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Upgrade Guide

Installing a new hard drive, step by step.

  

2. Access the Old Drive

Turn off your PC, remove the cover, and find out how difficult it is to get to the jumpers on your existing drive. If you're lucky, you'll be able to access the jumpers without removing the old drive. If you do have to remove it, disconnect the wide ribbon cable (A) and the power connector (B) from the drive, taking care to note how the colored wire on the ribbon cable meets the drive connector (the wire is usually red).

Make sure that you have a second connector on the wide cable for hooking up the new drive, along with an available power connector, which might be dangling free inside your computer. If not, you will need a two-drive ribbon cable plus a Y-adapter for creating two power connectors out of one.

If you have to pull out the old drive to access the jumpers, removal might be a simple matter of sliding it out, or it might entail removing up to four screws. Either way, be careful not to damage the sensitive electronics beneath the drive, and remember to track all of the parts and pieces.

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