Compatible IDE Hard Drive. 4 securing screws (supplied with hard
drive or case). Cross-point (Philips) Screwdriver
suitable for your PC case. IDE Cable (if required). Anti-Static Wrist-strap (if available).
note: Disconnect the power and remove your PC's cover, see
our guide.
If you are simply replacing your current hard drive with a bigger drive then
it is very straight forward.
It is sometimes easier to remove the IDE cable and the power cable (labeled
A and B in fig 1.1) before you remove the fixing screws
(see fig 1.1), as sometimes the cables can be stubborn.
Note where
the cables go, all IDE hard drives have the same standard socket types
and the IDE cable should have an alignment notch to ensure it is
inserted the right way (see fig 1.2), likewise the power cable
will only plug in one way.
After removing the fixing screws (there are four, two on each side of
the chassis) gently take the drive out of the chassis and put it to one
side.
Next take your new drive and ensure that the jumper settings are set to
master or single drive (see fig 1.2), the jumper settings should
be displayed on the hard drive or in the manufacturer's book.
Now gently slide the drive into position (where the old drive was) and
line up the holes and insert the 4 fixing screws.
Plug the IDE and power cables in (see fig 1.2) and then move onto
finishing installation.
note: Disconnect the power and remove your PC's cover, see
our guide.
The first thing to do (after removing the case covers) is to locate the
drive bay where the hard drive will go (see fig 1.3 below).
In our example in fig 1.3 above we have a drive already in the bay so
you can see more clearly where it should be situated, we don't have a floppy
drive installed but if we did then it would be located in one of the free
bays above the hard drive.
If you are adding a second drive then try and leave a gap between the two
drives for ventilation (although this might not always be possible).
Jumper Settings
Jumpers are metal pins that have small black plastic sleeves that slot on
them, they are used to configure certain devices including hard drives.
For the location of the jumper selector see fig 1.5, the jumper
settings should be displayed on the hard drive or in the manufacturer's
book.
Single Drive - If this is your only hard drive then set the jumper
selector to master
Two Drives - if the new drive will be the main drive, set the jumper
to master, if you want it as a secondary drive then set it to
slave, alternatively you could use a separate IDE cable on the
motherboard's secondary IDE interface (see motherboard manual).
Once you have set the jumper, gently slide the drive into the drive bay,
line up the holes (2 on each side of the drive bay) and insert the 4 fixing
screws (should have been supplied with your case).
The next step is to attach the IDE and power cables.
In fig 1.4 below you can see a standard IDE Cable, note there are 3
connections (notice the difference in distance between the connectors),
connection A plugs into the motherboard and then the slave and
master connections are used for IDE devices such as hard drives, if
you are only installing one drive or the new drive is to be the master then
use the master connector, if the drive is to be the slave then use the slave
connector.
The IDE cable will be marked down one side with a red or black strip, this
denotes Pin 1, match this with the Pin 1 indicator on the back of the hard
drive.
The power cable you will find in your case attached to your power supply,
you can see an example below in fig 1.5
Plug the IDE and power cables in (see fig 1.5) and then move onto
finishing installation.
Double check all connections and make sure the device is set correctly as
master or slave, also make sure you haven't loosened any connections while
you have been installing.
You may wish to make sure the hard drive is correctly installed before
replacing the covers, but it is advisable to replace the covers before
reconnecting the mains.
When you reboot your machine the bios should automatically detect the new
hard drive, then when your operating system (windows or other) has loaded,
go to My Computer (or similar) and you should see your new drive
there. The letter assigned to the drive will depend on your machine's
configuration.
If your drive is the only drive then you will need to install an operating
system (if none present).
