Instructions on how to install an additional HDD for your PC

Installing an additional HDD for your PC not only helps to upgrade data storage space but also helps the hard drive containing the operating system reduce the pressure when having to read and write large amounts of data to increase processing speed. Most customers when building the initial computer configuration choose a hard drive with the minimum capacity to reduce costs. But when they have enough conditions to upgrade the hard drive for their computer system, many customers are quite confused because they do not know how to install an additional hard drive. Carrying the entire computer system to the store also makes many of you feel quite tired, especially the oversized full ATX systems. Installing an additional HDD is not difficult, you can completely do it yourself at home. If you are also looking for instructions, please refer to the article below by TipsMake!

What is the effect of adding a hard drive to a PC?

Upgrading and installing an additional HDD for your PC system will bring many benefits such as:

1. Helps Windows startup and data transfer speed to be faster.
2. Increase data storage space without incurring much cost, and will also help increase the speed of data processing.
3. Serving entertainment needs such as surfing the web, watching movies more smoothly, playing games will be 2 times faster than normal.
4. In addition, it helps reduce the intensity of main memory operation, increasing the lifespan of components and parts in the computer. In particular, installing an additional hard drive will help save power consumption for users.

How to add an HDD to your PC system simply at home

The steps to add an HDD to your PC are very simple and anyone can do it. You can refer to the instructions below.

Step 1: Turn off the computer, unplug the power cord from the PC and remove the side cover of the PC case

With any electrical or electronic device, when operating, the first thing you need to do is unplug the power cord from the device to ensure both your own safety and the device's safety from causing a fire.

Step 2: Choose a hard drive compatible with your PC and install it.

For the system to achieve optimal performance, when installing an HDD hard drive for your PC, you need to choose the hard drive model that is suitable for your PC as well as your usage needs. On the market, there are many hard drive models such as WD or Toshiba. classified according to many different purposes of use, you should choose the right type of hard drive for your PC and distinguish between hard drives for Camera systems, NAS, Server.

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Besides, HDD hard drives also have 2 sizes: 3.5 inches and 2.5 inches. Hard drives for regular PC systems are 3.5 inches in size and for laptops are 2.5 inches.

Step 3: Install the hard drive into the HDD slot designated on the case.

Each case has pre-designed HDD slots. Depending on the type of case, these slots will have a hard drive tray or not. Your job is to place the correct HDD into this slot in the correct position and direction. You can rely on the hard drive pre-installed on the PC to install a new hard drive in the same position. Current case models support many slots as well as upgrade capabilities. You can install 2 or more HDDs for the PC as long as the Motherboard supports enough ports and the case has enough mounting positions.

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Step 4: Plug the SATA cable and power cord into the hard drive.

On normal HDD and SSD hard drives, there will be 2 slots: a SATA cable slot for data transfer and a power slot for power supply. The SATA slot will be smaller than the power slot. In addition, you can distinguish that the SATA slot will be connected with the cable from the mainboard to the hard drive and the power slot will connect the hard drive to the PSU power supply.

Step 5: Fix the hard drive to the case

On the hard drive there will be 4 screw positions to fix the hard drive and the case. The HDD hard drive looks quite sturdy but is very susceptible to physical damage. Fixing the hard drive to the PC is a very important step to minimize this risk.

Step 6: Initialize the new hard drive

For the hard drive to work, you need to reinstall the computer, the steps are:

1. Step 1: Go to  Start  at the bottom of the screen and select  Computer -> Manage .
2. Step 2: When the Manage window appears  , select  Disk Management  on the left side of the screen.
3. Step 3: The Initialize Disk  window  appears. Then select the  GPT (GUID Partition Table) line  and press the  OK button.

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Step 7: Partition the hard drive

To partition your hard drive, you need to follow these steps:

1. Step 1: Go back to the Computer Management window   and right-click on the location of the new hard drive, then select  New Simple Volume .
2. Step 2: Then select File System as NTFS  and click  Next .

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Detailed video tutorial on how to add an HDD to your PC

Samuel Daniel

Update 16 January 2025