Removing And Installing A Hard Drive
Before you remove the hard drive, you should backup all files on your old drive and capture your system information using a separate utility. Even though you may not need this utility, its worth its weight in gold should something go wrong with the installation of the new drive.
We have used a little shareware file named Systeminfo to capture our system information. You can download this file from such internet shareware web sites as http://www.download.com or download it right from our newsletter.
Check your documentation to be sure that the new hard drive you buy is compatible with your system. If you don't have the documentation, you can run the system info Utility. Here you will be able to see what type of hard drive you have. Your PC's system setup program will do the same. Write this info down and take it with you when you go to purchase your new drive. The hard drive's Access Time is another consideration you should check into.
The Access Time is the normal time it takes for the information requested from the disk to arrive to the memory of the PC. The larger this time is, the slower the hard drive will be. Hard disk drives can be either internal, (inside the system unit) or external, (outside in its own case) and they can be removable in some cases. When installing a hard drive, there is a slight difference, depending on the type of drive you own.
The following steps to installing a hard drive may vary slightly. Be sure to check the installation procedures that came with your new drive to check for any differences in installation. If you purchased or was given a hard drive from a friend and don't have any paper- work for the drive, the following steps should suffice in installing and configuring your new drive.
To install the original drive or to install a new hard drive, following these steps and take extra care in getting rid of any static electrical buildup that your body may have accumulated. Take your time. It would be to your advantage to invest in a PC Repair Tool Kit if you plan on working inside computers as a hobby or to earn extra income.
Before you remove the system unit cover to gain access to your hard drive, remember to remove any and all ESD (Electrical Static Discharge) from your body. This is done by touching an object such as a doorknob or the case of the system unit. After this safety precaution is done, remove the system unit cover and locate the drive.
Depending on the location of old your Hard Drive, you may have to remove other components just to have access to it. If so, take very good notes of everything you disconnect or remove, you can refer to them later as you replace the components. Look to be sure you have empty drive bays to install extra drives should you decide to add a second drive.
Once the drive is clear of other cables and components, carefully remove the power and data cable from the drive and remove the drive retaining screws. Some drives are mounted on rails, if this is the case,just slide the unit out through the front or top of the system unit chassis.
Separate the drive from the rail and now install the new drive to the rail. Watch those screws, they are small and can be easily lost. Remember to ground yourself from time to time to remove electrical static buildup.
When the drive is mounted on the rail, (if you have one) write down any information on the front of the drive that may give you the type, model number, sectors, cylinders, access time and other information that seem important. You may need it when you configure the hard drive. Nearly all new hard drives have software that does this for you.
Now connect the power supply cable to the power connect and the ribbon cable to the drive's controller, SCSI adapter, or to the motherboard. IDE drive's have their controllers mounted on the drive, so the ribbon cable is hooked from the controller to the motherboard or Expansion Slot.
If you are installing a SCSI drive, you need to terminate the chain by connecting the terminator at the end of the daisy chain, or by switching the DIP switches on the drive's board.
When installing an external drive,you need to install the SCSI adapter into an empty expansion slot on the motherboard. Be sure to use the card's DIP switches or jumpers to give the card a SCSI address. Check the drive's manual or documentation for this information.
After being certain that all cables, connections and all other components are in place, replace the system unit cover, reconnect all peripherals to the system unit and plug it into thewall outlet. Turn on the computer. Now you will need to tell the computer that it has a new or different hard drive. You will have to start your PC with a bootable floppy disk if you replaced or installed a new hard drive.
Remember, you create a bootable floppy disk by formatting a blank diskette with the command of FORMAT A:/S. Then edit the Autoexec.Bat and Config. Sys files and change all files where you see something like C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS to A:\DOS\ANSI.SYS and change only the C: after the = sign. After editing all files, save all changes and copy both the Autoexec.bat and Config.Sys files to the diskette.