[bkloos]

Hey All,

I want to install a new 500gb Seagate SATA drive in my dimension 4600 as the old 40gb drive is completely full.

I've never swapped a drive before. The physical installation is not my concern, I'm more worried about formatting the new drive, activation SATA ports, etc. I understand I may need to run the OS from the SATA drive??? If so, is there a way to transfer the OS from the original drive, or do I need the back-up/reinstallation disc? I've put in a request from Dell, but have not heard back...

Anyone want to walk me through this project?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks,

Bryan

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I understand I may need to run the OS from the SATA drive???

why would you need to do that? there's no reason why you would HAVE to do that. assuming that you're just wanting to add the new drive as a slave. which, if the original drive doesn't have anything physically wrong with it (except that it's full) is the easiest route to go.

with sata it's pretty easy, turn the computer off, and plug the drive in, then turn the computer back on. once you get booted back into windows you can go to disk manager (right click on my computer, then choose manage, then go to disk management) and format the new SATA drive (if the drive doesn't show up in disk manager, you may have to run the software that comes with the drive, or download it from the manufacturer's website to initialize it). once you get the drive in and ready, move all of your data files (documents, pictures, music, movies, etc...) over to the new drive to free up space on the old one.

[dsenette]

I understand I may need to run the OS from the SATA drive???

why would you need to do that? there's no reason why you would HAVE to do that. assuming that you're just wanting to add the new drive as a slave. which, if the original drive doesn't have anything physically wrong with it (except that it's full) is the easiest route to go.

with sata it's pretty easy, turn the computer off, and plug the drive in, then turn the computer back on. once you get booted back into windows you can go to disk manager (right click on my computer, then choose manage, then go to disk management) and format the new SATA drive (if the drive doesn't show up in disk manager, you may have to run the software that comes with the drive, or download it from the manufacturer's website to initialize it). once you get the drive in and ready, move all of your data files (documents, pictures, music, movies, etc...) over to the new drive to free up space on the old one.