Installing an internal hard drive involves several steps.
When you install a new computer hard drive, it can be disconcerting to check Windows Explorer and not see the drive. In most cases, however, this is not a serious problem; even if the physical installation of the drive is correct, Windows is unable to utilize a hard drive that is not initialized, partitioned and formatted. Additionally, most issues with the physical installation of a hard drive are not difficult to identify and resolve.
Initialization and Partitioning
Before you can use a hard drive, it must be initialized and partitioned. Partitioning a hard drive creates a file system, which is needed for the operating system to index the contents of the drive. Until you have partitioned the drive, it does not appear in Windows Explorer. Open the Control Panel, double-click "Administrative Tools" and then double-click "Computer Management." When the Computer Management utility loads, click "Disk Management." Windows should display a prompt asking if you want to initialize and partition the new hard drive. Follow the prompts to complete this process. Hard drive partitioning is generally not necessary with a hard drive that ships in a retail boxed package.
Physical Connection
A hard drive has two connections on the back: one for data and another for power. Looking at the back of your hard drive, you should see one cable leading to the power supply in the back of the computer chassis and another leading to the motherboard. Make sure that both of these connections are correct and that the cables are seated firmly.
Jumpers
If your hard drive connects to the motherboard with a wide ribbon cable, it is a Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment, or PATA, drive. You can connect up to two hard drives to a single PATA cable. The two hard drives on a cable must be identified as the Master and Slave, even if you only have one drive connected to the cable. Check the short metal pins or "jumpers" on the back of the hard drive. If you have one hard drive connected to the cable, the plastic shunt included with the hard drive should cover the pins marked "Master" or "MA." If you have two drives connected, one must be configured as the Master and other other must be configured as the Slave.
Correct Cable
There are two types of PATA ribbon cables for hard drives. One type has 40 wires and the other has 80. PATA cables with 80 wires were created to avoid the signaling issues that occurred with 40-wire cables as hard drives got faster. A modern hard drive requires an 80-wire ribbon cable to operate at its maximum possible speed, and some hard drives do not have the capability to fall back to a lower speed if the wrong type of cable is used. You can determine the number of wires your PATA hard drive cable has by looking at it.
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