I never installed a Hard Drive before, help me not ruin my computer

[wtfer]

-My PC is a HP Pavilion a510n 3000+ with a 120 GB 72000RPM Ultra DMA HD

-I just bought a Western Digital 120 Hard Drive

I want the new Hard Drive as a BACK UP ONLY
to store extra files & whatnot
thing is the manual is not very specific in the Western Digital package

1st thing first:
HOW DO I open my PC & where do I place the new Hard Drive, like in the back/top of the PC?

my HP has about 22 screws including 4 on the each sides that have BOLTS on the other side of the screw/INSIDE the PC, so I can only unscrew them so far untill they won't come out at all

there are a LOT of screws, including some around the cables, fan, on the sides etc
DO I just unscrew EVERYTHING

2nd thing:after I put the 2nd HD & rearrange it so it is in the "slave" slots, I turn my Computer on, do I then place the Data Lifeguard Tools CD that came with the new HD?
or does the PC automatically installs & formats the new Hard Drive??

I'm REALLY desperate, as I'm not very knowledgable in this stuff & fear I will ruin my PC or some how mess up all my files & programs

ANY HELP would be much appreciated

[Catweazle]

Can't help you with detailed instructions about opening that PC and how to fit the drive to the drive cradle. HP Pavilion machines use special built cases which have non-standard procedures and fittings in them.

The nard drive needs to have the jumper set to 'Slave', and be connected to the middle connector of the drive cable. You also need to ensure that the original drive has the jumper set to 'Master' and be connected to the end connector of the drive cable. (It might be set to 'Cable select' and be attached to the middle connector at present.)

First you should just physically install the drive and boot up to see if the system detects the full size of the drive. You'll need to right-click My Computer and choose 'Manage', then click on disk management. There you should be able to partition the drive and format the partitions.

If the full size of the drive is not recognised on your system, use Data Lifeguard tools to install it.

[wtfer]

There you should be able to partition the drive and format the partitions.

sorry but what is parition??

[Catweazle]

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/p/partition.html

You can have one partition which uses all the space on the drive, or several which each use some of the space. Until a partition is created on the drive you can't format it and store data on it. It will be simply 'unpartitioned space'.

This gives further information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_%28computing%29

To get instructions about using the disk management tool in Windows XP to partition drives, see the relevent sections of this document:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=313348

[wtfer]

oh CRAP

I think my PC only has one slot for a HDD???
I got this that has info on my HP PC:

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00225826.pdf

does that look like I can only place one HDD in my PC????
I want to keep my original one & just have teh extra for more storage!

[Catweazle]

If you look at the diagram at the bottom of page 5 you'll see there is a mounting arrangement for another drive to be fitted vertically at the front. The diagram at the top of page 5 shows how to remove the side panel and access the internals.

It's gonna be a tricky job getting the drive data cable to connect to both drives in that system. Ensudr the connectors face upwards when you fit the drive, and make sure you don't reverse the direction of the cable. The motherboard and middle connectors will be further apart than the middle and end connectors, but you can't turn the cable the other way around to make it fit. If need be, get another cable making sure the connectors on it are far enough apart to reach. Drive data cables come in a range of sizes.