How to install a harddrive to your comp?
 

Hey guys, I'm gonna add a 1TB HDD to my comp. I asked a buddy to help, but he's too lazy and told me to learn myself. So here I am.


I was thinking this one:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...D&promoid=1015

or the WD Caviar Black. Suggestions?

So I think I can figure out how to mount it in the case and stuff. I'm not too sure where or how to plug it in, and more specifically..... what do I need to do to get the drive working? It's a slave drive, so the OS is not going to be running on it. This is the 5th HDD going in if that matters.

it's not rocket science

open the computer, set the jumper to slave, put the drive in, plug in power and SATA, ???, profit

there is no master and slave on sata drives....

That's it? Don't need to set anything up in BIOS? Windows? No need to format or test?

I haven't ever built a comp before, car/home audio is my thing. PC's irk me.

5th HD?? WTH... you might be out of sata plugs on the mother board by now. and power supply plugs.

Ohh. Heh heh. I don't know this shit as you can tell.

if you're 'adding' a hd u can just right click on the drive in windows and select format

it's actually quite fool proof because the connectors only fit one way (ie. the 'L' shapes, one long one short for SATA), maybe you can look at ur original hd for reference.
1) sata cable one end to your motherboard, one end to your harddrive
2) sata power cable from your power supply plug into your harddrive. if you don't have an extra connector check if your motherboard came with an extra adapter or purchase one at the store.

the only confusing part would be your case. if it's an old plain case it's just 2+ screws holding your harddive, if it has a drive cage or rails you need to play around with it a bit as every case is different

also make sure ur mb has sata, it probably does

when in doubt you can always take pictures of the extra cables available in your case, maybe a model no. of your case and motherboard.....

Oh fuck really? I have an Asus P5K ATX LG775 P35

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...=24495&vpn=P5K

I'm not too sure what I need to look for in the specs.


Note: I realized I fucked up. I only have 3 HDD's. I saw another sata (I think its sata) cable but thats going to the DVD drive which I mistook for a HDD.

Perfect I think that's all I need to know. I'm sure I can manage the plugs. I just wasn't sure if I need to enter BIOS or whether there was a special way to format.

So basically, wire up the SATA cable from mobo to HDD, then PSU to HDD. Format in windows and everything so be gravy?

Damn, I thought you had to do alot more then that.

I have an Antec 900 case (which sucks if anyone plans on buying it to make space for bigger video cards ie. 9800GTX)

Asus PsK ATX LG775 P35

Running Window Vista 64 if that helps.


Thanks man, you've been very helpful

you just need to goto bios to check if your mobo detects the new drive

if its detected, then all you need to do is goto disk management in windows and format/partition the drive

Format takes 3 hours.
It took me over 3 hours for my 1.5TB. I did this in Windows, also Vista x64 user.

not if you select the option for a quick format, which takes no more than 10 seconds.
I've been doing quick formats on all my HDDs (new and old) for the past 3 years and have never run into a single problem.

I only see 4 sata connectors on that mobo...

There is a 5th one under the video card slot, near the back of the case. It's on the JMicron controller.

On the NCIX page:
Number of IDE Interfaces: 1

Number of SATA Interfaces: 5

If he's got 3 drives (and assuming that he has a single DVD/CD drive that's using SATA) he should be good.

may be take a look of this deal today before you pull the tricker on 1TB

http://accessories.dell.com/sna/prod...1&sku=A2021879

I would wait another month before buying a Seagate HD. Everything got screwed up there and it still hasn't completely settled. I think things will be OK soon. You will need to update firmware.
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?s...d&cid=26542735

Yeah I originally wanted the 1.5TB, but that Seagate apparently is horrible. 50% failure ratio, pain in the ass for RMA, etc. It's been quite awhile since it's realease and the problem still isn't cured.

So I figured I would go with the WD, since it seems to be the most reliable and headache free

How does one get into BIOS?

I tried to look but don't see anything that resembled a sata port. I looked where you described.

Where's this JMicron controller on the board?

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/7550/24495fpd1.jpg

Thanks

right between the 2 pci slots look up a bit and u will see it

No wonder I can't see it. The stupid video card blocks the way. :cry:

Fuck that's a stupid place to put it. Man, I'm starting to think that adding a new HDD isn't quite possible. Any ideas on how I can somehow add one?

I know this might sound dumb, but I assume you can't split a sata port? or wire it differently?

Thanks for the help guys.

Get one of these: http://www.a-power.com/product-5359-251-4

Put the drive in it, plug it into a USB port, and you're golden.

(Actually, you'll probably need to partition the drive as well, before you can format it, but that's easy to do too).

Funny you mentioned that. I was looking at drive enclosures too lol. I was thinking of pulling the smallest HDD out and putting in the enclosure. Then installing the 1TB into the comp.

Does anyone know if I just pull out my smallest HDD in the enclosure, will all the data remain intact? Or am I forced to format it? (which only has movies on it, no programs or OS)

Should stay completely intact. The only reason you need to partition and format the new drive is that it comes un-partitioned.