I have a 500GB harddrive in my desktop. I’d like to add 1 or two more drives to increase my capacity.
What incredibly basic things do I need to know before I do this? (i.e. “What speed is your SATA connection?” vastly over-estimates my computer-mojo - please rephrase it in the form of a 3rd grade level question: “go to the hoozit, open up the whatzzit, and check for a whatchamacallit next to the blinking doohickie” or “open up Fancy.Program, type in ‘blahblahblah’ and tell me what it says.” would be great. )
Do you have SATA ports on your motherboard? Look for a connecter like this: SATA port
If so, does your motherboard have a SATA power connector? Look for a connector like the following coming from your Power Supply (Big metal box with a bunch of wires coming out the back, you plug the wall power into the other side of it): SATA Power
If not, you may want to buy a power connecter converter to provide the proper plug(s): SATA Power converter
If you have the ports, and the power (from Power Supply or converter) Plug a new Hard drive into an open SATA port, and plug the power in.
Once you are in windows, you can enable the drive, format it for use, and start using it.
eldowan, my computer is at home at the moment, but if I were near it, I think it would say, “thank you”. I certainly do. That’s very helpful advice (with links!). Perfect.
Your typical desktop computer’s case is sized (more or less) to be able to fit an optical drive. These are usually 5.25".
Your typical internal hard drive is 3.5".
A drive bay is just a metal or plastic cage that mounts (inside) to the case and lets you mount a 3.5" hard drive in a space that is usually 5.25".
Easy way to check is to open your case before buying a HD. Find your existing hard drive, see how it’s physically mounted. Do you have a similar looking mounting empty and available? If so, you’re good.
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