Installing a SATA Hard Drive

• 1). Turn the power off and unplug the power cords from your desktop computer.
  
  
• 2). Lay the computer down on its side and open the tower. You can also do this while the computer stands upright, but it will be easier if you lay it on its side.
  
  
• 3). Look for the SATA bus slot on your motherboard. While these are usually marked, look for a small, rectangular slot near the bottom of the motherboard.
  
  
• 4). Connect one end of the SATA data cord that was packaged with the hard drive into the motherboard slot. Connect the other end to the hard drive.
  
  
• 5). Secure the hard drive inside the tower. This might require using screws to secure the hard drive to the tower.
  
  
• 6). Close the tower and reconnect the cables.
  
  
• 7). Restart your computer.
  
  

Formatting

• 1). Log into Windows and go to your control panel.
  
  
• 2). From your control panel, click "Administrative Tools" and then "Computer Management."
  
  
• 3). Select "Disk Management." Your hard drive will be listed as an unformatted drive or partition.
  
  
• 4). Right-click on the new hard drive and select "Format."
  
  
• 5). Sit back and wait. Depending on the size of the hard drive, formatting could take a while.