The hard drive on your computer serves as a piggy bank of all your data. It stores all the data and the files that you have been working on. It stores the data via the magnetic surface that is layered on the hard disk platters.

Just like piggy banks when the hard disk drive becomes full, it either needs to be unloaded or transferred to a bigger piggy bank. That is the reasons why people replace hard drives. When hard drives become full they will slow your computer down.

That's why people change their hard drives; because hard drives can help a computer run faster. Especially if the computer has lots of data stored already.

A person may also want to set up a second hard drive. The second hard drive serves as a swap drive. You will be able to save your data in two different hard drives. I.e. you will now have drives E: and F:

The first thing you'd have to do is remove the case cover and make sure if there is still space for another hard drive.

Then look for extra connectors, an IDE connector or an extra connector found on the mother board which you'd need to get another IDE cable. If you are not able to find an extra cable connector but only another cable or connection for another IDE cable, it will have to do. But you will need to get a new IDE cable later on.

Then check if there is a 3 ½ inch bay for the extra hard drive to be placed. If you don't have any, you may not want to have another hard drive but just replace the old one. This is because it will be dangerous to have the case improperly mounted.

Last thing you'd have to check is to be sure the cable reaches the place where you plan on putting the hard drive. If you have reorganized the cables but still won't reach, you are in a pretty dire situation.

Now that you have seen that there is space for a hard drive, check the current IDE devices to figure out the jumper settings. Usually IDE devices such as CD or Hard drive will have jumpers that match on a description of what that device does.

For every cable there will be two devices, the one is the master and the other is the slave according to the jumpers. The hard drive should be set as master.

Then place the hard drive in the proper bay where it can receive proper air circulation. It is best to put the silver side to be on top and the connector should face the mother board to be plugged in. Find the extra power cord and connect to the hard drive. Also plug the IDE cable and finally close the case.

Again, on paper it does seem easy, but in reality it will be a challenge to work upon. If you're the person who enjoys puzzles, figuring out how you can install your new hard drive will work out for you.