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How do i install new Harddrive?
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Posted by: Manny111
I just bought a Western Digital 250GB Harddrive at CircuitCity for 60bucks(Black friday sale). I think its this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16822144154 . I have no clue at all how to install it and i need detailed instructions. The only thing i know how to do is open the case. After that, I'm clueless. The guy at Best Buy (Geek Squad) said that I that i have to put the larger harddrive as master and the smaller one as slave. But like i said, i have no clue how to do any of those things. This is what i have in my PC now: Seagate Barracuda 80GB SATA 7200RPM 8MB Cache. I have 4% free space left (~3.5GB) but that's why i bought a new HDD.
Thanks for the help.
P4 3Ghz. w/ HT
1.5GB G.Skill DDR2 Dual Channel
Radeon x300SE 128MB w/ HyperMemory
Posted by: uh...ok
Did the hard drive come with any documentation at all? It's probably easier (and better) if you used that, or found some online guide or howto (try www.google.com ) for installing hard drives.
You just need to be aware about the type of hard drive it is (ATA or SATA) and that if you choose to install it as your master drive, you will need to reinstall your OS onto it.
Posted by: BlackSphinx
Its a bit too hard for me to explain here in words so ill link to a page that has what you need
http://www.wdc.com/en/library/sata/2079-001042.pdf
Past that, the only advice I can give you is ground yourself before ever working on a computer. Even the smallest static shock - something you wouldn't even feel - is enough to fry the internal components. So keep in contact with the metal case, or a large metal object nearby. Static shock is really hard to discover and very annoying.
Don't force any of the connectors. Most of the connections should slide in with little resistance when at the right angle and side.
The Geek squad guy is full of horse feathers. It doesn't matter which one is bigger, the system will work the same either way. The only thing is that if your hard drive gets full on the boot drive (the primary "master" drive) then Operating system performance can tank.
One more tip. If you have your motherboard manual, it will really help in finding the connectors on the motherboard if you're unfamiliar with them.
If all else fails, take it to the local shop and get it installed there, or ask some friends. Kids these days know all sorts of junk like this, me being one =]. Even if you don't want them to do it, they could guide you through what to do better than I can do in words. Hope i've been helpful!
Edit : yea, and what he said above.
P.S. wow, disk space is getting cheap.
Posted by: oderus1671
are you REPLACING the old full drive or ADDING the new one for more storage, meaning you will have 2 hard drives in there? If your just adding the new one for storage, its fairly straight forward. Let us know and hopefully someone can pick up where i left off, as i am mildly retarded right now. 
Posted by: Manny111
Both the harddrives are SATA(The one i bought and the one that i already have). I'm adding the 250GB for more storage. I'm not replacing the 80GB at all. I just wanted to check here first because the people at geek squad wanted to charge me 100$ to install it.(30 to put it in the computer and 70 to reinstall windows). But thanks for clearing that up. I guess they tell you anything for money. I'll check that guide and try to install it myself. Thanks for the tips.
One more question.
"The Geek squad guy is full of horse feathers. It doesn't matter which one is bigger, the system will work the same either way. The only thing is that if your hard drive gets full on the boot drive (the primary "master" drive) then Operating system performance can tank."
Does that also go for an older PC. Cuz my dad has an old Pentium2 that he wants to do some minor upgrades to and the geek squad guy said again that the small harddrive HAS to be the slave(which means that they charge 100$ to install it). Right now he has a 20GB in his PC and plans on buying a 120GB.
Posted by: goranpaa
Even in older machines, you can use any drive you want as "Master " or Slave". It's just a question of what drive is best suited for the job as master in your opinion.
The only thing is, that you may eventually have to flash a new BIOS. If you install a new large drive on an older PC.
And if your dad wants a SATA drive? Then get a SATA controller PCI card. They are pretty cheap nowadays.
Posted by: uh...ok
 Quote:
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Originally Posted by Manny111
Does that also go for an older PC. Cuz my dad has an old Pentium2 that he wants to do some minor upgrades to and the geek squad guy said again that the small harddrive HAS to be the slave(which means that they charge 100$ to install it). Right now he has a 20GB in his PC and plans on buying a 120GB.
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Usually it's just recommended that you install the new drive as the master because of two main assumptions:
- Performance: your old drive is an older generation and is thus a slower drive (lower RPM, smaller cache, etc.)
- Durability: your old drive is simply older and thus is more likely to fail in the near future, assuming the new drive makes it through the first part of the bathtub curve
If performance isn't really that big of a concern for you and ease of installation is, then the Geek Squad dudes are totally just trying to take your money. It also depends on whether your older drive IS slower in the first place, and if so by how much, and, in the case of durabilty, how old your older drive actually is.
Posted by: BlackSphinx
$70 for installing windows? Thats Highway Robbery! The $30 to install the new drive may be worth it, but crap, installing windows isn't rocket science...its barely computer science.
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