Adding a Second Hard Drive

ravioliiiii

Baseband Member
Messages
25
I bought a new 1 TB SATA hard drive. After buying it, I realized my existing hard drive is connected with an IDE cable (bummer). I also noticed I have the space for two more hard drives, but no free IDE plugs on my MB (Side question: If I were to stick with IDE drives, where would I connect those drives if all of the IDEs are taken up?)

After snooping around a bit, I found what I think are two SATA plugs. If these are SATA plugs, then can I install the new hard drive using those plugs? And if so, I need someone to verify whether my steps are correct:

(1) back up old hard drive (just in case)
(2) Install new hard drive
(3) clone my old hard drive onto my new hard drive using XXCLONE
(4) reformat my old hard drive and use it as an extra drive
(5) Upgrade to windows 7 on my new hard drive

** Do I need to change any BIOS settings to have my new hard drive boot on start up and not my old one? **
 
You might want to do #5 first - Windows 7 upgrades are amazingly easy to work with, we upgraded dozens of systems here at work to Windows 7 without an issue. It goes without saying to back up anyway, but otherwise your progression is correct.

IDE is dead. You'll only find drives worth buying in SATA. If you have SATA plugs, yes, just connect the new drive to the SATA connectors and you'll be set to go. SATA is keyed, so if it doesn't fit, reverse it and try again (flip the plug) if that doesn't work either, it's not SATA. ;)

Yes to the BIOS settings, it's not hard, just change the hard drive boot order in the BIOS.
 
Thanks a lot. If it isn't SATA, is it easy to convert?

So you're saying upgrade to Windows 7 on my old hard drive first and then clone and do everything else?

Lastly, do I have to worry about any "slave" or "master" settings, or is that just even more archaic than IDE?:D

Oh, and would I need to power the SATA hard drive with a SATA power connector? I think I have a SATA plug on the MB, but I def don't have a SATA power connector. I have the regular 4 pin power connectors. What should I do?
 
Yep, upgrade to Windows 7 first, then clone the drive over. Sorry to repeat what these guys are saying, I DON'T want to take their credit. But in all, this is what you're going to do.


(.1) Post the model of your mother board
(.25) Purchase a PSU adapter for SATA (like Strollin linked)
(.5) Back up your HDD if you want
(1) Upgrade to windows 7 on my new hard drive
(1.5) Back it up (again)...just in case :)
(2) Install new hard drive
(3) clone my old hard drive onto my new hard drive using XXCLONE
(4) reformat my old hard drive and use it as an extra drive (When you reformat don't use quick. The regular format - the one you should use - checks for bad boot sectors. You need to check the old IDE hard drive (which you will do if you do a regular format) before relying on it for an external or internal (backup) drive.


I even got it down to 4 steps! :D
-Q
 
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