| If you have ever owned your own computer then | | | | the other hand, uses a lot smaller cable. |
| at some point you have had to deal with | | | | They both also have some form of power cable |
| hardware that dies at some point. Often many | | | | attached to them. This is usually a small, |
| people do not know what is even wrong, but | | | | white plastic jack for IDE, and an even |
| just their computer quit working and will not | | | | smaller black jack for SATA. Once you know |
| start. Oddly enough, when you actually try to | | | | what kind you have you simply need to go buy |
| start the computer it beeps a few times and | | | | a new hard drive thats the same as the old |
| suddenly displays a message... "OS Not | | | | drive. |
| Found". | | | | |
| | | | 7. At this point you can disconnect the old |
| Luckily for us though, its actually quite | | | | hard drive. Do not disconnect the cables yet. |
| simple to replace a broken hard drive. Most | | | | |
| of the time the only tool you even need is a | | | | 8. Install the new hard drive to the slot and |
| phillips screw driver. Following these steps | | | | screw it back down properly. |
| will allow you to replace that hard drive in | | | | |
| no time flat! So here they are... | | | | 9. Once you have the new hard drive in place, |
| | | | disconnect the first cable from the old hard |
| | | | drive. |
| | | | |
| 1. Disconnect the power cable from the back | | | | 10. Attach this cable to the new hard drive. |
| of the computer. | | | | |
| | | | 11. Disconnect the last cable and attach it |
| 2. Once you have the power disconnected, | | | | to the new hard drive. |
| unplug all the other cables and wires from | | | | |
| the computer. | | | | 12. With both cables connected, you should be |
| | | | able to replace the cover and screws to |
| 3. Place the computer tower on a table or | | | | reseal your computer case. |
| stand to allow easier access to the computer. | | | | |
| | | | 13. Re-attach each cable to the back of your |
| 4. Locate the two screws holding the cover on | | | | computer, connecting the power cable back up |
| the side of the computer. Some computers, | | | | last. |
| like Dell, have a handle or button you press | | | | |
| that will release the side of the computer | | | | 14. Install a fresh copy of Windows on your |
| for you without having to remove any screws. | | | | computer and you should be good as new. Most |
| | | | computers come with some kind of disk that |
| 5. Remove the cover and place off to the | | | | will reinstall Windows for you. Simply turn |
| side, out of the way. | | | | on your computer, insert the disk as soon as |
| | | | you can, and it should display a message |
| 6. Unless you ordered more than one hard | | | | asking you if you would like to boot from the |
| drive for your computer, most computers only | | | | CD. The Windows installation is fairly simple |
| come with one hard drive. Most of the time | | | | after that. |
| they are located in the spot directly under | | | | |
| your computer's CD-ROM or DVD player. Older | | | | Once you've replaced a hard drive, replacing |
| computers use IDE's drives and newer | | | | other things like a vidoe card, or modem are |
| computers use SATA drives. IDE is easy to | | | | a piece of cake. Most everything else simply |
| spot as it has a fairly wide cable attaching | | | | plugs into some kind of slot making most |
| the hard drive to the mother board. SATA on | | | | hardware work a breeze. |