Adding new hard drive devices to your PC is a quick and simple operation. With hard drives available to the discerning buyer for prices as low as $0.25/GB, greatly expanding the storage space inside your computer has never been cheaper.

That's right, inside. For half the price of an external hard drive and slightly more work, you can add a new hard drive inside your computer with ease.
To those of you afraid of opening up your computer:
Computer hardware isn t the mysterious bad-boy you always thought. It s actually more like the mysterious bad-boy who just wants to be loved. Once you show hardware acceptance, it ll open up and totally love you back.

Please note:
Opening up your computer comes with some risk. Always keep safety in mind when working inside your computer (as you should with any electrical device). That said, getting comfortable with cracking it open and fiddling around opens up a whole new world of options and upgrades to your personal computing experience.

Whether you're installing an IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics, aka ATA or PATA, common for older hard drives and optical drives) or SATA drive (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment - the newer, faster interface supported by most newer motherboards), the installation process is virtually the same and very easy. It's up to you to find out what interfaces are supported by your motherboard. As always, be sure to read your manual so that you know the in's and out's of your computer before attempting any installation.

Answered by Santosh Kuma , an ibibo Master, at 2:24 PM on October 07, 2008

- Turn the computer off, unplug it, and take the case off. At this point, you may want to make some quick sketches of just how everything is in there: Which direction is everything facing? Where and how are the cables connected? For some people, such sketches help to put everything back when you are done.

- If you are replacing your old hard drive, remove the cables from the old drive. You will see both a ribbon cable and a small power plug. Do not force them out. The ribbon cable is usually quite easy to remove. Sometimes, though, the power connector can become stuck. Just rock it back and forth (lengthwise along the narrow side of the drive), taking care not to rip the connector off the drive. Then remove the mounting screws that hold the drive to the case frame. Sometimes, you may need to tip the case or get into some strange positions to reach all the screws; other times, the hard drive is mounted in a cage that you’ll be able to take out to get to the other side of the drives. Finally, remove the old drive from the case. Be sure not to bump anything too hard on the way out.

- If you are replacing the old drive, slide the new drive in right where the other one came out. If you are adding a second drive, just pick any empty drive bay - one a bit below the current drive might work best, because it will make it easier to route cables. If you are installing a 3.5″ drive into a 5.25″ drive bay, you may need to add rails or a mounting bracket to make it fit. Screw the drive into place, making sure the screws aren’t going in crooked. Don’t force them.

- If you need a separate controller card, install it now into any unused motherboard slot. Chances are that you don’t need to worry about this. It is usually only necessary if you want to add more IDE drives than your computer will support with it’s two built-in channels. If you are using SATA, your motherboard likely comes with enough SATA ports. If not, you can extend it using a controller card just the same way as with IDE.

- Attach the cables to the hard drive and to the motherboard or controller card if necessary. There are two cables: the ribbon cable (or SATA cable) and the power cable. The ribbon cable goes from the controller to the drive. Most cables are keyed to the connector so they only go in one way; if the cable isn’t going in, try flipping it over. Don’t force it. If you are adding a second drive, simply choose a connector on the same ribbon cable that is not used. Most IDE ribbon cables come with three connectors: one on the end (usually black) and one mid-way (usually gray), then one further away on the other end which connects to the motherboard (usually blue, green, or red). In general, the master drive should use the black connector on the end and the slave should use the gray connector in the middle, but if each drive is set either as master or slave, the position is not as important. On a SATA hard drive, position of the drives on the cable does not matter at all because a SATA cable only accomodates one drive.

- Plug the system in and turn it on. It is best to leave the case cover off for now in case you need to fiddle with something or troubleshoot the installation.

- If you did not use a controller card, enter the BIOS (usually by pressing the F1, F2, F10, F12, or Delete key when you see the Power-On Self-Test or the manufacturer logo). Check the BIOS to make sure that the drives are all being recognized. If you installed a drive on a connector that was not in use, you may have to set the corresponding drive to “Auto.” If your BIOS has an auto-detect feature, you can use that as well. If you did use a controller card, it will pop up a screen showing the name of the card and any drives it has detected.
If the drives are not being recognized, check that both power and data cables are in tightly (including the motherboard end for the data cables), and that the jumpers are set correctly.

Answered by Hem@nt .... , an ibibo Master, at 10:33 AM on September 26, 2008

well ARUN , Disconnect the power and remove your PC's cover, see our guide.
spr
If you are simply replacing your current hard drive with a bigger drive then it is very straight forward.

It is sometimes easier to remove the IDE cable and the power cable (labeled A and B in fig 1.1) before you remove the fixing screws , as sometimes the cables can be stubborn.

Note where the cables go, all IDE hard drives have the same standard socket types and the IDE cable should have an alignment notch to ensure it is inserted the right way (see fig 1.2), likewise the power cable will only plug in one way.

After removing the fixing screws (there are four, two on each side of the chassis) gently take the drive out of the chassis and put it to one side.

Next take your new drive and ensure that the jumper settings are set to master or single drive (see fig 1.2), the jumper settings should be displayed on the hard drive or in the manufacturer's book.

Now gently slide the drive into position (where the old drive was) and line up the holes and insert the 4 fixing screws.


note: Disconnect the power and remove your PC's cover, see our guide.


The first thing to do (after removing the case covers) is to locate the drive bay where the hard drive will go


In our example in fig 1.3 above we have a drive already in the bay so you can see more clearly where it should be situated, we don't have a floppy drive installed but if we did then it would be located in one of the free bays above the hard drive.

If you are adding a second drive then try and leave a gap between the two drives for ventilation (although this might not always be possible).

Jumper Settings

Jumpers are metal pins that have small black plastic sleeves that slot on them, they are used to configure certain devices including hard drives.

For the location of the jumper selector see fig 1.5, the jumper settings should be displayed on the hard drive or in the manufacturer's book.

Single Drive - If this is your only hard drive then set the jumper selector to master

Two Drives - if the new drive will be the main drive, set the jumper to master, if you want it as a secondary drive then set it to slave, alternatively you could use a separate IDE cable on the motherboard's secondary IDE interface (see motherboard manual).

Once you have set the jumper, gently slide the drive into the drive bay, line up the holes (2 on each side of the drive bay) and insert the 4 fixing screws (should have been supplied with your case).

The next step is to attach the IDE and power cables.

below you can see a standard IDE Cable, note there are 3 connections (notice the difference in distance between the connectors), connection A plugs into the motherboard and then the slave and master connections are used for IDE devices such as hard drives, if you are only installing one drive or the new drive is to be the master then use the master connector, if the drive is to be the slave then use the slave connector.

The IDE cable will be marked down one side with a red or black strip, this denotes Pin 1, match this with the Pin 1 indicator on the back of the hard drive.

The power cable you will find in your case attached to your power supply, you can see an example

Finishing Installation

Double check all connections and make sure the device is set correctly as master or slave, also make sure you haven't loosened any connections while you have been installing.

You may wish to make sure the hard drive is correctly installed before replacing the covers, but it is advisable to replace the covers before reconnecting the mains.

When you reboot your machine the bios should automatically detect the new hard drive, then when your operating system (windows or other) has loaded, go to My Computer (or similar) and yo

Answered by Satya ~ , an ibibo Master, at 9:06 AM on September 26, 2008

The stepby step process are given below-

# Turn the computer off, unplug it, and take the case off. At this point, you may want to make some quick sketches of just how everything is in there: Which direction is everything facing? Where and how are the cables connected? For some people, such sketches help to put everything back when you are done.
# If you are replacing your old hard drive, remove the cables from the old drive. You will see both a ribbon cable and a small power plug. Do not force them out. The ribbon cable is usually quite easy to remove. Sometimes, though, the power connector can become stuck. Just rock it back and forth (lengthwise along the narrow side of the drive), taking care not to rip the connector off the drive. Then remove the mounting screws that hold the drive to the case frame. Sometimes, you may need to tip the case or get into some strange positions to reach all the screws; other times, the hard drive is mounted in a cage that you’ll be able to take out to get to the other side of the drives. Finally, remove the old drive from the case. Be sure not to bump anything too hard on the way out.
# If you are replacing the old drive, slide the new drive in right where the other one came out. If you are adding a second drive, just pick any empty drive bay - one a bit below the current drive might work best, because it will make it easier to route cables. If you are installing a 3.5″ drive into a 5.25″ drive bay, you may need to add rails or a mounting bracket to make it fit. Screw the drive into place, making sure the screws aren’t going in crooked. Don’t force them.
# If you need a separate controller card, install it now into any unused motherboard slot. Chances are that you don’t need to worry about this. It is usually only necessary if you want to add more IDE drives than your computer will support with it’s two built-in channels. If you are using SATA, your motherboard likely comes with enough SATA ports. If not, you can extend it using a controller card just the same way as with IDE.
# Attach the cables to the hard drive and to the motherboard or controller card if necessary. There are two cables: the ribbon cable (or SATA cable) and the power cable. The ribbon cable goes from the controller to the drive. Most cables are keyed to the connector so they only go in one way; if the cable isn’t going in, try flipping it over. Don’t force it. If you are adding a second drive, simply choose a connector on the same ribbon cable that is not used. Most IDE ribbon cables come with three connectors: one on the end (usually black) and one mid-way (usually gray), then one further away on the other end which connects to the motherboard (usually blue, green, or red). In general, the master drive should use the black connector on the end and the slave should use the gray connector in the middle, but if each drive is set either as master or slave, the position is not as important. On a SATA hard drive, position of the drives on the cable does not matter at all because a SATA cable only accomodates one drive.
# Plug the system in and turn it on. It is best to leave the case cover off for now in case you need to fiddle with something or troubleshoot the installation.
# If you did not use a controller card, enter the BIOS (usually by pressing the F1, F2, F10, F12, or Delete key when you see the Power-On Self-Test or the manufacturer logo). Check the BIOS to make sure that the drives are all being recognized. If you installed a drive on a connector that was not in use, you may have to set the corresponding drive to “Auto.” If your BIOS has an auto-detect feature, you can use that as well. If you did use a controller card, it will pop up a screen showing the name of the card and any drives it has detected.
# If the drives are not being recognized, check that both power and data cables are in tightly (including the motherboard end for the data cables), and that the jumpers are set corre

Answered by Nagendra , an ibibo Master, at 7:56 AM on September 26, 2008

well;
Before Installation

Installing a hard drive is a medium level job. If you are confident in yourself and would like to save the money a computer guy would charge to do it, go ahead and do it yourself. It won’t be that bad. The physical installation is actually pretty easy. Getting it ready for use takes a little longer.

The worst part about installing hard drives is setting the jumpers on the drive so that it works correctly with your current hardware. You only need to worry about jumpers if you are using an IDE hard drive. IDE hard drives have settings for master, slave and cable select. This is because, for an IDE drive, it matters. For Serial ATA drives (SATA), you don’t need to worry about jumpers at all. Now that SATA is becoming much more prevalent than IDE, it is becoming a lot less likely that you will need to worry about jumpers during this process.

Before installation, inspect the inside of the computer’s case and determine where you want the drive to go. If you are using an IDE hard drive, you want to optimally connect the drive on a different IDE channel than your DVD/CD drives. Most motherboards have two IDE channel connectors. So you would put your disc drives on IDE2 and your hard drives on IDE1. For SATA drives, your life, again, got easier. SATA gets it’s own channel and, as of this date, SATA DVD drives are very uncommon.
Materials Required

* Hard drive
* Copy of the hard drive manual (if you need to set jumpers; this can be downloaded if your drive didn’t come with one)
* Controller card (optional; use this if you don’t have a spare connector on the motherboard or space on an existing ribbon cable to connect your drive to. Make sure you get one that matches your drive - Serial ATA for an SATA drive; ATA/100 or ATA/133 for an IDE drive; SCSI for a SCSI drive.)
* Data cable for the drive (if you aren’t installing the drive as a slave on an existing cable)
* Power cable Y-splitter (if you don’t have a spare power connector)
* Ultimate Boot CD (if you want to clone your old hard drive to your new one)
Setting Jumpers: SATA Drives

Good news! There are no jumpers to worry about on SATA drives. Some SATA drives do have a jumper which controls the speed of the SATA drive itself, but you do not need to worry about anything related to master, slave or cable select.
Physical Installation

Now’s when you actually take off the case and get your hands dirty. Let’s get started:

1. Turn the computer off, unplug it, and take the case off. At this point, you may want to make some quick sketches of just how everything is in there: Which direction is everything facing? Where and how are the cables connected? For some people, such sketches help to put everything back when you are done.
2. If you are replacing your old hard drive, remove the cables from the old drive. You will see both a ribbon cable and a small power plug. Do not force them out. The ribbon cable is usually quite easy to remove. Sometimes, though, the power connector can become stuck. Just rock it back and forth (lengthwise along the narrow side of the drive), taking care not to rip the connector off the drive. Then remove the mounting screws that hold the drive to the case frame. Sometimes, you may need to tip the case or get into some strange positions to reach all the screws; other times, the hard drive is mounted in a cage that you’ll be able to take out to get to the other side of the drives. Finally, remove the old drive from the case. Be sure not to bump anything too hard on the way out.
3. If you are replacing the old drive, slide the new drive in right where the other one came out. If you are adding a second drive, just pick any empty drive bay - one a bit below the current drive might work best, because it will make it easier to route cables. If you are installing a 3.5″ drive into a 5.25″ drive bay, you may need to add rails or a moun

Answered by Kishore , an ibibo Master, at 7:53 AM on September 26, 2008