Adding a hard drive easy or hard?

[cloud9925]

Is there anyone that might know an easy way to install a hard drive either internally or externally and which of the two is simpler? I mean if I went out and bought a hard drive I believe I might be able to buy the components to make it external but then I am not sure cause I have never done it. However I do feel if I had all the parts in front of me that I would need to go out and get that would make the entire task that much simpler.

Anyone that knows anything about installing external preferrably or internal drives let me know basically what I need to do.

thanks

cloud9925

[jahrukh]

Hello,

I know how to install a new Internal Hard Drive as I have already installed mine on my computer. When you go to buy a New Hard Drive from the drive don't forget to buy the accessories like its data cable, power cable, jumper, manual, Drivers CD or Floppy etc. Now place the Hard Drive in your CPU & screw it but before screwing it dont forget to install all the accessories you bought to install with it, I mean now connect the data cable, power cable & jumper with it with the help of manual(Read the whole manual before installing a Hard Drive, It will help you out in many matters). Now that your Hard Drive have been internally connected now please boot your computer & update ur BIOS Configuration(This is also included in the manual). Now reboot the computer & update the drivers of Your New Hard Drive by the help of bought Drivers CD or Floppy. Reboot your computer and partition your new hard drive & you are done. If you have any problems you can contact me anytime here by replying to this post. Thanx.

Jahrukh. :P

[richiekotzenrules]

External drives are easier to install. If your a beginner may what to go with this. Make sure you have the USB or firewire, paralell, porsts available on your computer.

I recommend USB 2.0. You need windows 98se or higher for usb.
Firewire is also good if you don't have any USB ports free.

If you have usb 1.1 then the drive will run much slower but it will run.

The good thing about USB is little or no software is required for installation.

In the case of WinXP just plug and go. Depending on manufactor you may have to create a partition either with a dos boot disk then FDISK. Or in WinXP use the Disk manager to create a partition and to format it in the file system of your choice.

Are you using this drive as primary drive or an extra storage drive?

If primary drive where the OS resides I would choose internal.

You'd have to get the correct interface such as IDE, SCSI, SATA.

SATA is nice because you don't have to set any jumpers.

But you need to have that port on your mainboard.

A retail box hard drive contains the cable and screws and usually contains a longer warranty perdiod.

OEM hard drive is just the drive no instructions at all or anything else.

Your BIOS should be set to auto detect and if not then set it that way.

Take your old hard drive out. Install the new on the way the old one was.

Windows XP will allow you to partition the drive at installation. That's the best way to do it.


That should be it. Let me know if you have any questions.

[randyj]

First of all, internal is much better, especially regarding performance. If you're not planning on moving the hard drive around too much then I'd suggest internal.

Now, the 3 things to remember: Power cable, IDE cable (the broad, flat cable) and the jumper setting...
First of all, the power cable need not be bought, computers have ample cables as is when bought. The power cable is the set of wires which are usually red and yellow. There's only one place to plug it in so its easy to find.
Secondly the IDE cable, its broad and flat and very easy to find its port to plug in. The side of the cable which is red must always point to the power cable.
Thirdly the Jumper setting. All the jumper setting is, is a way of letting the computer know if its your primary hard drive, i.e the one with your operating system (windows, linux, etc.) on. The jumper setting itself is a bunch of pins which have a little plastic thing you plug into the pins. The configuration to set it to a Secondary hard drive (which is what you want) is always shown on the sticker on top of the hard drive.

Once all three of these are done, you have your new hard drive. No need to worry with installation of the hard drive (unless your computer is more than 8-10 years old!). Your OS will pick up the hard drive's settings itself.
Voila! Now just screw it in and you're set... easy as hell! :twisted:

Cheers :D

[richiekotzenrules]

Originally Posted by randyj

First of all, internal is much better, especially regarding performance. If you're not planning on moving the hard drive around too much then I'd suggest internal.

Now, the 3 things to remember: Power cable, IDE cable (the broad, flat cable) and the jumper setting...
First of all, the power cable need not be bought, computers have ample cables as is when bought. The power cable is the set of wires which are usually red and yellow. There's only one place to plug it in so its easy to find.
Secondly the IDE cable, its broad and flat and very easy to find its port to plug in. The side of the cable which is red must always point to the power cable.
Thirdly the Jumper setting. All the jumper setting is, is a way of letting the computer know if its your primary hard drive, i.e the one with your operating system (windows, linux, etc.) on. The jumper setting itself is a bunch of pins which have a little plastic thing you plug into the pins. The configuration to set it to a Secondary hard drive (which is what you want) is always shown on the sticker on top of the hard drive.

Once all three of these are done, you have your new hard drive. No need to worry with installation of the hard drive (unless your computer is more than 8-10 years old!). Your OS will pick up the hard drive's settings itself.
Voila! Now just screw it in and you're set... easy as hell! :twisted:

Cheers :D

Just to set the records straight the question was what easier not faster. And about internal being faster that's not true. The speed of a hard drive is not bus dependent like you suggest. External USB 2.0 or firewire will be the same speed as internal IDE or SATA.

[randyj]

Originally Posted by richiekotzenrules

Just to set the records straight the question was what easier not faster. And about internal being faster that's not true. The speed of a hard drive is not bus dependent like you suggest. External USB 2.0 or firewire will be the same speed as internal IDE or SATA.

True, but isnt that why i mentioned the fact that it would be for performance? I understand your suggestion regarding firewire, although the standard PC doesn't have firewire ports. Secondly, i think your faith in USB 2.0 is rather optimistic, regardless of the transfer speeds stated. Oh, about SATA, it is a secondary drive, and working with two SATA drives increases performance, maybe not on the boards, but try it, it ease faster... Your knowledge is impressive by the way, nevermind having devishly fast response times! :D

[peachey]

A sort reply on HDD's. Always try and go internl the sspin up time and response time is much faster. Also your computer will boot up faster. Having worked in the industry for 10+ years I am asked this question allot. External is convient but not as reliable and with much slower speeds.

[colenn]

Whatever is the hard drive, check the jumpers first (for IDE drives). And then install it. I dont preffer external drives (thru USB). Disks always work faster on IDE or SATA. I've even seen few times SCSI and SCSI2 they are quite faster then IDE hard disks.

[astros99]

Adding a hardrive is pretty easy. Externals are obviously easier than internals, but internals are better to have than an external. Most hardrives you buy should come with a guide that says how to install the hard drive. But usually just make sure the settings ar ethe same, and notice about the master and slave of the IDE cable. Also, google always helps.

[peachey]

Another thing is if you think you can do it and not really sure make sure you read up on it. There is plenty of information on the internet about putting in or replacing the hard drive.

Another thing is when you purchase one know the place and get to find someone in the store that really knows what they are talking about. This helps if you run into a snag. Some times you can go back and talk to the person and they can help you.

[hr1s7o]

That's right. I had an accident with my drive and I lost all my data on it. I went to order a new one and as soon as it arrived the man started explaining me how to connect it. He said he can easily do it himself but this way I'll never learn. So I personally learned most of the things accidently :)

[scorcinhot]

wow, that's great, the technician is kind to do so too,
i'm an idiot when it comes to hardware lol

i usually just grumble n grumble until someone gets it done for me hahhhaa

[peachey]

Simply just ask and if you are not sure look up on the Internet lots of information that you can learn just about anything under the sun.

Just takes time and lot of reading then to implement what you want to do. You can always find someone to help for a resource if you need to. You be surprised how many people actually will help with free information if you just ask.

[hr1s7o]

Well there are many resources on the internet but it's just not the same...I mean it's best to learn from books. For example I tried to learn Alias: Maya with tutorials provided on various sites and when I bought the official book I've learned so many things that systematized my knowledge. So my advice is whether to learn with "try and error" method or preferably read a book :)

[peachey]

Oh I agree with you about the book. Some of them are not able to purchase a book and want to just learn some simple things. Which they can get started on the Internet with reading and then get the book to further their learning on the subject. Thanks for the input.