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Plan for Connecting and Mounting Your Internal IDE Drive

Turn off your PC, unplug it, and remove the cover. Use an antistatic wrist strap to work inside your PC.

You'll find two IDE connectors (primary and secondary channels) on your motherboard (A). In most PCs, the IDE hard disk connects to the primary channel, and the IDE CD-ROM drive connects to the secondary channel, both via data cables. If this is the way your PC is set up, then you'll need only to connect your new CD-RW drive to the same cable as used by your CD-ROM drive. If that cable has no extra connector on it, use the cable that came with the CD-RW drive to connect both drives to the secondary channel.

Some PCs have both the hard drive and the CD-ROM drive connected to the primary IDE channel. If that's the case in your PC, and you have no other devices on the secondary channel (like an internal IDE Zip drive), plan to disconnect the CD-ROM drive from the primary IDE channel and reconnect it to the secondary channel, with your CD-RW drive.

Select the externally accessible drive bay where you'll mount your CD-RW drive. Most PCs have their CD-ROM drive mounted in the top externally accessible bay, with the hard drive mounted below it in an internal bay. In most cases, the new CD-RW drive belongs in the bay directly beneath your CD-ROM drive. Depending on where your CD-RW drive must go, check that your data cables and power cables are long enough. Some PC cases may require special mounting brackets for the drive.