Male Speaker: To add a second ATA hard drive to improve your PC's performance, first, cover your work surface with several sheets of newspaper. Shutdown your PC, unplug it and place it on top of the newspaper. The newspaper will act as a static mat to avoid ruining computer components. To open the case, you may have to remove case screws. If so, put the screws aside in a bowl or cup. Remove the side panel of the case, touching the metal chassis of the computer to dissipate any static electricity. Verify the jumper settings on the back of your original drive.
Jumpers are the tiny plastic and metal shunts that you use to configure hard drives and CD/DVD drives. If necessary, change the existing drive to multiple drives master unit by moving the jumper to the indicated pins. You may find it helpful to use a PC tool kit containing a tweezer like tool that will allow you to more easily move the jumper to the desired pin. If the settings aren't printed on the drive, check the manual or visit the manufacturer's website.
Set the jumpers on the back of the new drive for multiple drives slave unit. If your new drive needs a drive cage to fit into the desired bay, use the screws supplied by the drive manufacturer to attach the cage rails to both sides of your drive or if your hard drive requires you to mount the drive directly to the cage, remove the cage from the case to more easily mount the hard drive.
Slide the drive into the selected bay, making sure that the end with the connector is exposed. Slide the hard drive back and forth in the drive bay until the screw holes in the side of the bay are aligned with the screw holes on the side of the drive. Tighten down the drive to the side of the bay with the screws that came with the drive or your cage kit. Choose an unused power connector and plug it in, making sure that the connector is firmly seated.
Plug the other connector from the hard drive cable into the back of the drive and make sure that the cable is firmly seated. Note that both hard drives use the same cable, so you might need to unplug the original drive from the cable and switch connectors. It doesn't matter which connector goes to which drive as long as the jumpers are correctly set. Check for a blocked hole in the cable connector, which should align with a missing pin on the drive's connector. This alignment trick called keying helps ensure that you are installing that cable right side up.
However, don't panic if the cable isn't keyed. The wire with the red or black marking on the cable is always wire one and it should align with pin one on the drive's connector. Once the hard drive is mounted to the cage, mount the cage back into the case. Replace the side panel on your PC and if necessary tighten its screws. If you find it helpful, lay the tower on its side to more easily slide the side panel on. Plug your PC back in and turn it on. Run the drive formatting utility that accompanied your new drive to prepare it for use.
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