How to install a Hard Drive Rack

[Hardwareman]

While external hard drives are convenient, they are nevertheless free from limitations that may become defects. In the case of 3.5 "hard drives, so you will take the power of the hard disk, sometimes cumbersome, everywhere with you so you can use your hard drive.

On the other hand, a connection via USB 2.0 or eSATA will never give the same rates of transfers a direct connection to SATA on the motherboard. This connection (pending USB 3.0) provides the best performance in reading and writing data. To combine the portability and flexibility of an external hard drive and the performance of an internal hard drive, you can install a rack in your computer .

You can then connect the rack instead of your hard drive and easily insert and remove in your hard drive inside.

In the case of a disk drive system, this will allow you to take your Windows or Linux with you and find it quickly on another identical computer that also has a rack. One can also imagine a hard drive for Linux and one for Windows that you can easily switch to move from one system to another.

In the case of hard drive storage, this will allow you to easily secure your hard drive in case of absence or take it with you to your exchange of large files. Again, you simply insert your hard disk in the rack to another computer or even your deck multimedia lounge to return immediately to all your files.

Choosing Rack:

A rack is in the form of a device employing a 5.25-inch space on your computer box, that is to say the site a DVD burner. You must have such a free slot on your computer. Most racks removable HDD are SATA format. Your hard drive must be the same type Serial ATA (SATA), which is almost always the case today. Note that the SATA racks offer the possibility of a connection / disconnection hot, that is to say running on your computer.

Different colors are available, take a rack that matches the color of your box. If you plan to walk your hard drive of your computer to another computer or to a particular media player, a second rack is required. You need a rack in each device where you want to quickly connect your hard drive.

[Hardwareman]

Installing the rack:

The installation of the rack in a computer is fairly simple. You must have a location 5'1 / 4 free, that is to say, the location of a DVD burner.

• Turn off and unplug the cables from your computer.
  
• Open the box of your turn.
  
• Remove, if present, the front of your box.
  
• Remove the metal cover at the location where you want to install the rack.
  
• Remove the same way the plastic cover on the front.
  
• Insert the rack into the empty slot.
  
• Screw it to the tower.
  
• You can replace the front of the box.
  
• Note that some racks have LEDs to indicate HDD activity. You can use them instead of those of your box by connecting the power cord from the diode to the appropriate location of your motherboard.

Put Your primary hard drive in the rack:

If you want to put an existing hard drive in your computer in the rack, you must unplug your motherboard and connect the cables to the rack.

• Unplug the SATA cable and power of your current hard drive.
  
• Plug them on the rack.
  
• Remove your hard drive of his current location.
  
• You then only insert it into the rack.
  
• Start your computer, your system boots normally.
  
• If you have not enabled the connection to reboot, you must turn off your computer before you open the rack and remove your hard drive.
  
• Similarly, your computer must be turned off to restore your hard disk in the rack.

[Hardwareman]

Put a second hard drive in the rack:

To put a new hard drive in the rack, you must connect it to your motherboard. You will need a SATA data cable and a free SATA power connector from your power supply.

• Locate a free SATA connector on the motherboard and plug your cord.
  
• Connect the other end on the rack.
  
• Take a free SATA power connector from your power supply and connect it to the rack.
  
• All you then have to insert your hard disk in the rack.
  
• Start your computer hard drive is recognized. Note that if a new hard drive, you might want to create partitions and format it (using the Disk Management console )
  
• If you have not enabled the connection to reboot, you must turn off your computer before you open the rack and remove your hard drive.
  
• Similarly, your computer must be turned off to restore your hard disk in the rack.

Activate the connection and disconnection:

SATA drives can be connected and disconnected from your computer even when it is running as long to activate the SATA AHCI mode in BIOS of your computer. Once the AHCI mode enabled, you can insert or remove your hard drive rack, even when your computer is running.