How to Install a hard drive

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Attention: read carefully before doing anything. Don't forget to shutdown your computer and to unplug the power cord of it before doing anything, and to plug in the power cord again after everything is done.

Hello everyone, let's try to create a tutorial. Maybe there will be some language problems but together I hope we can get it.

A hard drive (HD) is the main data storage device of a computer.

The installation of a hard drive consists of three parts.

Installation of the HD into the computer's case
Setup and configuration of drivers and or software
Partitioning and formatting the media

1 The First Step
2 Bibliography
3 Amazon's Related Products
4 See Also
5 External Links

[edit] The First Step

Get the case open. Maybe you will have to unscrew the screws which fix the case door.
- Each computer case differs from manufacture to manufacture so you may need to refer to your owner's manual for instructions relating to your particular PC
Identify your hard drive type.
- There are two hard drive types, IDE or SATA

Look what type is your hard drive of ( (E)IDE or SATA) and look for corresponding connectors on the mainboard. If your computer - both mainboard and power supply unit - supports SATA you will need a free slot and a SATA data cable. Most modern new mainboards support SATA, and if you bought an "upgrade set" with such a mainboard SATA data cables are very probably distributed with it. If your motherboard only supports (E)IDE you need a free slot or rather a free connector on one of IDE data cables. If there are no free slots and, in the case of IDE, no free connectors, you need a free slot for PCI extension cards and an extra hard drive controller as extension card, supporting the hard drive type your hard drive is of. If there are no free slots for hard drive data cables, no free connectors on IDE hard drive data cables and no free slots for extension cards you will not be able to install a hard drive.

If there are free slots for SATA, free slots or connectors for (E)IDE look for a power cable for your hard drive. If there are no free power cables you can try using a "multiplier" if you have one but it is not recommended, as your system may become unstable.

You will also need a data cable for your hard drive, some screws like what allready installed hard drives have and in the case of IDE maybe one to three jumpers. Look where other hard drives are allready installed - these are 3.5 inch shafts, you need one free 3.5 inch shaft for your hard drive. If there isn't any you can try to install a 3.5 inch (normal) hard drive into a 5.25 inch shaft ( like where your CD/DVD-ROM drive is installed) and fix it there on the right or left border of shaft by screws, but it is better to install the drive into a 3.5 inch shaft.

If you have all required then put the hard drive into the shaft so you can access the side with connectors for power and data cables, lace it so that you can fix it by screws, fix it by screws, connect the cables to the connectors ofthe hard drive, connect the data cable to the free slot on the motherboard in case of SATA, then get the computer box closed and screwed.