Personal computers find use both at home and work. Over time, they become overloaded with user generated files or programs that have been installed. This results in running out of hard disk storage space. The solution to this problem is to either add a new larger hard disk in the place of the current hard disk or simply add another hard disk that can increase your storage capacity.
Instructions
1. Purchase a new hard disk that will give you room to grow your system. The best advice is to buy the biggest and fastest hard disk your money can buy. Every day, hard disk memory grows cheaper and cheaper. You will never complain about having too much hard disk space.
2. Open your computer and check for a drive bay that will accommodate the disk size. You may need rails to mount the drive that will adapt to fit a larger drive bay. Make sure that there is an extra power cable available and a free connector on one of the interface cables. The formats of the hard disk will most likely be IDE, EIDE, SATA, or SCSI. Each requires a different type of interface so you need to check the type of interface your computer has for hard disks and only purchase a hard disk that is compatible with that type of interface.
3. Examine the new hard disk and record any important information about the disk so that it is accessible once you have installed the drive. Normally, this includes the number of cylinders, sectors, disks and total size of the drive. The manufacturer of the disk and model number is also important to keep.
4. Mount the rails on the sides of the drive and mount the drive in the drive bay. Make sure the connectors face the inside of the computer. Read the instructions that come with the drive and change the jumper on the back of the drive to indicate that it is a "slave" drive.
5. Connect the power cable to the power connector on the back of the drive and then connect the data cable to the connector. Depending on which type of interface your drive has, the connector will be different. Be sure to align the connector correctly, match pin 1 on the connector with pin 1 on the drive.
6. Arrange the cables carefully as you close the computer and secure the case. Now you need to locate the key strokes that will bring up the BIOS screen. Start your computer and press the key strokes that start the BIOS setup.
7. Change the setting indicating that you have added a new hard disk and if the BIOS doesn't recognize the drive, manually enter the drive specifications in the user defined mode. Save and exit the BIOS and wait for the computer to restart.
8. Check "My Computer" and make sure that the drive shows up on the list of drives available on the computer. With a brad new drive, you will most likely have to format the drive before it is usable. Format the drive and you are ready to start enjoying all the new storage space.
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