I’ve found an Inspiron with an FX8800P and 1 3.5” slot and a DVD slot. I intend to use it in my 3-2-1 backup with two drives (one hot, one warm) and the third backup in AWS Glacier (inb4 fuck Amazon - it’s cheap). It will also function as a NAS.
Have you placed a 3.5” drive in the 5.25” DVD bay? I understand you may need an adapter. Not sure if I can skip that.
The reason I can’t use a consumer NAS is because I want to power one of the drives off for power, longevity, and I don’t want to use RAID (also they’re quite $$$).
Edit:
Doesn’t look like a dock is necessary…
Yeah so the answer is no
I did not, but of course you can. Either by using an adapter (maybe a printable one?), or – if it is an SSD – by just placing the drive there and hld it in place with one screw.
If there already is a drive installed you want to removed and there is no spare cover, you can also print one.
(You can of course buy the parts instead of printing them. Those adapters and covers are fully standardized and widely available.)