How can I install a 2nd hard drive to my computer???

Question

I am not vey computer literate. Im afraid to mess it up but I also cant afford to pay someone to do it. My current master drive is a 200GB...the one i found laying around was from a different computer. it is a 40GB..what is the easiest way to go about doing this...remember im not the greatest when it comes to installing hardware on my computer..I am running windows XP and I have all new updates for my OS...anybody know where i can find a website to help for a computer newbie like me??? or if you could help me out step by step. THANKS>...10 points to whoever gives me a detailed answer!

Answer 1

EASY! Here's how:
http://compreviews.about.com/od/tutorials/ss/DIYSecHD.htm

Answer 2

Alright I'll give it a go.

First look at the back of your new harddrive. You'll see a connector for a cable, a connector for power, and a bank of pins with a little plastic jumper connecting some of them. You will need to manipulate that so that it is set up as a "cable detected slave". There shoudl be pictures showing what setting that is.

Second. Turn off and unplug your computer.

Third. Remove the back cover and find the current HD. It will likely be screwed into some enclosure and connected to a power cable (red, yellow, white and black) and a ribbon cable.

Fourth. Put your new HD into the enclosure and screw it in if you can with the back facing the same direction as the first HD.

Fifth. Connect the ribbon cable that is connected to your first hard drive to the second. There should be a second connector 1-3 inches below the end one. It should only go in one way.

Sixth. Plug a power connector into your new HD. You should see some simply floating inside the box unconnected to anything.

Seventh. Plug your computer back in and turn it on. Once Windows starts, it should automatically detect the new HD and you should be good to go.

Answer 3

Okay. Shutdown the machine: (so write the rest of this down.)
You need to open the case. on most modern machines this is simple, and is done with knurled screws.
2 check to see if you have a SATA or and IDE drive.
likely the older 40 gig model is an IDE.
you are looking for a (probably gray) ribbon cable leading from your motherboard to either your HDD or your CD rom or both.
Likely one of these ribbon cables will have a black connector dangling about two thirds of the way from one of the drives.
Try to use the one connected to the CDrom just for simplicity.
That connector has 40 (39) pins in it, and it goes in to the back of your new (old) hard drive. It needs to go in correctly. correctly is almost always with the 1 pin towards the power connector (the one with 4 big fat pins) the one pin on the ribbon is usually denoted by a red or white stripe along one side of the cable. So... colored stripe towards the power connector. Do NOT force it or you will bork your pins. if it will not go in with a rather gentle push, it isn't aligned right. this is a buit trixie, but once everything lines up it should go in with only a few punds of pressure. That's your DATA connection.

The next part is power.
The colored spaghetti coming from your power supply has a bunch of un-used molex connectors, and maybe a mini molex or two.
You want the trapezoid about 3/4 of an inch thick with 4 colored wires going in to it.
find one of those.
it will only fit one way in the drive. Plug it in. This one you sometimes have to shove a bit. make sure it's on there good and tight.

As far as mounting goes, it depends on the model, some have nice plaqstic rails, some you need small screws.

Good Luck.

Answer 4

I assume both drives are the same type, ie; IDE or EIDE.
Make 40gb drive slave
Do you have cd//dvd drives? Put them on Secondary Master and slave.
You will need a spare power connector.
Pin 1 of ide lead is usually next to the power connector.

Answer 5

First you need to download the porgram then take it step by step.

Answer 6

I would just put it in an external enclosure.