Hard Drive Installation

The first step is to find out which type of hard drive that your motherboard supports. There are several types of hard drives and buying the wrong one won't get you anywhere. The types of hard drives include SATA, USB, FIREWIRE, IDE, and SCSI drives.

There is a trend with newer computer that use SATA drives, but in slightly older computers the most common drive is IDE. USB and FIREWIRE hard drives are external hard drives and are not recommended for your primary harddrive. SCSI drives are typically used for servers and not for personal computers.

The first step to install a hard drive is to power down the computer and unplug the power cable from the wall or computer. Next, remove the cover from the PC. Most newer computers are easy to remove and usually do not require any tools. There is usually a button or slide type device that gives easy access to the inside of the computer. Older computers require you to remove a few screws from one or both sides of the computer to allow access to the inside.

Once the cover is removed you should be able to see all the components of the PC. The hard drive in newer computers are usually just slid into the hard drive bay and can easily be removed by unpluging the power cable and SATA cable from the back of the hard drive. Then all you need to do is pinch two plastic clips on the back of the hard drive and slide the old drive out.

Once the drive is removed take off the plastic rails on the side of the hard drive and attach them in the same manner to the new drive.

Next, you will need to check the jumper settings on your old and new hard drives. If you are replacing a hard drive then the jumper settings will be the same on the new drive as the old drive. The jumpers are usually located on the back of the hard drive and are metal pins that have small black plastic tops. They are used to config devices such as hard drives, CD Roms, DVD Roms, etc. If you are only using one hard drive in your system the jumper settings should be set to Master if you are using two hard drives then the main hard drive with the operating system should be set to Master and the other hard drive will be set to Slave.

Finally, replace the drive and plug back in the power cable and SATA cable.

Older hard drives may be screwed into the bay with 2 screws on each side of the bay. Simply remove those screws, unplug the power cable and IDE cable and replace the new drive back in the bay. Double check all your connections, put the lid back on the case and remember to plug the power cable back into the computer and wall.