Fit a second hard disk What to buy
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This article, Fit a second hard disk, was last updated on 20 January 2009 and is now out of date and held in our online archive for reference. Explore our latest Technology articles.
Internal hard disks are harder to fit
If you’re running out of room for all your digital photos photos, emails, documents, music and video, installing an extra hard drive – your computer’s long term memory – is a great solution. You get more storage space for all your digital media without having to buy a new computer.
If you’re a Windows XP user it’s a good way to delay the move to Windows Vista. We’d advise those with older PCs (running Windows 95, 98 and Me) to buy a new computer instead of attempting an upgrade. Adding an extra hard drive is also an easy back up solution.
Options: internal vs external drives
Your computer’s hard disk drive (HDD) is the unit inside your computer onto which your data is stored. You can buy external or internal drives. External ones are easier to fit and generally plug into a USB port. They can be bulky but reasonably small sleek versions are becoming more common.
Internal drives sit inside your computer so installing them is harder. If you’re not confident fitting one yourself ask an independent dealer to fit it for you. We’d recommend buying a hard disk drive with a capacity of 250–320GB, which should cost between £50 and £60 from an online retailer such as Dabs (www.dabs.com).
What to look for in an internal drive
First check you have a free ‘slot’ or ‘bay’ for your drive. The best way to determine this is to unscrew your computer case and see whether there is a space above, or below, your existing drive to install a new one.
The type of drive that you need to buy depends on your PC’s internal cables. Older PCs are likely to have an IDE/ATA hard disk drive connector, which is a thin, wide cable, newer ones have a narrower, more rigid SATA cable.
Tips
- Avoid buying drives at knock-down prices which are unlikely to come with any cables or screws or documentation. These are intended for systems builders (OEM) whereas retail versions have all the necessary parts
- A sketch or digital photograph of your original configuration will come in handy should things go wrong
