How to install a Hard Drive

Deciding On A New Hard Drive

Installing a new hard drive is a pretty uncomplicated task and the actual setup only takes a few minutes to complete. The first thing to be done in this process is buy the new hard drive and make sure that it is compatible with your ideas this can be done by consulting your motherboard by hand and your operating systems guidelines on what hard drives are compatible. You then must determine what storage capacity your new drive must have and any other factors including price you feel you should be taken into consideration when making the purchase.

Hard Drive

Peparing For The Install

Once you have purchased your new hard drive it is time to get ready for the install. I suggest first installing any software that came with your drive. Once this is done it is time to think about safety. First power off the machine (I also suggest unplugging the tower from the power source.) Now take off the cover so that you can entrance the inside of your system. Regularly it only takes the discharge of a few screws and then lifting off the side panel to open the unit, any way some machines differ from this rule and you may even need to take off a front part in order to open the case. Either way once the case is open attach your antistatic bracelet if you have one if not continuously touch the metal covering edges of the case to expel any built up static electricity. This will preclude any sensitive components inside your machine from being damaged.

Setting Jumpers (Only for Ide)

Basically setting jumpers is how you configure the drive you are about to install. It is used to document and set the drive to its permissible settings, for instance if the new drive you are going to setup will be the only gadget on its Ide channel then it needs to be set to single-drive configuration. For a drive that is the first of two it will need to be set as the scholar of the Ide channel, and for a drive that is second on the channel it will need to be configured as the slave. Most often diagrams of the jumper settings will be included on the top of the hard drive case. If not you can find this information in the documentation with your new drive. Once you understand how to set the jumpers you can grab a pair of needle nose forceps and set the jumpers for the configuration of your drive.

Installing The New Drive

First look for an open drive bay Regularly these bays are settled at the front of the tower. If you are replacing an existing hard drive then it is probably best to insert your new hard drive in the bay that your old drive is currently occupying. Unscrewing a few screws and removing the old drive will allow you to entrance the bay to insert the new drive. any way if you are planning to add the new drive while still retaining the old one it is a good custom to keep an open bay in the middle of the two hard drives. The actual mounting of the hard drive differs from case to case some bays are removable and you can take off these and then insert the drive for others the bays are stationary and want you to mount the drive inside the case. Either way the process is not difficult Either you have removed the bay from the enclosure or not the rest of the process is still the same and that is insert the hard drive in the bay being truthful to line up the screw holes and then insert the screws. Once the screws are snuggly in place it is time to replace the bay if you previously removed it.

Connecting The Cables

From here we want to connect the cables. Depending on the type of drive used you are going to need to attach Either an Ide cable or a Sata Cable to your new hard drive. If you are using Ide and replacing an existing hard drive all that is to be done is connect the Cable your old hard drive was using to your new one. any way if you are adding a new hard drive while retaining the existing one you can Either connect both drives to one cable or to cut off cables. For execution reasons I suggest using two cut off cables if possible. The former Ide cable (most likely the one you were already using) should be linked to the fastest drive and the secondary cable should be linked to the slower drive. From this point ensure that the cables are linked properly to the connectors on the mum board if using Ide cables these are big black connectors and pretty hard to miss. Refer to the Drive and mum board manuals for locating these connectors if you are unsure about their location.

After The Install

Now that the hard work is done the only thing left to do is close back up your system, plug it in, and turn it on to verify that the new hard drive is working properly.

That's it you're all done, not so hard after all right!

How to install a Hard Drive