How to Enable Hard Drives
When connecting a new hard drive (either external or internal) to your computer, you need to enable the device before the computer is able to detect and use the device. Although this may just require you to power the hard drive on, it is important to do so; if you don't enable the drive, the data storage device is rendered useless and becomes an expensive paper weight.
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Instructions
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Connect the hard drive to the computer. If using an internal hard drive, insert the data/power cable into the rear of the device, then insert the opposite end into the motherboard. If you are not sure where exactly the connection port is, look at where the other hard drives and disc drives in the computer are connecting to. For external hard drives, connect a USB data cable to the drive and plug the opposite end into a USB port on the computer.
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2
Power on the external hard drive (the internal drive is automatically on). Once on, the computer is going to state it has detected a new, removable device.
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3
Install any driver that comes with the hard drive. The driver is often required to enable the hard drive as the computer is unable to read the drive without the necessary driver. Insert the driver installation CD into the disc drive, then follow the prompts of the wizard to completely install the driver.
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Restart the computer after any driver installation. Once the operating system boots up, the hard drive is enabled and ready for use.
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