How to install a second hard drive on a computer. How to connect a second hard drive or install two hard drives on one computer
Good day.
For many users, one disk is often not enough for everyday work on a laptop. There are, of course, different options for solving the issue: buy an external hard drive, flash drive, etc. media (we will not consider this option in the article).
Or you can install a second hard drive (or SSD (solid state)) instead of the optical drive. For example, I use it very rarely (I’ve used it a couple of times over the last year, and if I didn’t have it, I probably wouldn’t remember about it).
In this article I want to look at the main questions that may arise when connecting a second drive to a laptop. So…
1. Selecting the required “adapter” (which is installed instead of the drive)
This is the first question and the most important! The fact is that many people do not suspect that thickness The disk drives in different laptops may be different! The most common thicknesses are 12.7 mm and 9.5 mm.
To find out the thickness of your drive, there are 2 ways:
1. Open some utility, such as AIDA (free utilities: ), then find out the exact model of the drive in it, and then find its characteristics on the manufacturer’s website and look at the dimensions there.
2. Measure the thickness of the drive by removing it from the laptop (this is a 100% option, I recommend it so as not to make a mistake). This option is discussed further down in the article.
By the way, please note that this “adapter” is correctly called a little differently: “Caddy for Laptop Notebook” (see Fig. 1).
Rice. 1. Adapter for a laptop for installing a second disk. 12.7mm SATA to SATA 2nd Aluminum Hard Disk Drive HDD Caddy for Laptop Notebook)
2. How to remove the drive from a laptop
This is done quite simply. Important! If your laptop is under warranty, such an operation may result in denial of warranty service. Whatever you do next, do it at your own peril and risk.
1) Turn off the laptop, disconnect all wires from it (power, mice, headphones, etc.).
2) Turn it over and remove the battery. Usually its fastening is a simple latch (sometimes there can be 2 of them).
3) To remove the drive, as a rule, it is enough to unscrew 1 screw that holds it. In a typical laptop design, this screw is located approximately in the center. When you unscrew it, it will be enough to lightly pull the drive housing (see Fig. 2) and it should easily “move out” of the laptop.
I emphasize that proceed carefully; as a rule, the drive comes out of the case very easily (without any effort).
Rice. 2. Laptop: drive mount.
4) It is advisable to measure the thickness using a caliper rod. If it is not there, you can use a ruler (as in Fig. 3). In principle, to distinguish 9.5 mm from 12.7, a ruler is more than enough.
Rice. 3. Measuring the thickness of the drive: it is clearly visible that the drive is about 9 mm thick.
Connecting a second drive to a laptop (step by step)
To begin with, I want to draw your attention to 2 nuances:
Many users complain that the laptop loses its appearance somewhat after installing such an adapter. But in most cases, the old drive socket can be carefully removed (sometimes small screws can hold it in place) and installed on the adapter (red arrow in Fig. 4);
Before installing the disk, remove the stop (green arrow in Fig. 4). Some people push the disk “from above” at an angle without removing the stop. This often leads to damage to the contacts of the disk or adapter.
As a rule, the disk fits into the adapter slot quite easily and there are no problems with installing the disk into the adapter itself (see Fig. 5).
Rice. 5. An SSD drive is installed in the adapter
Problems often arise when users try to install an adapter in place of the optical drive in a laptop. Most often the problems are as follows:
The adapter was chosen incorrectly; for example, it turned out to be thicker than needed. Forcing the adapter into the laptop can cause damage! In general, the adapter itself should “ride” into the laptop as if on rails, without the slightest effort;
On such adapters you can often find compensator screws. In my opinion, there is no benefit from them, I recommend removing them immediately. By the way, it often happens that it is they that rest against the laptop body, preventing the adapter from being installed into the laptop (see Fig. 6).
If everything is done carefully, the laptop will have its original appearance after installing the second disk. Everyone will “think” that the laptop has an optical drive, but in fact there is another HDD or SSD (see Fig. 7) ...
Rice. 7. The adapter along with the disk is installed in the laptop
I recommend that after installing the second disk, go into the laptop’s BIOS and check whether the disk is detected there. In most cases (if the installed disk is working and there were no previous problems with the drive), the BIOS correctly detects the disk.
How to enter the BIOS (keys for different device manufacturers):
To summarize, I want to say that the installation itself is a simple matter, anyone can do it. The main thing is to take your time and act carefully. Often problems arise due to haste: first they didn’t measure the drive, then they bought the wrong adapter, then they started installing it “by force” - as a result, they took the laptop for repair...
That's all for me, I tried to sort out all the pitfalls that may exist when installing a second disk.
Even a large disk space can run out if you work on a computer for a long time. You can delete files and programs to free up some space, but this is a temporary solution. You can replace the hard drive, then you will have to reinstall the OS and configure the computer. It's easier to connect a second drive, which will significantly increase disk space for photos, games and movies.
Buy a hard drive of sufficient capacity and a SATA data cable to connect it from a computer hardware store. The disk capacity depends on the user's desire, but it is better not to save money and purchase a disk of at least a terabyte, so that you do not have to think about increasing the memory again soon. The hard drive of a modern computer is most often connected using a SATA interface. The IDE format was used on computers until 2000. To be sure that the drive and motherboard are compatible, consult your dealer or read the instructions for your computer.
Elevated temperatures can cause rapid wear on the surface of the hard drive. If it is not possible to separate the hard drives by space, then there is one way out - install a second fan to cool the drives. If all SATA controllers on the board are busy, then buy a PCI controller with SATA connectors to connect a second drive.
The quality of content is increasing inexorably, which means that file sizes are also increasing. In this regard, you may need additional space on your computer to ensure reliable storage of your extensive library of audio and video files, heavy programs and much more. In order not to change the current hard drive, it is enough to connect an additional one to it, which will act as an auxiliary source of space.
So, you have a system unit and a clear decision to install a second hard drive. This procedure is not so complicated that it requires contacting a service center, and, in principle, even a novice user can cope on his own.
Connecting a second hard drive to your computer
Connecting an additional hard drive will differ depending on which interface connector you have on your computer: SATA or IDE. SATA is a modern interface, so in almost 100% of cases it is found in more or less recent computers. IDE, on the contrary, is outdated, it can be found in older computers, but, fortunately, hard drives with an IDE interface can still be found on sale.
If you do not know what interface your computer is equipped with, before purchasing, you will need to look under the system unit case to obtain the necessary information.
Opening the system unit case
1. The structure of the system unit cases may be different. For example, in one case it is enough to unscrew (snap off) and remove the side cover, in some cases you will need to unscrew 4 screws from the back of the case and pull off the case.
2. Hard drives are installed in specially designated cells, which can be located differently in different variations of computers: they can be located at the bottom, central or side. The picture below shows what they roughly look like.
3. It is not difficult to distinguish between SATA and IDE connectors: since IDE is an old interface, it has wide ports and fairly large cables. It looks like this:
SATA, on the contrary, is a modern solution, which means it has a narrow port and a small cable.
Knowing what interface you have, you can purchase a hard drive and then connect it.
Connecting a hard drive to SATA
Let's start by analyzing the connection of a more modern interface, since it is found in most cases.
Before you begin, be sure to turn off your computer and disconnect it from the outlet.
1. Insert the hard drive into the free slot and secure it with screws.
2. Now you should connect the SATA cable that came with the kit to the hard drive. To do this, connect one end to the hard drive on either side, and connect the other end to the motherboard.
3. All that remains is to connect the hard drive to the power supply. To do this, as a rule, a coupler comes from the power supply, which must be connected to the hard drive. If the power supply does not have free cables, you will need to buy a splitter that turns one connector into two.
4. Build your computer and then connect it to the network. This completes the connection of the second hard drive.
Connecting a hard drive to IDE
Connecting a hard drive to a legacy interface is not much different, but the procedure is still slightly different.
1. First of all, you will need to set the jumper on the contacts of the connected hard drive to one of the positions: Master or Slave. As a rule, the Master mode is the main one when operating a hard drive and, most often, it is used for hard drives from which the operating system is loaded. Slave is an additional mode used for auxiliary hard drives on which, for example, media files will be stored. Most often, a second hard drive is connected for this very purpose, so set the jumper to Slave mode.
2. The IDE cable, unlike SATA, has not two, but three plugs for connection. The blue plug located at one end indicates that it needs to be connected to the motherboard. At the other end, as a rule, there is a black plug, which belongs to the Master mode, and a white one, located approximately in the middle of the cable, is responsible for the Slave mode.
3. Insert the hard drive into the bay, and then secure it with screws.
4. You will need to connect the free plug from the power supply to the hard drive, thereby providing it with power.
5. Insert the required cable connector into the hard drive, depending on the hard drive mode you have chosen. The blue end of the hard drive is connected to the motherboard.
This completes the connection of the hard drive to the IDE interface.
Actually, there is nothing complicated about connecting a hard drive yourself. And after completing this procedure, after turning on, your computer will detect the hard drive, and you will be able to fill it with the necessary information.
The volume of stored information on a hard drive is growing at a high speed; take, for example, a good quality movie (HDRip), its volume can be 2400 MB, which means that only 50 films will fit on a hard drive with an average size of 160 GB, unless of course the disk is empty.
The advantage of an additional hard drive is another important factor, such as data recovery after reinstalling the system. You've probably already encountered a problem when you need to reinstall the software, and in order to save all the information you have, it takes a day to first copy it to an external drive, and then return it to its place after reinstalling the software. It will be much more convenient to have a second hard drive to store all information except the installed software itself.
In this article we will look at how to install an additional hard drive.
Let's get down to business.
We will leave our first hard drive for the operating system, and we will connect the second to store movies, games, music and other information. This configuration is not only convenient, but also improves the performance of the computer itself.
Let's consider point by point how to “get” to the installation location of our hard drive.
1. It is necessary to disconnect the computer from the power supply.
2. Remove the cover of the system unit (if the cover is separate, then it must be removed from both sides).
3. Find your first hard drive (most often it is located closer to the end part).
4. It is necessary to determine the type of hard drive (types: IDE and SATA. They differ in connecting wires).
IDE power cable
IDE data cable
This is what the IDE connector on the motherboard looks like for connecting a data cable.
SATA data cable
SATA power cable
This is what the SATA connector on the motherboard looks like for connecting a data cable.
For information:
If you have a SATA output on your motherboard, then it would be wiser to install this type of hard drive. SATA has greater bandwidth compared to IDE. IDE is more difficult to find in stores due to the fact that this interface is no longer in active use, and has been replaced by SATA, SATA-II, SATA-III (the larger the number, the higher the data exchange speed).
5. If your choice falls on an IDE hard drive, then on the rear panel you need to move the jumper to the Slave position. You also need to check how the jumper is set on the first hard drive (it should be set to the Master position).
6. Now install your additional hard drive in place and connect it to the motherboard and supply power to it.
7. Secure the hard drives on both sides with the screws included in the kit.
8. Replace the system unit cover.
9. Connect the wires that were previously disconnected and apply power to it.
10. Turn on the computer, wait until it boots completely, then check whether a new hard drive has appeared (to check, go to “My Computer”)
11. If everything went well and the disk appears in the computer, then before starting work you should format it.
Well, this completes the installation of the second hard drive.
Connect the second hard drive to the computer.The time has come when one hard drive in a computer is no longer enough. More and more users decide to connect a second HDD to their PC, but not everyone knows how to do it correctly themselves to avoid mistakes. In fact, the procedure for adding a second disk is simple and does not require special skills. It is not even necessary to mount a hard drive - it can be connected as an external device if there is a free USB port.
Connecting a second HDD to a PC or laptop
Options for connecting a second hard drive are as simple as possible:
- Connecting the HDD to the computer system unit.
Suitable for owners of regular desktop PCs who do not want to have external connected devices.
- Connecting a hard drive as an external drive.
The easiest way to connect an HDD, and the only one possible for a laptop owner.
Option 1. Installation in the system unit
HDD type determination
Before connecting, you need to determine the type of interface the hard drive works with - SATA or IDE. Almost all modern computers are equipped with a SATA interface, so it is best if the hard drive is of the same type. The IDE bus is considered obsolete and may simply not be present on the motherboard. Therefore, connecting such a drive may cause some difficulties.
The easiest way to recognize the standard is by contacts. This is what they look like on SATA drives:
And this is how the IDE does it:
Connecting a second SATA drive in the system unit
The process of connecting a disk is very easy and takes place in several stages:
Boot priority for SATA drives
The motherboard usually has 4 connectors for connecting SATA drives. They are designated as SATA0 - the first, SATA1 - the second, etc. The priority of the hard drive is directly related to the numbering of the connector. If you need to manually set the priority, you will need to go into the BIOS. Depending on the BIOS type, the interface and controls will be different.
In older versions, go to the section Advanced BIOS Features and work with the parameters First Boot Device And Second Boot Device. In new BIOS versions, look for the section Boot or Boot Sequence and parameter 1st/2nd Boot Priority.
Connecting a second IDE drive
In rare cases, there is a need to install a disk with an outdated IDE interface. In this case, the connection process will be slightly different.
Connecting a second IDE drive to the first SATA drive
When you need to connect an IDE drive to an already working SATA HDD, use a special IDE-SATA adapter.
The connection diagram is as follows:
- The jumper on the adapter is set to Master mode.
- The IDE plug connects to the hard drive itself.
- The red SATA cable is connected on one side to the adapter, and the other to the motherboard.
- The power cable is connected on one side to the adapter, and on the other to the power supply.
You may need to purchase a 4-pin to SATA adapter.
Initializing the disk in the OS
In both cases, after connecting, the system may not see the connected disk. This does not mean that you did something wrong; on the contrary, it is normal when the new HDD is not visible in the system. The hard drive must be initialized before it can be used. Read about how this is done in our other article.
Option 2. Connecting an external hard drive
Often users choose to connect an external HDD. This is much simpler and more convenient if some files stored on the disk are sometimes needed outside the home. And in the situation with laptops, this method will be especially relevant, since there is no separate slot for a second HDD.
An external hard drive is connected via USB in exactly the same way as another device with the same interface (flash drive, mouse, keyboard).
A hard drive designed for installation in the system unit can also be connected via USB. To do this, you need to use either an adapter/adapter or a special external case for the hard drive. The essence of the operation of such devices is similar - the required voltage is supplied to the HDD through the adapter, and the connection to the PC is made via USB. Hard drives of different form factors have their own cables, so when purchasing you should always pay attention to the standard that specifies the overall dimensions of your HDD.
If you decide to connect the drive using the second method, then literally follow 2 rules: do not neglect to safely remove the device and do not disconnect the drive while working with the PC to avoid errors.
We talked about ways to connect a second hard drive to a computer or laptop. As you can see, there is nothing complicated in this procedure and it is absolutely not necessary to use the services of computer specialists.
