You can’t use a normal dimmer to control a fan. I searched for “fan controller 110v” on AliExpress and found some for <10€, but I don’t know which of them are good.
Did you try to reduce the brightness of your monitor?
This. OP, get an M.2 NVME SSD in 2280 or 2260 size. Then you can add a SATA drive later, when/if you need it.
Btw there’s a movie about that: The Age of Adaline.