Installing a second drive or replacing an existing one is a fairly simple procedure, and a good experience for those looking to learn more about how their PC works. With the price of storage at rock bottom, there is no reason not to add a second drive to your set up, which will give you additional space for applications and extend the useful life of your PC.

When looking to buy a hard drive, it is important to check a few things first to ensure that it will indeed work with your system. The most important is the interface (Older machines used IDE whereas newer machines lean towards SATA or even SATA2), though you should also take disk space and spindle speed into consideration.

Once you have your hard drive, you should do your best to leave it in the packaging until it is required. This will help prevent exposure to static, which can damage electrical circuitry. It is wise to wear an anti static wrist strap whenever doing any work within your PC.

First, ensure your PC is switched off at the mains but leave it plugged in. This will earth the case and help prevent static. Next, remove the case screws and slide off either the side panels or entire case housing depending on the design. The hard drive should be fairly easy to spot, and normally sits in a metal cage towards the front of the PC. If you are upgrading your drive, you will need to remove both cables from the back of the drive, undo the four screws holding it in and gently slide the device out.

However, if you are installing a second drive, you must check the jumper setting before installing the drive. The jumper settings are dictated by the location of a small plastic sleeve relative to the set of pins located next to the power connection. The drive can be configured in several ways, though the most common are master or slave your primary or secondary drive. To find out which pins you must connect with the small black sleeve, refer to the sticker on the drive itself or the manufacturers handbook.

Once you have set the jumper on your new drive, slide it carefully into one of the bays, preferably with space between drives to allow air to flow, though this isn’t always possible if you have a small case, and secure it with four screws. Next, connect the IDE or SATA cable and power cable to the drive. If you have replaced your drive, you need to use the same connector as was in your previous drive. If this is a second drive, you need to plug the other connector on the same cable into your new drive. Most IDE cables come with two connectors, with the one at the far end the master and the one in the middle the slave. If you have second SATA drive, you need to connect a new cable from one of the remaining SATA channels on your motherboard to the new drive.

Replace the casing and turn on your PC and watch carefully as it boots up. Not only should you hear your new drive spinning up, but you should see it listed under the drives as your machine boots up. If this is a second drive, you should boot straight into Windows and be able to see your new drive under My Computer. You will need to right click on the drive itself and format it to the desired file system. If it is a replacement drive, there will be no operating system present, so you will have to install one using the set up CD.

If the drive does not appear, it is worth double checking the connections and that you have indeed set the jumpers appropriately.