How To Install A Second Hard Drive Windows 7

Download Article

This wikiHow teaches you lot how to install a 2nd difficult drive in a desktop figurer. Keep in mind that installing a second hard drive in modern laptops or Mac computers is non possible, though you can supervene upon the electric current hard bulldoze at the risk of voiding your computer's warranty. If you don't want to go through the hassle of installing a 2nd internal hard drive, yous tin can merely use an external difficult drive for any Windows or Mac computer.

1
Brand sure that you lot have a Windows desktop reckoner. By and large speaking, modernistic laptops do not take the space for a second difficult bulldoze. Additionally, modernistic Mac computers—both desktop and laptop versions—don't have room for a second hard drive.^[ane]
- You lot can still install an external hard bulldoze on both Windows and Mac computers.
2
Buy a SATA internal difficult bulldoze for your computer. If you don't already have a SATA hard drive that you desire to install, buy ane before proceeding.
- Y'all'll generally want to buy a hard drive made past the same company which made your calculator (east.g., HP).
- Some hard drives aren't uniform with certain computers. Before ownership a difficult drive for your reckoner, search for your reckoner'south model and the hard drive's name (e.chiliad., "HP Pavilion compatible with L3M56AA SATA") to see if they'll work together.
Advertising
3
Plough off and unplug your computer. You should never attempt to modify your calculator's internal components while the calculator is running, as you may seriously harm both yourself and the computer.
- Some desktop computers will have a couple of minutes to finish running after unplugging them. If this is the example for your computer, wait until the figurer'due south fans have stopped running earlier proceeding.
4
Open your figurer'southward case. This procedure volition vary from desktop computer to desktop computer, then consult your computer's manual or online documentation for specific instructions if you don't already know how to open the case.
- You lot'll commonly need a Phillips-caput screwdriver for this pace.
five

Ground yourself . This will forbid adventitious damage to your computer'south sensitive internal parts (due east.g., the motherboard).
half dozen

Find an empty mounting space. Your main hard drive volition be mounted in a rack that's somewhere in the calculator's instance; there should be a similar, empty rack almost the hard drive. This is where your second difficult drive will go.
7
Slide your second hard bulldoze into the mounting infinite. It should fit under or adjacent to the primary hard drive, with the cable side of the hard drive facing you.
- In some cases, you'll have to tighten the mounting space with screws.
8
Notice the hard drive attachment point. Follow the current difficult drive's cable all the way downward to where it plugs into the motherboard, which is a green console with circuits on it.
- If the hard drive's cablevision resembles a ribbon, your current difficult bulldoze is an IDE-type hard drive; you lot'll most likely need an adapter to plug the second hard drive into the motherboard.
ix
Attach your 2d hard drive. Make sure that one terminate of the 2nd hard drive'south cable is firmly plugged into the second hard drive, and then plug the other cease of the cable into the motherboard. It should fit into a slot next to the principal hard drive's cablevision.
- If your reckoner's motherboard only supports IDE connections, the slot on the motherboard will be a couple of inches wide. You can buy a SATA to IDE adapter that plugs into this slot, at which bespeak you can plug your hard drive's cable into the adapter'southward back.
x
Attach the second hard bulldoze to the power supply. Plug one end of the 2nd difficult drive'due south power cable into the power supply box, so plug the other terminate into your second hard drive.
- You'll normally find the ability supply at the top of the calculator case.
- The power supply cable resembles a wider SATA cablevision.
11

Make sure that all of the connections are tight. If your second hard drive isn't properly plugged in, your computer won't be able to recognize information technology later.
12

Plug in and plough back on the reckoner. Now that your 2nd difficult drive is physically installed, you'll demand to allow Windows to recognize the hard drive.
13
Open the Deejay Management window. Correct-click the Showtime bill of fare

that's in the lesser-left corner of the screen, and so click Deejay Management in the resulting popular-upwardly menu.
- You lot tin can also press ⊞ Win+X to open the popular-up menu.
14
Await for the "Initialize Disk" window to announced. This window volition ordinarily appear within a few seconds of opening Disk Direction.
- If the "Initialize Deejay" window doesn't appear, click the grey "Refresh" button that's higher up the Layout tab nigh the tiptop of the window.
fifteen

Click OK when prompted. This will allow Windows to initialize the 2d hard drive. In one case this procedure completes, you can keep.
xvi
Make your 2nd hard bulldoze usable. Right-click the second difficult bulldoze'due south proper name, click New Unproblematic Volume... in the resulting menu, and click Next on every page of the window that pops up. Your hard drive will be set up and made readable past Windows.
- Once this procedure completes, you'll be able to access your second hard drive from the This PC app.

1
Purchase an external hard drive. You'll more often than not desire to buy an external hard drive that both has enough space for you and comes from a reliable manufacturer such every bit Western Digital or Seagate.^[2]
- When buying an external hard drive, it'south often non much more expensive to purchase a terabyte (TB) hard bulldoze rather than a 500 gigabyte (GB) 1.
- A ane-terabyte difficult drive volition normally run under $100.
ii

Adhere the external hard drive to your computer. Plug the difficult drive'southward USB cable into one of your computer's USB ports.
3

Open up Start . Click the Windows logo in the bottom-left corner of the screen. The Start carte will open.
four

Open File Explorer . Click the folder-shaped icon in the bottom-left section of the bill of fare. Doing so opens the File Explorer window.
5

Click This PC . It's on the left side of the window.
6
Select your external hard drive'south name. Click your external hard drive'southward name below the "Devices and drives" heading in the middle of the This PC window.
- The external hard drive's name will normally contain the name of the manufacturer or the model of hard drive.
7

Click Manage . It's a tab in the upper-left corner of the window. A toolbar will appear below this tab.
8

Click Format . This option is on the left side of the Manage toolbar. Doing so prompts a pop-up window.
nine
Select a format. Click the "File System" drop-down box, then click NTFS or exFAT in the resulting drop-down bill of fare.
- NTFS is useful for Windows-only systems, while exFAT can be used on any computer (Macs included).
10

Click Start . It's at the bottom of the window.
11
Click OK when prompted. Doing so confirms your decision and allows Windows to begin formatting the hard drive.
- In one case the external hard drive has been formatted for your computer, you'll be prompted to click OK, at which point you can apply the external hard drive every bit a 2d difficult drive.

one
Buy an external difficult drive. Y'all'll generally want to buy an external hard drive that both has enough space for y'all and comes from a reliable manufacturer such as Western Digital or Seagate.
- Make sure that your selected hard drive has a Thunderbolt connector (also known equally USB-C) since modern Macs don't support USB three.0 connectors.
- When buying an external difficult drive, it'south often not much more expensive to buy a terabyte (TB) hard drive rather than a 500 gigabyte (GB) ane.
- A one-terabyte hard bulldoze will usually run under $100.
ii
Adhere the external hard bulldoze to your reckoner. Plug the external hard drive's Thunderbolt cable into one of your Mac'due south USB-C ports.
- If y'all bought an external hard drive that has a USB 3.0 connector, you lot can buy a USB 3.0 to Thunderbolt iv (or USB-C) adapter.
three
Click the Get menu item. It's in the menu bar at the summit of your Mac's screen. A drop-down menu will appear.
- If y'all don't see Go hither, click the desktop or open up the Finder application to prompt it to appear.
4

Click Utilities . Information technology's in the Go drop-downward menu. The Utilities folder will open.
5

Open Deejay Utility. Double-click the Deejay Utility app icon, which resembles a hard bulldoze with a stethoscope on it.
6
Select your external hard bulldoze. Click the name of your external hard drive on the left side of the window.
- The external hard drive's proper name volition usually contain the name of the manufacturer or the model of difficult bulldoze.
7

Click Erase . It'southward a tab near the top of the Disk Utility window. A pop-upwardly window volition appear.
viii
Select a format. Click the "Format" drop-downward box near the tiptop of the window, then click Mac OS Extended (Journaled) in the resulting drib-down bill of fare.^[3]
- If you plan on using the external hard drive with other non-Mac computers, select ExFAT here instead.
9

Click Erase . Information technology'due south at the bottom of the window.
10

Click Erase when prompted. Doing and then confirms your decision and prompts your Mac to begin formatting your hard drive. Once the formatting completes, you'll exist able to use the external hard bulldoze like whatsoever other storage space.

Add New Question

Question

How exercise I install multiple hard drives?

Fasten Baron
Network Engineer & Desktop Support

Spike Businesswoman is the Owner of Fasten's Reckoner Repair based in Los Angeles, California. With over 25 years of working experience in the tech industry, Spike specializes in PC and Mac calculator repair, used computer sales, virus removal, data recovery, and hardware and software upgrades. He has his CompTIA A+ certification for calculator service technicians and is a Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert.

Network Engineer & Desktop Support

Expert Answer

Support wikiHow by unlocking this expert answer.

Later you open the casing, slide your new drive into one of the empty difficult bulldoze bays and spiral information technology in. Then plug in ane of the power plugs from the power supply unit. Plug one end of a SATA cable into the drive and the other into an open port on the motherboard and you lot're done.
Question

My laptop got stuck on the booting card. I accept tried removing the RAM and putting it back, which didn't work, and at present my hard disk drive cannot be detected. What should I practise?

It seems like your hd is corrupted. You could try formatting the drive, only this would wipe all your data and remove Windows. You tin can open up CMD from the boot menu and do a clean and format to fix the bulldoze. Your other option would be to get a new drive completely.
Question

How practice I save files to my external USB drive?

Every bit long as the drive is recognized by your system, which it should be through plug and play, you lot should just be able to plug information technology in and drag the files to the external drive through your file explorer.
Question

How do I view information from an extra hard drive afterward I have connected it to my laptop?

Simply open upward file explorer and select the drive. Frequently when you plug in an external drive, yous'll exist presented the option to view the files.
Question

If I desire to apply the second hard drive every bit unproblematic actress storage, do I still need to install an OS?

No; only the primary bulldoze needs an operating system. As long as the second one is formatted properly past your preferred Bone, it should part every bit simple storage.
Question

How tin I brand a secondary bulldoze from hard drives?

I believe you are asking almost partitioning a single drive into multiple partitions. Open up disk management past searching "Partitions" in your Windows search bar. Select the drive you wish to partition with a correct click and hitting "Shrink drive." Then, when it is done (assuming yous had the space), yous tin select the unallocated space and hit "New book." Name information technology what you want, and you have a partitioned drive. If you are partitioning to install a 2nd Os, you'll have to use bootstrap or a similar program.
Question

How do I connect an external difficult drive to a laptop?

External hard drives are extremely versatile. Merely connect them with a USB cord.
Question

Everything I've read about adding a hard drive involves a new hard drive. I desire to put the difficult drive from my previous estimator into my new one. Will formatting erase the contents?

Do everything exactly the same except formatting, because (bold it was beingness used in a Windows PC) it was already formatted, and doing it again would but delete everything on information technology.
Question

My new hard drive isn't existence detected by my computer. I've unplugged it and plugged information technology back into a different port and I know that it is getting power. The cablevision and hard drive are new. What should I do?

Cheque to see if it's recognized within BIOS, and if so, try to assign the bulldoze a partition in Disk Direction in Windows. If it'due south not recognized in BIOS, there could be a limit on the number of drives, the drive is incompatible or the port could be defective on the motherboard.

Ask a Question

200 characters left

Include your e-mail address to go a message when this question is answered.

Submit

External hard drives can be used to house separate operating systems. If you install a second operating organisation on your external hard bulldoze, exist sure to continue it plugged in at all times.
In addition to being more than widely used than IDE drives, SATA drives tend to be faster. Their cables likewise block significantly less airflow than practice IDE cables.

Most hard drives are sensitive to Electrostatic Discharge (ESD), and so ever remember to basis yourself before touching any of your reckoner'south internal components.

About This Article

Article Summary X

1. Buy a SATA for your PC.
2. Plough off and unplug the computer.
3. Open the example.
4. Ground yourself.
five. Slide the disk into an empty mounting space.
6. Attach the drive to the motherboard and power supply.
7. Reassemble and restart the computer.
8. Correct-click the Starting time card and select Disk Management.
9. Enable the new drive.

Did this summary aid you lot?

Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read one,337,451 times.