Make room for more files

If you don’t have a spare Sata port, then you have two alternatives. First, look for a spare Pata connector­ perhaps on the same cable as the existing hard disk. If there is one, you can buy a Pata disk and fit that.

If there are no spare connectors of either type, look for an empty PCI slot ­ the long, white expansion slots usually found near a graphics card. A Startech card that adds two Sata and two Pata disks to one of these slots costs around £20.

Don’t buy a Raid expansion card as these are more expensive, and only useful for advanced computer users ­ for more information on what Raid is, and how it can be used, see our feature on the subject.

Once you’ve worked out whether to buy a Pata or Sata disk, turn your thoughts to size. There is no point pinching pennies, as buying the very cheapest disk usually means paying a much higher cost per gigabyte of storage space.

For example, at the time of writing the cheapest hard disk for sale on www.dabs.com was £26 for 80GB. However, paying an extra £5 would buy twice as much storage space, or an extra £8 would buy a 250GB disk.

On the other hand, don’t buy the largest drive you can find either as they carry a heavy price premium ­ currently, huge 1TB disks are available but pricey. There are four well-known manufacturers of desktop hard disks to look for ­ Hitachi, Samsung, Seagate and Western Digital.

There is one other specification to be aware of ­ – spin speed, or rpm (revolutions per minute). When buying a hard disk, rpm means just the same as it does when talking about vinyl records – ­ only a bit faster.

The normal speed for a desktop PC hard disk is 7,200rpm. Slower 5,400rpm disks are quieter but can’t copy data as quickly. 10,000rpm disks offer better possible performance but at a significantly higher price, and much more noise. Most people should look for a standard 7,200rpm disk. Performance test results for specific models can be found at our sister magazine, Personal Computer World's, Test Bed site.

Fitting the disk
Most desktop computers have plenty of space for several extra hard disks. The only common exceptions are the mini PC systems made by companies such as Shuttle, which may only have space for one or two disks.

If you have a mini PC with no extra space for a second disk you might have to connect the second disk without closing the PC case, copy Windows and all your files across to the new disk, then fit it inside the case. For more information, see the box on laptop disks at the bottom of this page.

For almost every PC you will need an ordinary Phillips (cross-head) screwdriver. This may not be needed for all the steps, because many cases have special fixings that can be adjusted by hand, but it’s best to have one ready.

First, remove the side of the case. There will normally be a couple of screws holding the side panel on. When looking at the front of the PC case, it’s normally the left side panel that can be removed.

The hard disks are normally installed at the front of the case at the bottom, underneath the DVD drive. The connectors on the drives will either point towards the back of the case or directly at you as you look at the open case. Some cases allow you to screw disks straight into the case, while others use holders known as caddies. Either screw your disk into the case, or screw it into a caddy and slot that into place.

If you’re fitting a Pata disk to the same cable as an existing disk, the drives need to be set as either the Master or Slave. This is done by moving what’s called a jumper. This is a small plastic sleeve that fits over two metal pins on the drive, normally found next to the data connector. There are three settings ­ Master, Slave and Cable Select. Some drives use the abbreviations MST, SLV and CSL.