Upgrading the Capacity (Part II)
After successfully plugging out the old IDE hard disk you want to replace (if there is any), you are now ready to plug in your new addition or upgrade.
When you plug in the new IDE hard disk, make sure that the jumpers are in the right configuration and the pins are in the proper orientation (master or slave). Check the alignment notch to guide you with the pins and the jumper settings on the back of the IDE hard disk or product manuals to help you verify the jumper configuration.
Next, you now connect the IDE and power cables. Then slide the new IDE hard disk into the slot where the old one was or any empty slot on your case.
Upgrading the Capacity (Part I)
Of course, everybody wants more capacity. If you have the money to spend, why not indulge into it? Just a little upgrade will be nice. You will find no difficulty upgrading your IDE hard disks, either by replacing the old one or adding another one to add more space.
All IDE hard disks have the same standard pins and socket type. So if you are just replacing a hard drive, the steps can be very easy. Just plug out the IDE and power cables from the disk, remove the screws holding the drive into the case and plug in the new one.
The IDE Hardisk
Image source: www.flickr.com
Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) hard disks have been around for quite a few years. Prior to these drives, hard disks were interfaced to a PC motherboard via an extension board known as a hard disk controller. The drive did most of the mechanical stuff and performed essential electronic/servo functions; the controller told it in detail what to do. The development of the IDE hard moved most of the electronics and firmware (low-level software on a chip) from the controller to a printed circuit board on the drive itself. In the process, a buffer/cache’ memory was added to the electronics to speed-up the process of reading and writing hard disk drive data. The drive got “smarter.” Overall costs went down and performance went up.
A much simpler board, usually identified as an IDE Controller, interfaced the IDE hard disk to the motherboard bus. The term IDE Controller is a misnomer. It is really nothing more than a bus interface and an interface and connector for the IDE cable going to the drive. The actual controller is on the drive.