Installing additional HD

[copas]

I have read the various posts but haven't found the precise direction to go.
I have a desktop about six mo. old. It has an Intel board and an 80 gig HD.
Santa has brought me a 500 gig Sata drive that I want to add to this machine. Questions:
1. Can I simply add the new drive without changing the bios?
2. Does it need formatted?
3: What software is required to format? I'm a bit hazy about partitions.
4. How can I be sure I'm not overloading the power supply?
5. How does one proceed if they want to copy the original drive to the new one?
6. I have read about an external drive. Can one boot from and external drive?
7. Can a HD be connected to a USB port.

Thanks in advance for your response.

[xavier]

connect the sata cable to a sata connection on the board & connect the power,from there go to disc managment & format the drive.

[Geek-9pm]

Lors of free and trail software to "clone" a drive. 
http://www.hdclone.com/
This one works good and is easy to use.

[Beware the talking cat]

1. Can I simply add the new drive without changing the bios?
Yes. This has nothing to do with your bios.
2. Does it need formatted?
Yes. This will take a bit of time, but isn't hard to do.
3: What software is required to format? I'm a bit hazy about partitions.
You can do this in windows.
4. How can I be sure I'm not overloading the power supply?
This one is hard to say; we would need more details about your setup, otherwise it would just be seeing if there are any problems when you hook it up.
5. How does one proceed if they want to copy the original drive to the new one?
See the post above.
6. I have read about an external drive. Can one boot from and external drive?
I think so, but it strikes me as a really bad idea.
7. Can a HD be connected to a USB port.
Yes; you would need a connector; most people use a hard drive enclosure for this.
If you are putting it inside your computer, it will be connected either with SATA or PATA. If your old hdd is connected to your computer with a ribbon about two inches wide, it's PATA, otherwise it is SATA.

[JJ 3000]

Check this out
http://www.dtidata.com/resourcecenter/2007/04/23/how-to-slave-hard-drive/

[Dusty]

Santa has brought me a 500 gig Sata drive that I want to add to this machine.

Check this out
http://www.dtidata.com/resourcecenter/2007/04/23/how-to-slave-hard-drive/

Can Sata drives now be slaved on IDE using the instructions on the link?

[JJ 3000]

Oh SATA sorry

It is very similar to that tutorial. The big difference is that SATA cables have only one connector, so there is no master or slave settings you need to worry about. Just plug your boot drive into channel one on the board.

When you get your new hard drive you can format and partition it using disk management.

[Geek-9pm]

About SATA, the drive with the small cable. The BIOS may have an option to let the Windows OS think the SATA is an IDE ( ATA) type of drive. Handy if Windows does not have a driver for the SATA. 

[copas]

Thanks to everyone for all the good advice.
I have installed the 500 gig in the case and it now sets above the original 80 gig unit.
When I turned on the computer it booted normally. ( this means it behaves as I am accostumed) Vista comes up and I can get on the net and access Computer Hope.
I don't know what I expected to see but here's what I did see:
I looked in device manager and see two hard drives listed. I understand that. The old and the new.
I open my computer and only see my 'old' 80 gig unit. Where's the 500 unit?
Big questions: Is this is the way it's supposed to behave?
Does the 500 unit only take 'overflow' when the 80 unit is full? So to speak.
I want to put Ubuntu on the 500 unit; thinking that will keep is separate from Windows that resides on the 80. How?
Orrrrr, do in now have one big 5080 gig drive?
Help me to think about this matter...
Many thanks to all who have responded.
Copas

[patio]

Instead of Device Manager try the following:
Right clik My Computer then select Mange...then Disk Management...
Right clik the 500 and select Properties and post back with the results.
Some drives are shipped un-formatted. It needs to be formatted before Windows will recognise it.
If you cannot see it with the above procedure let us know...

You may also want to consider "cloning" the Windows drive to the larger 500 then after everything checks out OK then formatting the 80 for the Ubuntu install...
Windows will always gobble up more space than most Linux distros...
We can assist with that as well when the time comes.

[copas]

Thanks so much, your advice put me on the right track.
I found Disc Manager and the disc wasn't formatted. I have that done now and a drive letter assigned. It now shows up in all the places I hoped for.
Your suggestion to clone the old disc to the new sounds like a very good idea. I will try to do that after I have rested my eyes. I noticed on of the previous posts there is a link for some software for that. I'll try it.
I don't understand partitioning too well but I'm thinking of creating a partition of 20 gig for ubuntu. I read on the disc cover that ubuntu is able to erase windows and all it's files...
Is having it reside in it's own partation worthwhile?

Thanks again and Happy Holiday,
Ivan Copas

[patio]

There are as many different views on partitioning one way vs. the other and how it should be done as there are partitions on every drive in the World...
No one answer is more right than the other.
That being said however i will suggest that the cleanest setup solution is having each OS on it's own drive....since you jave that option.

The up front advantage is that not only do they not knock heads ( which isn't a concern if set up properly ) but if one drive may by chance decide to fail you still have a working bootable machine...
The other reason i prefer this setup is for backing up...i use and recommend Acronis True Image for my system backups and it's a lot less work to do a proper backup of a drive that has a single OS installed on it.
I'm not trying to discourage you in how you want to set up your system...just providing some food for thought...
As i said you will hear as many opinions on this as there are partitions...