How to Install a SATA Hard Drive

An inexpensive and useful upgrade to your computer can be a secondary hard drive or upgrading the one you already have. A new hard drive provides a welcome upgrade to the storage space on your computer. SATA hard drives have a different installation process than IDE but the steps below should make it easy.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Installing Your Hardware

1. Open up your case after backing up any important files and locating and installing any software that came with the hard drive. Check to make sure that your computer supports SATA or that you have a SATA PCI card installed.

2. Look for the smaller connector on the SATA cable and connect it to the SATA connector located on the motherboard or controller card. If you already have another SATA drive, simply follow its cable to the motherboard or card to see where this one will attach.

3. Grab the larger end of the SATA cable and connect it to the back of the SATA drive itself. You will also need to attach the legacy 4-pin connector or SATA power cable to power your drive. At this point, check to see that both the smaller and larger end of the SATA cable and the power cable are securely connected and proceed.

4. Choose an available drive bay and insert the hard drive into it, mounting it in place with the four screws provided. Make sure to follow the directions that came with your drive and place the screws in the designated holes to secure proper grounding.

5. Ensure that all cables are properly attached and replace the tower or desktop case cover. After doing this, you're all set to reconnect the power cord and turn on your computer.

Formatting and Partitioning

6. Boot from your Windows CD. If this is the only hard drive present, you'll be shown a series of instructions and should simply follow along.

7. Select "Control Panel" then "Performance and Maintenance" and finally "Administrative Tools" for an additional hard drive. Then click the "Computer Management option and choose "Disk Management." Simply right-click the drive to partition and format it.

8. Follow the steps displayed. Windows will guide you through the rest of the process.

Tips & Warnings

• Always check to make sure that your computer supports SATA or that you have a SATA PCI card installed.
• Make sure to back up any important files before installing a new hard drive.
• If you decide to use a standard SATA cable, do not attach both the standard cable and the legacy 4-pin cable together or the drive may malfunction.