How to Add an Extra Hard Drive to a Computer

Installing a secondary hard drive is not a difficult process.

Many computer users eventually find the need for extra computer storage space. The best way to gain extra space on your computer is to add another hard drive. Most desktop towers have extra capacity slots for additional storage, and installing a new hard drive is not a difficult process if you understand a little about computers.

Things You'll Need

• Cross head screw driver
• Extra hard drive

Instructions

1. Turn off the desktop computer by shutting down Windows and powering off. Unplug the tower from the electrical outlet and open the tower. Some towers unclip and others have screws that will need to be loosened.

2. Notice that inside the computer there is an IDE cable, which is flat and light gray in color and runs from the motherboard to the back of the hard drive already installed. The cable is fitted to the hard drive with a black multi-pin socket. The cable will also have an appendage coming from the hard drive, which leads to another black socket plug. The appendage is the end you will need to attach the secondary hard drive.

3. Note the power cables with white plastic sockets coming from the power supply. Attach one of those white plugs to the power socket of the hard drive. It will only fit into one place. Attach the appendage end of the tape cable to the hard drive.

4. Notice there is a set of eight pins between the power and the tape cable on the hard drive. You may note that there is a small plastic protector over two of the pins. The protector is placed according to the instructions on the hard drive label to determine the status of the hard drive. There are two main hard drive statuses, master and slave. A master hard drive is usually that on which the operating system is installed and from which the computer boots. The slave drive is the secondary (or tertiary, if three are installed) from which the storage files are kept. The plastic protector on the master drive must be set according to the information on the label of the drive.

5. Set the secondary hard drive as your slave drive by following the label directions. Install the hard drive into the slot and screw it in place. Close up the computer tower and boot up the computer. You may need to enter your BIOS on the computer in order to activate the secondary drive, although on some computers the BIOS is set to automatically recognize any hardware addition.

References

• PC mech