How to Connect a Second Hard Drive to Your Computer

With all the downloading you may do, you may find the need to purchase and connect a second hard drive. Even though most modern hard drives come with at least 100 gigabytes of space, buying a second hard drive may be necessary so you can keep all of your video games, applications, videos, and music on a separate hard drive to reduce clutter.

Having a second hard drive may also be useful if several people are using a single computer. Users can save personal information and programs on a separate drive to keep the computer more organized. You can also purchase a second hard drive if you plan to run two different operating systems. For example, you can have Windows XP on one hard drive and Windows Vista on a second hard drive!

Step #1 

For your new hard drive, I would suggest buying a SCSI hard drive over the cheaper ATA models, as they are better for multiple hard drive connections. You will also need to purchase ribbon cables and mounting rails if necessary.

Step #2 

It is recommended that you back up your system in case of any failures. If you have Windows 95, 98, or Me, create bootable disks. You can use the Windows XP CD as a bootable disk, if you use the Windows XP operating system. Once you have backed up your system, you can begin installing your new hard drive.

Step #3 

Make sure that the power on your computer is completely shut off before you start connecting the hard drive. Make sure you adequately grounded to prevent a static shock that may destroy your new hard drive (or even your motherboard). I suggest wearing an antistatic strap.

Step #4 

You will then need to open your computer case. Slide your hard drive into an empty bay in your computer.

Step #5 

Connect the ribbon cable to your hard drive. Make sure the red side of the cable is facing the power socket on the hard drive. Connect the other side of the ribbon cable to an IDE port on your motherboard. Grab a power plug from your computer's power supply pack and connect it to the hard drive.

Step #6 

Now you need to set the jumper chip on the hard drive. If your first hard drive was set to "master," you need to set the second hard drive as "slave."

Step #7 

After this, you can close the computer case and turn on your computer. Most modern SCSI hard drives are automatically detected. However, if the computer did not detect the new hard drive, you need to go to the CMOS settings on your computer and select the IDE port in which you installed the new hard drive.

And you are done!