How to Put Additional Hard Drives in an HP Slim Line Pavilion

An External Hard Drive

The HP Slim Line Pavilion desktop computer is designed to house all its internal hardware components in a very small space. While the design makes the computer easier to transport, it also means that it has no room for expanding the machine by adding extra components. The Slim Line Pavilion does not have room inside its case for more than a single internal hard drive, so you must install external hard drives instead if you need extra storage space.

Instructions

1. Consider how much extra hard drive space you need for storing extra files, such as 250 or 500 gigabytes. Acquire an external hard drive with the amount of space that you need.

2. Check to make sure the external hard drive uses a USB connection so that it will work with your HP Slim Line Pavilion computer. Plug in the external hard drive's AC power adapter into a wall outlet near the computer.

3. Do not plug the external hard drive into the HP Slim Line Pavilion computer yet. Check to see if the external hard drive you chose has an installation disc. Insert the installation disc into the Pavilion's DVD drive if one was included with the hard drive.

4. Follow the installation instructions on the screen to install the driver software for the external hard drive. Remove the disc from the DVD drive.

5. Plug the external hard drive's USB connector into any of the open USB ports on the HP Slim Line Pavilion computer. Click "Add New Hardware" when the operating system brings up a box letting you know it found the hard drive.

6. Click the "My Computer" icon in the Start menu to find out what drive letter the HP Slim Line Pavilion is using for the new hard drive, such as J:\ or D:\. Double-click the hard drive's letter to bring up a new window.

7. Find any existing files that you want to transfer to the new hard drive and click and drag them into the hard drive's window.

Tips & Warnings

• The HP Slim Line Pavilion computer has four available USB ports, so you could potentially use up to four extra hard drives if you need that much extra storage space.

• Remember that the external hard drive will not have an operating system installed on it. If the existing hard drive on your HP Slim Line Pavilion has malfunctioned, either replace it with a new internal hard drive or use the recovery CD that came with the computer to install the operating system on the external hard drive.

References

• HP Pavilion Slim Line Information
• Installing Extra Hard Drives