How to Add a Second Hard Drive to a Compaq Presario
The Presario is a family of computers and notebooks from Compaq. If you own a Presario and find the hard disk space not enough, you need to add a second hard disk drive to the PC. The operation is simple and fast, and it will give you the space you need for your movies, music or data. A secondary hard drive is also good for backup, in case something your primary hard drive gets damaged.
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Instructions
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Turn off the PC and unplug it. Use the Phillips screwdriver to open the PC case.
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2
Check the current configuration of your PC to see if you have one or two IDE cables. If you only have one IDE cable, you need to plug in the second one. Take the secondary cable and plug it into the second IDE port named "IDE2" or "Secondary IDE." If you have two cables, there's no need to plug in the secondary cable.
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3
Set the jumpers on the second drive. The jumpers are small connectors which can be placed in multiple positions to set the hard drive as master or slave. Set it as slave if you are installing it on the same cable with the first hard drive, or set it as master if you are installing it on the secondary cable.
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Insert the second drive in the PC and fix it with screws.
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Plug the IDE cable to the hard drive.
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Plug in a four-wire power connector into the hard drive. Usually, a PC’s power supply has multiple power connectors of this type, so you will easily find a free one.
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Put the case cover back on and fix it with the screws.
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Plug in the PC and boot, it should automatically recognize both the hard drives.
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Tips & Warnings
Some old PCs may not have additional power connectors, so before buying a second drive, make sure you have a free power connector.
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