First things first....DON'T PANIC. This is a lot easier than you think it is.Shortly you will have your disk up and running, piece of cake. You may think this is beyond you but I assure you it isn't. Now then lets cut to the chase.
Step 1
Disconnect your PC from the mains and unplug everything else. Some people say you must ground yourself to eliminate static electricity from your body to prevent damaging sensitive components inside your PC. I have been upgrading computers for years without damaging a single component and have never grounded myself. But if you would rather not risk it, then go ahead.
Step 2
Open the case of your PC by removing the side panel. The panel is usually held in by two small screws. Keep these safe. I find a dish or bowl is best. At the front of the PC below the optical(CD/DVD ROM) drives there will be a bay for your floppy drive/s. Under this will be the bay where your hard disk will go. Found it? Excellent! See, I told you it was going to be easy.
Step 3
Now then. Look at the hard drive bay. See those slots or holes in the metal casing on the side of the bay? Look at your drive. See a hole on each side? You know what's coming next don't you. Yep,thats right. Slide your drive into the bay and fix in place with the screws. Don't overtighten the screws. Ensure that the pin sockets on the drive are facing towards the back of the PC. These sockets are where your power and interface cables will connect.
Step 4
Next, you are going to connect the power cable from the PSU (power supply) to the hard drive. The PSU is the large square metal box with a fan that has several multi-coloured cables sprouting from it. These cables will have plastic connectors on the end. The end of one of these will fit snugly into the power socket on the back of the drive.Push into place. Easy or what?
Step 5
Now it gets a little bit technical, but if you have got this far then it should be a doddle. Refer to your motherboard manual and locate the SATA ports on your motherboard. Now locate the SATA ports on your drive. Connect the drive to the motherboard with the red SATA cable. As with the power cable it should just push into place. Don't worry about inserting the power and SATA cables incorrectly as they only fit one way. The correct way. So long as you do not force them everything will be fine.
Step 6
Done? No,not yet. But don't have kittens, we are more than halfway there. Now would be a good time to remove the dust from the inside of your computer. You can buy cans of compressed air for this purpose from any PC store. Check that you have not dislodged any cables or components.Replace the side panel on the PC. You looked after the tiny screws didn't you?
Step 7
Plug everything back in to your computer and start up. PC fail to start and keep beeping at you? Don't run for cover, it's not about to explode.Those bleeps mean "Hey,you out there. Yes, you with the puzzled look on your face. You forgot to plug something in. Now undo me again and sort me out,doofus". I still do this on a regular basis, so don't beat yourself up too much.
Step 8
Once your PC has started succesfully go to Start,Control Panel,Perfomance and Maintainence and finally click on the Computer Management icon. Now click on Disk Management. If you have done everything correctly then you should see your new drive listed here. Right click on it and select initialise disk. Next look at the entry for your existing hard drive. NTFS or FAT32. Don't know what these mean? No bother. Just remember which one applies to your old drive.
Step 9
You are nearly there now. Well done. Right click on the new disk and select New Partition. Click next,select Primary Partition,click next,and then click next once more. Now you will see the Format Partition screen. Select "Format this partition with the following settings". Select the format mentioned in Step 8 (NTFS or FAT32) from the File System drop-down list. Lastly,click next and Finish. That's right. I said Finish. Still with me? You are just about there. Formatting will take ages so go and do some exercise or something. You have sat at your desk for long enough.
Step 10
Once formatting is complete you shiny new hard disc is ready to go. Wahey!. Go to My Computer once more and there you will see both your drives listed. Right click on your newbie and select properties. You will notice that the available space on your disc is somewhat less than what the nerd at the shop mumbled to you. What he neglected to tell you is that your computer will gobble up some of the memory for its own nefarious activities. Anyway, thats it. Congratulations.Doddle, wasn't it? Happy computing.
