How to install a new hard drive in your computer

Installing a hard drive into your computer is a straightforward process
and is a much better solution than external hard drives.

How to install a new hard drive in your computer

When you need to increase to increase the capacity of your computer, consider installing a second hard drive. The process is much easier than installing a solid state drive and can be completed in three easy steps

Mount the new drive
Typically 3.5 inch hard drives are mounted in a cage or an available drive bay inside your computer. These are generally perpendicular to the chassis or parallel to the bottom of the case. Securing the hard drive requires four screws on the inside edges of the drive. Many use tool-less trays that hold the drive with clips. When mounting the drive, leave as much available space around it as possible. Hard drives like to remain cool.

Connect the drive with SATA
All hard drives use SATA connection interface which uses simple cables connecting the drive to the motherboard. Your computer should already have redundant SATA cables for connecting additional drives. Most SATA compliant cables will have clips to secure the connector. Once connected, the power supply will need to be connected. There is only one way these can be connected, so there’s no chance of mistakes.

Prepare the hard drive
Once mounted and connected, power up and go into the BIOS by pressing DEL or F2. You mat see a message saying ‘Press DEL to enter setup’. Go to the standard system settings menu to see all the installed drives. The new drive should be listed here, assuming it’s been connected properly. If it’s not showing, go back a stage and reconnect. If it’s still not showing try a different cable on the motherboard. Lastly, partition and format the drive. In Windows 10 this is done by opening Computer Management. Select ‘Start’ then ‘Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools’. Under ‘Storage’ select ‘Disk Management’. Right click the volume you want and select ‘Format’. Once completed the drive is ready to go.

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How to install a new hard drive in your computer