Are you running out of hard drive space?  Do you constantly have to shuffle files from one location to another just to make enough room for your new pictures or work files?  Sure, external hard drives are cheep and easy to connect to your computer, but an internal hard drive is just as cheep. Stop hogging your prime USB slots with external hard drives and spend a few minutes adding another internal hard drive to your computer.

Upgrading your internal hard drives is a quick and painless process and in most cases you will not need to remove your current hard drive or reinstall any software.  Consider installing a second drive to use as you would an external hard drive.  Adding a second (or third) hard drive to your computer will increase your storage space and save you from having to reinstall your software.  

The process for adding an additional hard drive to your computer is fairly straight forward.  First, buy the new hard drive, then open your computer case and plug hard drive into one of your open IDE or SCSI cables.  You may need to spend a few minutes formatting the drive or configuring your operating system to see your new drive, check your hard drive for any specific instructions you need.

If your computer is a little older, you may need to do a little research on the type of hard drive you currently have installed, some hard drives simply do not play well with others.  If you are still using a hard drive that is two or three years old, your computer will probably need a little more work before you can install a second hard drive.  

If you have an older RLL or MFM type drive you will need to replace the drive and replace your hard drive controller as well.  You can verify if you have a RLL Or MFM drive by opening up the case and looking at the label on your hard drive.  If you find you need to replace your existing drive instead of adding another drive, you should make sure you have all the software that came with your computer before  beginning your project.  

The entire replacement process will go easier if you have all the drives and software that came with your computer, but if your like me and constantly throwing out old disks, you need a copy of your current operating system at the least. Oh, and do not forget to back up your files that you want to have on your new hard drive.  There is nothing more annoying than replacing a hard drive only to discover that you forgot to make copies of your files.  

Replacement of your hard drives can be as easy as installing a second drive.  Purchase the drive, open your computer case and remove your old hard drive.  Replace any needed components and install the new hard drive.  Close up your computer case and start installing your operating systems software.

Once you have your new hard drive installed you will wonder why you lived life with so many external hard drives in your way.  And once you fill up your new drive add another, and another …