Adding an extra SATA II hard disk

J

My machine presently has a 500gb seagate momentus as the only drive.

I guess I can add a 2TB seagate internal hard disk to it. Thing is I can't remember how, and have never done this before.

I saw a video about how to do it once somewhere but can't seem to find it. Please tell me the steps to do this.

Thanks in advance.

P.S:- Not talking about how to physically attach it. Just asking what do I need to do after connecting the sata cable to the motherboard and the sata power plug from the psu?

W

how to initialize a new hard drive and format it.wmv - YouTube
How to Initialize a New Hard Drive | eHow.com

J

Thanks. What about the raid 0 and raid 1? Or does it not matter?

W

i suggest stay away from RAID unless absolutely necessary(because of your specific requirements) or you know exactly what you are doing.

J

^ Yeah I don't know what I am doing when it comes to raid

First time with multiple internal hard disks. And I don't really need raid. I just need more dumping space. Buying internals since external one costs a lot more.
Sorry to bother but can you check whether I am getting the steps or not?

1.) Attach sata cable to motherboard and sata power plug from psu.
2.) Turn machine on?? (Or do I need to do something in BIOS first?)
3.) Do the stuff in the video.

P.S:- I can connect the sata cable to motherboard in any free sata slot right? Or does the position of the connecting slot matter?

If I got the steps wrong, I'd appreciate it if you could post the correct steps to do this. Thanks

Anyone? :\

W

no need to do anything in bios & position of sata slot does not matter.

J

^ Okay one final question. Is sata III backwards compatible? My motherboard only has sata II standards.

Never mind,found out it is backward compatible

Thanks.

Ya, SATA III is backward compatible:
1. just plug the new HDD
2. turn on your system
3. Right click on My Computer, select Manage.
4. From the Left side of the Manage window, select Disk Management. You will see the list of the attached discs in it. Your new HDD will be there with unallocated Status.
5. Select it and perform a Format, obviously in NTFS format
6. Wait for the format to be completed and then partition it if you want, assign some drive letters and you're done.

J

^ Thanks

That was helpful.