Installing Internal Hard Drives

Installing Internal Hard Drives

If your computer case has room for an additional drive inside, you may want to consider an IDE drive or the newer SATA drive.

Installing IDE Hard Drive
To install an internal drive, turn your computer off, disconnect the power cord, and remove the cover from the computer case. If you are replacing a drive, you will first need to remove the old one.

Start by unplugging the ATA ribbon cable and power cables, then remove the four screws holding it into the drive cage. Carefully slide the drive out of the cage - you may need to remove additional cables or expansion cards if space is tight inside your case.

Next, remove your new drive from its packaging and set the jumper on the back of the drive. If this is your primary drive, you will need to set it as master, though if it is an additional drive you will probably want to set it to slave.

Check the sticker on the drive itself, or the accompanying manual to see which pins to connect with the jumper in order to set the device as master or slave. Slide the new drive into the cage and secure it to the cage using four screws.

Next, attach the power and ATA ribbon cable. If you have set your drive to master, you need to attach the connector at the very end of the cable to your drive. If it is the slave, you will need to use the connector in the middle of the cable.

Check the connections to your drive, then plug your PC in and boot it up. It is often worth leaving the case off until you know the drive is functioning, as it is easy to set the wrong jumper settings or leave a cable improperly connected.

Windows will recognise your drive in My Computer. In order to use it, you must first format it, by right clicking and selecting format. If you currently use NTFS, you should set this drive to NTFS, otherwise use the FAT32 file system.

Alternatively, if this is a replacement for your primary drive, you will either need to mirror your old drives contents onto your new drive, or install operating system from the appropriate CD.

Install SATA Hard Drive
SATA connections are found in the newest computers which means that in most cases you will need to buy a SATA controller card and install it in an unused slot on your motherboard and then connect the SATA drive to the card.

Adding a SATA card is advantageous because once you have a SATA controller in your computer, you have the option to connect an external SATA drive. Installing a SATA drive in your computer is similar to installing an IDE drive as the drives are physically similar on the outside in terms of dimensions and mounting methods.

The difference is with the data connector, which is much smaller with a SATA drive than an IDE drive. SATA connectors have been known to break easily, so use caution when inserting and removing them.

Turn your computer off, disconnect the power cord, and remove the cover from the computer case. If you are replacing a current drive, you will need to remove the power and data cables, then unscrew the drive from the cage.

Carefully slide the drive out backwards, you may need to remove some additional cables and expansion cards if space it tight. Slide your new drive into the cage and secure it tightly with four screws, with two in each side of the cage. Next, you will need to plug in the SATA data and power cables.

The data cable needs to be plugged into your motherboard on the first available SATA channel. If you have replaced your primary drive, this would be SATA1, though if it is an additional drive, may be SATA2. Replace the sides of your case and boot your machine up.

Windows will discover your new hardware, though you can check that it is present in Windows Device Manager which is located in Control Panel. If you have replaced your primary drive, there will be no operating system present and you will need to install one using the appropriate CD.

Installing External Hard Drives

Connecting an external drive is much easier than installing an internal drive because you usually don't need to open the computer case. The drive attaches to a connector either at the front or the back of the computer case; power is supplied by a separate adapter.

Available connections
Your PC is likely to have one or more USB 2.0 connections; however it's less likely to have either FireWire or external SATA connections. FireWire and SATA connections are relatively simple to add, assuming your computer has at least one unused expansion slot.

If your PC has only USB 1.1 ports, you will need to add a USB 2.0 adapter in order to obtain usable transfer rates between your external USB drive and your computer. And if you need to add a USB 2.0, FireWire, or SATA adapter to your computer, you will need to open your computer's case and install the card.

USB Drive
Adding an external USB drive to your computer is as simple as connecting two wires. One wire is the USB 2.0 connection and the other connects to the drive's power supply. Plug the drive's power supply into an AC power outlet and then connect it to your drive.

For computers running Windows 2000/Me/XP, plug one end of the USB cable into an available USB 2.0 port on your computer and attach the other end to your drive. Windows will detect your drive and add it to your system. Open My Computer and you will see your drive listed among the other drives; you can now use this drive.

If you're using Windows 98 Second Edition, windows detects the new drive it will ask for software drivers. After you have installed the drivers, your new drive is available for use.

FireWire Drives
You can add external FireWire drives to your computer in the same way you would add USB 2.0 drive. Plug the power supply into an AC outlet and then into the drive. Connect the FireWire cable to the port on your computer and connect the other end of the cable to the FireWire port on the drive. Your drive is now available for use.

External SATA drives
Install the SATA controller card and then install the external interface extension in an empty slot in your computer case and connect it to the SATA controller card. You can then connect your external SATA drive to the SATA port in the rear of your computer. Close the computer case, plug in your computer's power cord, and turn on your computer. When your computer boots it will recognize your new drive, and the drive is ready for use.