When you find yourself with little space on your computer's hard disk, you are forced to delete something or have to use various tricks to save as much space as possible on your computer. In any case, the most obvious choice is to buy a new external hard drive so as to store most of the video files, images, photos, music and documents.
An external hard drive, however, is not really ideal because they are always slower than internal hard drives and because it is not really immediate to use, being a mobile piece.
Obviously it depends on the use that you make of the computer, depending on whether you use it mainly at home or if you need to carry the data and files you need to use them around.
The best choice, in case you want to expand the storage space of your desktop computer, is to buy a new hard disk to be mounted inside the PC .
READ ALSO: How to replace the hard disk to upgrade your PC in an hour
However, not all computers are built the same way.
On a laptop or all-in-one system that includes monitors and keyboard all assembled in one piece, the best option is to use an external USB drive and give up opening it.
If you have a slim, small desktop pc, then it should be possible to install a second hard drive.
If the computer is a normal desktop PC, which is not 10 years old, the installation of a second hard disk is an easy and fast job that can be done by any person, even the less experienced.
1) Buy the hard disk
You can buy a normal hard disk or a significantly faster SSD (see also the best SSD disks to buy to make the PC go as fast as a tablet )
The SSD must be set as primary disk so you have to follow the guide to move Windows to SSD without reinstalling everything .
If you install it as a secondary, then a hard drive that costs less is better.
2) Before doing anything, it is advisable to make a backup of important computer data with one of the free backup programs reported on another page.
It would not be necessary but you never know.
3) Disconnect all cables from the computer including the power outlet and open the PC by unscrewing the external casing, the so-called " case ".
Most fixed computer cases have two screws on the sides or one in the top center to remove.
Just then remove the cover, not too gently, from behind.
Those who have never opened a computer can rest assured that they will not find who knows what magic inside, just a lot of empty space with some chips attached to the motherboard, a green tablet full of connectors and transistors.
4) Before touching the inside of a computer, good technicians discharge the static electricity present in their body (touch a radiator or a tap).
5) The inside of the computers is similar for any model and the hard disk is a piece of metal and it will not be difficult to recognize; just look at what you have in your hand or at least recognize it by its compact and closed rectangular shape. Almost all computers, unless they are really old, have the space already set up for the installation of two or more hard drives.
You will notice that the hard disk is screwed inside a structure in which the second disk can be inserted and screwed.
6) Looking at the socket with which the primary hard disk is attached, you can have, if the computer is very old, an IDE cable, wide that looks like a tape.
If the PC is less than 6-8 years old, you will certainly find a smaller SATA cable .
The new hard drive will be a 99% SATA, because I believe that IDEs are hardly sold anymore. There are two connectors inside the computer, to be untied and relaxed.
One is that of energy, the other is the data transmission cable.
Be careful because they could be hidden in the midst of dust and many other things.
If they were missing, the connection cables of a second internal hard disk should have been supplied in the hard disk box and supplied with the computer.
In this case, check where the first one is attached and make connections on the motherboard, using the free sockets, in the same way.
If there were no free SATA sockets, it means that the PC is very old and does not accept a second hard drive.
6) With the hard disk in your hand, slide it inside the cage .
This is perhaps the most difficult part of the installation because the path could be blocked or disturbed to other cables or various pieces.
Without damaging anything and, this time, very delicately but decisively, insert the second hard disk close to the first, face up (look at the first to see how it is oriented).
Once housed in the cage, use the supplied screw to secure it, aligning the holes on the disc with the holes in the cage or tray.
Finally, proceed to connect the cables to the sockets.
Note : On some older motherboards the second hard drive should be configured to be " secondary " or " slave ".
The difference between master and slave is that the master, the main hard disk, is loaded when the computer is turned on while the slave functions as an additional space.
There is no single rule, on the face of a hard disk there is always a drawing that identifies the pins to be covered in order to use the disk as master or slave.
Basically, you have to put a piece of plastic (the " jumper ", which is also supplied with the hard disk) that covers 2 of the 8 pins that are located on the back side of the hard disk.
Generally, if there are no covered pins the disk works as slave or secondary while covering the two leftmost, vertically, it is installed as master.
In reality then, in the end, if you buy a new disk and want to use it as a primary reinstalling the operating system on it, just connect it to the sockets where the old one was and then connect the old one to the free sockets.
8) After turning on the computer, go to Disk Management (From the start menu -> run -> write the command diskmgmt.msc ) and proceed with formatting the drive with unallocated space .
Alternatively, with programs similar to Partition Manager, you can create multiple partitions on the same hard disk.
In case of problems, you can leave questions to try to understand where you are wrong.
