet Member Posts: 33 Enthusiast WiFi Icon

    If a motherboard manual is found, please share it with more of us.

    I bought the ATC-780-AMZi5 from Amazon. There is no reference to that Acer machine on the website, no help from the support pages.

     

    Regrets....

  • miklet
    miklet Member Posts: 33 Enthusiast WiFi Icon

    I have seen a photo of the motherboard in the reviews section of Amazon

    There appear to be two screw mounts by the M.2 connector, serving either size of SSD card.

  • miklet
    miklet Member Posts: 33 Enthusiast WiFi Icon

    Can you confirm the pin count of the RAM module?

    is it 240-pin or 288-pin?

  • miklet
    miklet Member Posts: 33 Enthusiast WiFi Icon

    NGFF = Next Generation Form Factor

    M1 = ?

     

    Might you be able to comment on the "M1" piece?

     

  • miklet
    miklet Member Posts: 33 Enthusiast WiFi Icon

    just purchase the very same drive

    where did you get a hold down screw from?

    do you know what the size is?

    did you use a regular screw driver? or did you have access to a ESD screw driver?

  • gcole
    gcole Member Posts: 5 New User

    Miklet, the motherboard has mounting post set for the longer m.2 drive. It looks like there is a spot you could move the post to for the shorter drive, but I assume you would need to remove the motherboard to move it.

    I can't confirm the pin count on the ram, but is something I would like to verify for a future ram upgrade - although at this point I haven't had issues with the included 8gb.

    Two mounting screws were included with the ssd drive I purchased, so I'm unsure of the size.

  • miklet
    miklet Member Posts: 33 Enthusiast WiFi Icon

    This is the SSD I bought - Crucial MX300 M.2 2280 275GB TLC Internal Solid State Drive CT275MX300SSD4

    Hope I get a mounting screw.

     

    Here is a photo of the RAM in my machine

    I counted the pins on the RAM - 288-pins, 144 per side x2

    Acer ATC-780 AMZi5 8GB RAM.jpg

     

    This machine came with 8GB 2400Mhz DIMM, but the Task Manager/Memory showed the system speed of 2133

     

    All the same, the best price I could find for 32GB RAM (2x16GB) was at Newegg, I bought 2 of these;CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) Memory (Desktop Memory) Model CMK16GX4M1A2400C16

  • THEGUY58
    THEGUY58 Member Posts: 1 New User

    Does anyone know if you can upgrade the psu to a atx psu? needing info of the size of the psu dimensions wise,brand,watts,ratings,and what connectors it has. Thanks for the help. Smiley Happy 

  • c-loo
    c-loo Member Posts: 1 New User

    For those that may look at this in the future, there is indeed an M.2 SATAIII 2280 connector in this computer. I added this Crucial MX300 275GB SSD(CT275MX300SSD4) and it is working great.

     

    In your 2nd picture there looks to be a mounting screw in the longest (left-most) whole.  Is that true?  If so, what kind of screw is that?

     

     

    medium.jpg

  • gcole
    gcole Member Posts: 5 New User

    That is a standoff to support the end of the SSD - similar to this:

     

    standoff.jpg

    The SSD that I purchased came with a screw that fit perfectly.

  • gbtx
    gbtx Member Posts: 1 New User

    I was disappointed to find my new ATC-780A-UR11 didn't have a spare connector for adding a second hard drive, finding this forum with other replies confirming just the two 2 SATA connectors.  (My case did come with a slot labeled HDD2 and the power supply cable had the extra connector)

     

    I'm thinking of going about this a slightly different way as I can't recall the last time I used a CD or DVD... I'm going to use the second SATA connector for another hard drive instead, and get an external USB DVD player for those rare times I need it.

     

    Eventually I'll get an SSD, using the M.2 2280 slot as also suggested here.

     

  • trail_rambler
    trail_rambler Member Posts: 3 New User

    So, you connect a cable from the M.2 to the SSD? What cable? Or do you need another hardware interface?I haven't been able to find the answer.

  • brummyfan2
    brummyfan2 ACE Posts: 28,077 Trailblazer

    trail_rambler wrote:

    So, you connect a cable from the M.2 to the SSD? What cable? Or do you need another hardware interface?I haven't been able to find the answer.


    No, you have to buy a M.2 SATA SSD similar to this to install in the M.2 slot. As an example:

    Capture.JPG

     

  • trail_rambler
    trail_rambler Member Posts: 3 New User

    I opened the computer and see the connector. But how do you connect the SSD to the M.2 SATAIII 2280 connector? I've looked and looked and I haven't been able to find a cable for this.

  • brummyfan2
    brummyfan2 ACE Posts: 28,077 Trailblazer

    trail_rambler wrote:

    I opened the computer and see the connector. But how do you connect the SSD to the M.2 SATAIII 2280 connector? I've looked and looked and I haven't been able to find a cable for this.


    You need to insert the SSD at an angle in to the slot(very similar to installing a memory module), push down at the end very gently and tighten with a screw.

    Capture.JPG