Install a Hard Drive in a PC

The computer has been around for quite some time now and people still find it too complicated to fix or add to it. The computer is actually quite simple and I will hope to provide a simple explanation to improve and increase the storage space in your computer. Installing a hard drive should be a very simple task and I attempt to make it easy for you with the following simple steps.

Disclaimer: It is possible to damage parts of your computer if static is applied to certain components. Before working with computer, discharge static electricity by touching anything metal or just by touching the case.

1. SATA cable(speed depends on speed of SATA ports)

2. Flathead Screwdriver

3. SATA Harddrive(any size/speed)

1. Unplug computer - IMPORTANT: Do not perform any work unless the computer is unplugged.

2. Take screws off to open computer case

3. Open computer case

1. Locate available SATA port on motherboard. These are the two blue ports on the picture above. There are many kinds of SATA ports. For instance, SATA III are faster ports than SATA II. If the tastest speeds are expected make sure hard drive SATA port, motherboard SATA port, and SATA cable are all SATA III. If anyone of these are SATA II it will still work but will be slower.

2. Plug one end of SATA cable into SATA port on motherboard

3. Plug other end of cable into SATA port on hard drive(second port from left in picture)

4. Locate available power cable

5. Plug cable into SATA power connector on hard drive(1st port from left in picture)

Find an available slot in the computer case for the hard drive. Considerations will be:

1. How much space you have

2. Length of cables

3. Location of other components on motherboard

Slide Hard drive in slot and secure hard drive using screws provided. Close case when finished and plug computer back in.

At this point your physical installation is complete. You may now turn your computer back on. There are a variety of things you would need to do depending on your situation. Most likely you would need to partition and/or format the drive that you just installed to make it visible to the operating system, in this case Windows 7. To do this would require another instructable but fortunately the procedures are readily available on the web, such as this article:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/ht/format-hard-drive-windows-7.htm

Once the drive is formatted, you should be able to store anything you would like on the drive you installed. No hardware expert needed!