How to Add Hard Drive Space

Add storage space to your computer with a new hard drive.

Adding hard drive space is a common computer upgrade to help extend the life of a computer. Given the high-definition standard of multimedia and the ever-increasing space required for new computer programs, it is useful to increase the storage capacity of your computer. A new hard drive also helps increase a computer's processing efficiency, improving machines with older or slower hard drives. Installing a hard drive requires no specialized tools or skills and is easily performed at home.

Things You'll Need

• Screwdriver

Instructions

Desktop Hard Drive

1. Unplug the computer from the wall outlet.

2. Remove the computer's side access panel by unscrewing the thumb screws on the back and sliding the panel off the side of the computer.

3. Locate a vacant hard drive bay. Hard drive bays are commonly located in the front portion of the computer case directly below the CD or DVD drives.

4. Slide the new hard drive into a vacant bay so that the manufacturer's data sticker is pointing up and the data and power connectors point toward the rear of the case. There may be clips or screws provided to fasten the hard drive into the bay.

5. Locate a free hard drive power connector and connect it to the hard drive power port. The most commonly used power connector is the SATA power connector that is a thin wafer connector. This connector is keyed to only allow installation in one orientation.

6. Locate a vacant data port on the computer's motherboard. These are most commonly located in the lower right corner of the motherboard, to the right of the PCI express expansion slots.

7. Connect one end of a hard drive data cable to the data port on the motherboard.

8. Connect the opposite end of the hard drive data cable to the rear data port on the hard drive.

9. Replace the computer's side access panel and plug in the computer.

10. Start the computer and boot into the computer's operating system.

11. Double-click the "My Computer" icon located on the desktop.

12. Right-click the newly installed drive and select the "Format..." option from the context menu that appears.

13. Leave all settings at default and click the "OK" or "Format" button. The operating system formats the hard drive into a usable form. Upon completion of this step the hard drive is ready for use for any standard computing task.

Laptop Hard Drive

1. Shut down the laptop and remove the power source.

2. Locate the laptop hard drive access door. This is often located on the side or bottom of the laptop.

3. Open the hard drive access door. This often requires the removal of one or more screws.

4. Locate the hard drive. In some laptops, the hard drive is mounted into a small cage that holds it in place.

5. Remove the screws holding the mounting cage in place, if necessary. Some installations are held in place by a small pressure clip that needs to be depressed to remove the cage.

6. Lift the cage out of the laptop. Note the orientation of the hard drive within the cage. The new hard drive must be installed in this same orientation.

7. Remove the hard drive from the cage. The hard drive often simply slides out of the mounting cage. Remove any screws holding the hard drive into the cage. These are usually located along the thin side of the hard drive cage.

8. Insert the new drive into the cage in the proper orientation noted previously.

9. Reinsert the drive cage into the laptop and make sure it fits snugly for proper connectivity. Often, the data and power connectors automatically reconnect when the drive cage is reinserted into the laptop.

10. Replace all mounting screws and hard drive access covers previously removed.

11. Perform the formatting procedure in the same manner as with the desktop above, Step 10 through Step 13.

Tips & Warnings

• Older IDE style drives may require setting the jumpers on the back of the drive, following the diagram provided by the drive manufacturer, so that the original is set as the master drive and the new drive is set as the slave drive.

• Portable hard drives are another easy method to increase the storage capacity of your computer. These are designed to be plug-and-play using the USB ports on your computer. These portable drives offer extended hard drive capacity as well as mobility for your data.

• Back up the files on your current hard drive before performing any work on the computer.

• Some laptops do not posses a hard drive access door. Though these laptops may be taken apart to replace the hard drive, it commonly results in breaking the warranty sticker.

References

• Seagate: How to Install and Troubleshoot Serial ATA (SATA) Hard Drives
• Western Digital: Western Digital Serial ATA Hard Drive Installation Guide
• PCMech; Installing a Hard Drive -- Step by Step; David Risley; July 2007
• FRC Tech: How To Remove And Replace Your Laptop Hard Drive