Be Smart: Partition Your Drive by John H Lee
Being in the computer field for some years, I've seen many people being afraid to save data on their computers. People are so paranoid, but don't really know what to do unless they're willing to spend a little time to learn about the box with a cup holder built into it (CD ROM tray)=0). ... Another good practice is to buy an external hard drive, Zip, or a tape drive depending on how large your data is, to have extra backup just in case, which is rare but does happen, the partition gets corrupted and the Logical drive is no longer there.

How to Install a Hard Drive by Alfred Moloto
As more files are stored on your computer, your hard drive is likely to run out off space. Today Hard drives are much bigger and cheap. In this excises I will walk you through the steps you need to take when installing a new hard drive. 1.Remove the case cover, make sure you have an open IDE... 5.If you want to use the new hard drive as your primary hard drive then you will need software to use to clone like (Norton Ghost), it will make an identical drive with all the software and drivers with windows just like your old hard drive, the difference will the space.

Shopping Tips For Buying An External Harddrive by Cedric H. Dirose
When the first external harddrive first hit the market, it was large, clunky, slow and very expensive. Like most aspects of the world of computer technology, however, the prices of these external had drives have steadily fallen, even as the speed, reliability and storage capacity has increased... As with any type of hard drive, it is best to buy as large an external hard drive as you can afford. ... There are a number of reasons why a computer owner would opt to buy an external harddrive instead of installing a secondary hard drive inside the computer case.

Mounting the Hard Drive(s) - Step 12 in Building Your Own PC by Chuck Lunsford
Before we get started consider where in the case you want the hard drive. Keep in mind that hard drives generate heat simply by operating normally. Something spinning at 7200 RPM is going to get warm. It is better to place them away from other hardware components as much as the physical... In some older cases, tightening down screws on the far side of the hard drive can be a problem, because the screws are not highly visible and thus it is hard to get to them with a screwdriver. ... With that in mind let us proceed: Slide the hard drive into an available drive rail of the case.

Configuring the Internal Drives ... Step 11 of 21 by Chuck Lunsford
Before configuring you must decide what type of drives and how many you want in your system. Unless you plan on using your PC for more involved applications such as networking then one drive should be sufficient. In fact with today’s drive sizes like the LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Drive coming in at... Strictly speaking, "drive" refers to a device that drives (removable) media, such as a tape drive or (floppy) disk drive, while a hard disk contains fixed (non-removable) media. ... However, in recent times, the hard disk has become more commonly known as the "hard drive." The same procedure goes...

Tips for Failed Hard Drive Data Recovery by Charles Cass
One thing that manufacturers of hard drives do not tell us when we buy our brand new computers, is that hard drives are subject to fail, regardless of the amount of time they are used. With some systems it may take more than 10 years before the hard drive failure occurs, while others can fail... If as an example, your failed hard drive happens to be the drive which contains the operating system, the best failed hard drive data recovery step you can take is not to boot the drive at all if this is possible.

Reinstall Windows XP by Jacob Erdei
Instructions for re-installing Windows XP: There comes a time in every computers life were you just want to start over. This article gives you instructions for reinstalling your XP operating system and starting over. Be sure to backup any documents that you have on your system. ... Some computers do not have an XP CD if this is the case when your computer fist boots up look at the screen, newer computers often times have the restore CD on the hard drive already and you can access it from your initial boot-up.

Part 1: Un-Install Programs, Update Windows, Defragment Hard Drives by Aaron West
This is the first of many more articles to come. I will show you step by step how you can take back control over your windows computer. Just follow my instructions and soon you will be using your computer to work or play again instead of spending hours trying to just keep it running. ... In most cases your main hard drive will be labeled the "C:" drive. ... A new window will open and show you all hard drive, CR ROM drives and other storage devices connected to your computer. ... Windows is not very efficient in where it puts stuff on your hard drive.

When is Professional Computer Repair Advisable? by Joe Duchesne
There are many computer repairs that the average person can perform without much problem. Things like installing CD-ROM drives, sound cards and other expansion cards don't take much computer knowledge. How can you know though when you are over your head and need professional computer help? ... Now if you don't care about the data on your hard drive, simply re-installing your operating system while making sure to format your hard drive can usually solve a software problem. ... Some intermediate repairs include replacing your hard drive and installing an operating system.

Formatting, And/or Re-installing Windows on a Dell PC by Mark Berger
Formatting or re-installing windows on a Dell system is much simpler then doing so on other machines. If for any reason you need to format your Dell system or re-install windows on it, read on. Dell packages a CD with each of their systems. This CD will read "Dell windows XP home," "Dell windows... As long as it is set to CD-ROM first, and hard drive is somewhere after that, it doesn't matter what's in there. ... Make sure it is set to boot to CD-ROM for first boot device, then hard drive as second (or third).