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Can I install a second ATA/SATA drive in my system?

Provides instructions for adding a second ATA/IDE or Serial ATA drive to the system.



Yes, you can have more than one hard drive in the system. In most cases with ATA drives, you will want to jumper both the master and slave drive as cable select. Once the drive is properly configured to act as a slave, you will want to partition and format the drive.

For a Serial ATA drive, all that is needed is a free SATA port. There is no need to configure the drive as master or slave. The SATA port may need to be enabled in your system’s BIOS before the drive is recognized by the operating system. Please consult your computer or motherboard documentation for further information.
 

Before purchasing a new drive make sure that your system's BIOS can support the capacity of the drive.
 

Partitioning and Formatting the Drive:

If you are using Windows 8.1/8/7, Vista,  please click on the following links for further instructions:

  • For assistance formatting your drive in Windows 8.1/8/7/Vista, please see this Microsoft Support article.
  • For assistance formatting your drive in OS X for Mac, please see Document ID 207851.
  • For assistance on how to create a new partition or a new logical drive in Windows Disk Management, please see Document ID 188931

You may also instead choose to use DiscWizard to format your secondary drive for use in Windows: