Step-by-Step: Hard Drive Upgrade
Serial ATA drives are much easier to install than their Parallel ATA predecessors. You don't have to fiddle with master/slave jumpers or fret about which drive goes first on the channel--each SATA drive connects to an individual SATA port via its own cable. Here are the basic steps:
[1] Before doing anything else, make sure that you have the thin black 15-pin SATA power connector and a slim 7-pin data cable of the type used for SATA drives. Both differ from the corresponding components used for IDE drives. Many SATA drives ship with adapters that you can use if your power supply doesn't include SATA power connectors.
[2] Power off your PC and ground yourself as usual.
[3] If you're installing a SATA-300 drive and your system supports only SATA-150 (check your system or motherboard documentation to find out), consult the drive manufacturer's directions to see whether your drive is set to the correct mode. For one of our test drives, a jumper already in place had set the mode to SATA-150. To run the drive at SATA-300 we had to remove the jumper.
[4] If you need to install the drive in a 5.25-inch bay instead of a smaller 3.5-inch bay, add adapter rails to the drive. Many modern cases use a removable tray to accommodate the hard drive. If yours does, remove the tray and screw the drive into it.
[5] Slide the drive (or the drive and the tray) into an available bay, leaving as much space as possible between it and other installed drives, for maximum cooling. If your case doesn't use a removable tray, screw the drive securely to the case (but don't overtighten it).
[6] Connect the power connector and the data cable to the drive.
[7] Connect the data cable to your SATA port.
[8] Turn on the PC and look for the new drive in the boot-up messages. If you don't see it, hit the displayed boot-up key (usually something like <F2> or <Delete>) during system startup to head into the BIOS configuration, and look for an option there that will let you enable SATA overall or for the ports you're using. Check your motherboard documentation or the maker's Web site for instructions specific to your BIOS type.
[9] The easiest way to install a new drive is to retain your old disk as your boot drive and use the new drive for data storage. If that's your plan, simply start Windows and use the vendor's disk management software to partition and format the drive as you like.
[10] Some OEM drives don't ship with disk management software. If yours didn't, you can use Windows' built-in tools to partition and format your drive. Select Start**Control Panel**Administrative Tools**Computer Management**Storage**Disk Management. Select your new drive, and right-click to add partitions. Once you're done, format the partitions.
[11] If you'd prefer to use your new drive as a boot drive, you'll need to use configuration software and take some extra steps. Follow the instructions and use the software that came with your drive, or head to the support section of your drive maker's Web site.
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