i have a dell precision 380 with two 80 gig hard DRIVES. I am running WINDOWS 7 pro - 64 bit.  After attempting to replace HD #2 with a larger drive and finding it impossible to accomplish WITHOUT the OS disk (which I don't have), I now wonder if i can hook up via sata cables the purchased hard drive in a bay under my dvd burner. Will this work well?
I know I can buy a case and use in usb mode but I wanted a little cleaner looking install.

thanks.You should have this information on  back or side of your Dell

With that info, go to the support area and find all the information you need for your machine, including how to get into the BIOS and SPECIFY what devices are available.
http://support.dell.com


Shouldn't be any problem, this is the motherboard:

Looks like 4 SATA connectors.  Internal SATA drives will be 20X faster than external USB.
Do you intend on transfering the OS to the new drive?No it will be just for backup/storage. I don't have a copy of win-pro 7 anyway. this is sort of a work around.
all sata ports are enabled as well.So what exactly are you asking here ? ? adding a HDD is nothing...
Where it goes also can always be configured. Quote from: bayflyer on December 29, 2010, 01:35:54 PM

i have a dell precision 380 with two 80 gig hard drives. I am running windows 7 pro - 64 bit.  After attempting to replace HD #2 with a larger drive and finding it impossible to accomplish without the OS disk (which I don't have), I now wonder if i can hook up via sata cables the purchased hard drive in a bay under my dvd burner. Will this work well?
I know I can buy a case and use in usb mode but I wanted a little cleaner looking install.

thanks.