When & How To Install Drives

The next step is to install drives in the computer case. Some technicians prefer to install the motherboard first, but we are installing the drives first because if the board is already in the case, before the drives are installed, there is the risk of dropping one of the drives onto the motherboard and damaging it.

Also, once the drives are installed, we will not attach any power cords until after the motherboard is in place so that the cords will not be in the way when we install the motherboard.

The Bays

Computer cases usually have a group of wide bays for the CD-ROM drives and a set of narrow bays for the floppy drive, zip drive, and hard drive.

The best way to figure out if something can go into a specific bay is to just try sliding it in. If it does not fit, then it obviously is not the right bay.

Generally, you do not want to use a bay with two open sides for a hard-drive. The extra side is for items such as a CD-ROM, so that one can insert and remove a CD from the drive.

If your computer is lacking any bays at all, then you will need to purchase some new bays for your computer. Once you have them, installing it should be fairly simple. In fact, it should come with prewritten instructions on how to do just that.







Now let's look at the different guides we offer here to install the drives into your computer:

Hard Drive CD-ROM Installation Guide






Click here to return to the top of When & How To Install Drives.