How do I install a second hard drive?

leSHok

leSHok

New Member
I got a Compaq Presario AMD Athlon 3500+ and it only has room for one hard drive but I am wondering how do I install a second one. I have 3 PCI slots open and I guess I could buy something to put in there but...
can anybody show me what product should I buy so that my computer will have two hard drives?
 
Do you have two IDE controllers? (The port where your CD drives connect to the motherboard)

Do you have any SATA ports?
 
So its not that your computer can't support another hard drive, it's that your case doesnt have room for one. In that case, you dont need to buy any kind of PCI card, you just need to find a way to mount the HD.

You could just have the hard drive upside down on the bottom of the case (circuit board facing up), I do that quite often with my PC's.

Or you can buy an external enclosure for a 2nd hard drive, and hook it up via USB or Firewire.
 
what cords do I need to plug into the hard drive...could you say them and I can search the image on google. I am so confused because I used to have this in my other computer and then I took it out and when I put it back in I started it up and the computer made a really bad noise and same for this one. Maybe I am putting it in the wrong thing idk can you help me with the cords?
 
leSHok said:
do i just plug it into the IDE slot and then im good?
Click to expand...

If you buy an IDE hard drive, all you need to do is set the jumper to SLAVE, and plug in the power and IDE cable. If you buy a SATA drive, you just need to plug it in.
 
You can buy extra HDD mounts from a PC store or ebay. If you cant, Go to your local warehouse, buy a steel bracket and screw it to the bottom of your chassis (thats what i did). Solid as a rock.
 
i agree with omega. if you cant fit the second hard drive into the computer, get the proper USB cord and run it as an external hard drive... just make sure it's in a good spot so u dont trip the cords and knock em out of the HD
 
Or you can buy an external enclosure for a 2nd hard drive said:
i just randomly got a 320gb internal hard drive and that is EXACTLY what im thinking of doing with it. im thinking about hooking it up via firewire
Click to expand...
 
I know a few people who put the internal drives in a case and ran them usb/firewire and like them. I just bought a 250 gig internal to go along with my 60 gig and bought a 400gig WD mybook. I use the external for back up only, but you could just use it for storage. Mine seems to be working so far.
 
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