Hoshī Update - Expansion n’ Extensions n’ Stuff!
Chonky!
Hoshī + Upgrades!
PC’s actually been sitting with the side panel off since… April? 
Long story short, CableMod’s 24-Pin ATX Cable Extension was causing BSODs (Part 1, Part 2).
Got a replacement cable (with Den’s help! 
) back in early June.
Hoshī - Cable Management
Y’know when you put a lot of effort into a thing.
Only to tear it down later?
Yeah…
Hoshī - Rat’s Nest
Ugh. Cursed. 
But, gotta deal with the rat’s nest to get at the HDD rack.
Hoshī - Underside
Props to Fractal Design for the rail design, much appreciated.
Lets me slide the HDD rack without fully removing its screws.
If say, I needed to get at the bottom slot (currently blocked), I give the rack a temporary slide to the right, and I can pull it out. 
HDD Tray + Seagate 4 TB HDD
From Den! 
…I’m gonna game on it. 
For the record, this is the 7200 RPM one, not the 5400 RPM.
HDD Dampener
I only noticed the shape of this thing now.
Uh, eight months after building in the Define 7 Compact case.
And… I’m fairly certain I installed it wrong the first time around. 
HDD Tray + HDD Dampeners
Dampeners in the same plane as the HDD tray.
Makes sense, as that way, they can make contact with both the vibrating HDD and the screws holding it to the tray.
'Chew is the biggest derp. 
HDD Tray + HDD Assembled
Assembled (
), heh.
HDD + CableMod Cable Extension Installed
I actually started with the cable extension first.
Too busy muttering colorful words under my breath to take pics of it at the time. 
Don’t look at the HDD corner. Don’t.
Hoshī - Front Panel Removed
Like the rest of the Define 7 Compact, removal of the front panel is completely tool-less.
Just, yoink! 
Hoshī - Back + Front
Featuring the Define 7 Compact’s default fans:
1 × Fractal Design Dynamic X2 GP-12 Case Fan
1 × Fractal Design Dynamic X2 GP-14 Case Fan
Case Fans
:pepedetect:
Hoshī - Noctua Fans Installed!
This took me waaay too much effort. 
Ran into clearance issues between the top fans and the 4+4 pin EPS Cable Extension.
Also, please ignore the cable leading up to that fan in the front. Pls, TY.
Hoshī - Back + Front
Yaaas!
Having all the fan slots occupied makes 'Chew super happy. 
Data Transfer - Media (D:) to Backup Plus (E:)
Before the hardware upgrades, I made a backup of the Media drive on my Seagate Backup Plus.
Partly 'cos I had something to restore, if I ran into issues moving all my games to the new HDD.
Also partly to get an idea how fast or how slowly data would transfer.
Ignore the Windows estimate, the copy-pasta took mebbe an hour, for 200 GB of stuff.
BIOS
HDDs detected? Check.
Fans running? Check.
(Yes, I plugged fans into the AIO and Water Pump headers. Cable lengths, yanno.)
Cable Extension, I’ll have to check over the next week. Hopefully power delivery will be stable and no BSODs. 
4 TB HDD Automatically Detected!
Didn’t have to fanagle with Disk Management and pull up YouTube tutorials!
Den is to thank.
Data Transfer - Media (D:) to Local Disk (E:)
Hm… Don’t remember how long it took. I think I was cleaning up tools and leftover accessories after the hardware upgrade? Eh. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
After copy-pasta’ing my games over, went through the tedious part of “repairing” game clients and correcting game directories.
Steam is easy and painless, everything’s done automatically and in an instant.
Origin needs the user to find the game’s new folder, and can verifying files take a while, depending on how large the game is.
Ubisoft Connect is also easy and painless, seems to be automatic. Buuut I only have one Ubisoft game to test that with.
Actually did the physical fiddling around June 19. Spent the next two weeks watching out for any BSODs or funky PC issues.
Aaannnd…!
I think I’m safe…?
UGH. Pleeeaaase, let me be safe.
Also, also!
Smol thankies to everyone that chimed in, in the Fractal Design Define 7 Compact - Airflow Question and the 4 TB SSD/HDD - Recommendations? threads!
Case fans and orientation, I’m pretty satisfied with.
4 TB storage space, I’m currently also satisfied with? Haven’t noticed any significant changes that affect gameplay or loading times, though keep in mind I was moving from one HDD to another HDD (low standards are low, haha), and I’ve barely grazed the surface of that chonky 4 TB capacity.
Hoshī - Open SIde Panel
Don’t close the side panel unless you’re certain it’s running properly.
Learned that lesson during BSOD month.
Hoshī - Closed Up!
Define 7 Compact’s side panel makes it sooo painlessly easy to close up shop, even in compact spaces. There’s like, an 1.5 inches of space, between the UPS and the PC.
Don’t need a lotta horizontal space (X-Y Axis). Just a bit of headroom (Z Axis) to slide it in, and it closes up with a literal touch. No thumbscrews FTW!