Installation Instructions

2.5” / 3.5” Internal Hard Drive Installation Guide & Manual

Tools & Accessories required
You might need a new “SATA cable” or “Screws” for the drive installation (sold separately) if your desktop system doesn’t provide the cable and screws.  All drives sold are ‘bare drives’ and accessories are not included.  A Philips tip screwdriver is required for the installation.

Back up your data
Always backup your important data to a different drive before you work on your computer! 

Drive Cloning / Mirror (Optional)
If the drive you are replacing is operational, you may want to clone/mirror your hard drive with data transfer software.  You can download clone software from the drive manufacturer (if available) or one of the recommended sites listed below.  You will need a USB cable or enclosure to connect the new destination drive to your computer.

For Laptop Computers (Windows OS)

For use as Primary Drive on a new computer or replacing a drive.

• To install a new drive as a primary drive on a laptop you will need to get a new ‘Windows OS Installation Disc’ (new purchase required) or a ‘Recovery Disc’ provided from your computer manufacturer.
• Since each model is different the best way to view how to install your drive is to visit https://www.youtube.com/ and search for “How to replace drive on XXX Laptop (enter your laptop brand and model #)
• Carefully remove the drive from your laptop and remove all mounting hardware such as a bracket, caddy or tray. You will need to install the mounting hardware removed on your new drive.
• Boot your system to the BIOS (usually F2, F10, or F11 key and you can also refer to the manufacturer website). Make sure the new drive is detected in the BIOS.
• Insert the USB Flash Drive with the Operating System or the OS Installation Disk in your laptop. Boot your laptop to the device you inserted with your Operating System.  This will start the installation process and follow the prompts on your screen.

For Desktop Computers (Windows OS)

For use as Primary Drive on a new computer or replacing a drive.

• Open Side Panel of Your PC Case - First, you must open all side panels of your case and set them aside to gain access to the motherboard.
• Locate the 3.5-inch drive mounting bay in your PC case. In many cases, including ours, the case comes with a tool-less bay for easy installation. Depending on your case though, the drive bay might require you to screw in the drive. Once you find it, position your hard drive in the bay and start to screw it in with the Philips Head screwdriver, and the relevant drive-mounting screws provided with your PC case.
• Plug in one end of the SATA cable to the HDD. You will notice notches on the SATA port and the cable itself, which align in a specific orientation. Also, retrace the power supply cables to find the SATA power connector. Then, route the cable toward the drive bay of your case, and plug in the SATA power connector to the hard drive.
• Locate the SATA ports on your motherboard and plug in the other end of your SATA cable. You can refer to your motherboard anual in case you need help in finding the port.
• Boot up your PC and enter the BIOS setup (usually F2, F10, or F11 key and you can also refer to the manufacturer website). Under Storage Information or another similar term (specific to your BIOS), you can see your newly installed HDD. The model number and capacity should be listed here. Then, you just need to format it in the next step, which will make it ready for storing data.
• Insert the USB Flash Drive with the Operating System or the OS Installation Disk in your computer. Boot to the device you inserted with your Operating System.  This will start the installation process and follow the prompts on your screen.

For use as Secondary Drive for additional storage

• If you are using a drive as a secondary storage device, you will need to install the drive in the available drive bay. Connect the SATA cable to the motherboard and power connector to the power supply.
• After connecting the new secondary drive, boot up the computer to Windows. You will then need to format the new drive in ‘Disk Management’
  1. Enter ‘diskmgmt.msc’ at the search bar. It will show the Disk Management application to select.  See Image below
  2. You should see the new drive listed with the volume ‘Unallocated’ partition (black column) and you can ‘Right Click’ on the new partition and select ‘Format’ the drive.
  3. Note – ‘Right Click’ on the disk and select ‘’Convert to GPT Disk’ if the drive is more than 2TB.

For Mac Desktop or MacBook (Mac OS)

• Launch Disk Utility located in Applications > Utilities (or search ‘Disk Utility’ in Launch Pad)
• Locate the new drive from the left side of Disk Utilities and click on it.
• Click on the ‘Erase’ tab across the top
• Next to Format click the drop-down menu and select ‘Mac OS Extended (Journaled)’
• Name the drive (this can be changed at any point)
• Click the ‘Erase’ button and confirm again on the next pop-up window, this will erase all the data on the drive and format it to be compatible.
• Once formatted the new drive icon will show on your Desktop

For External Enclosure or Docking Station (USB/Firewire/Thunderbolt) on PC/Laptop

• All new drives will require to be formatted before appearing on your computer.
• It is simple to turn an ‘Internal Drive’ to an ‘External Drive’ by installing the drive in a USB enclosure.
• Once a drive is installed in an external enclosure or docking station, you will need to format the drive in ‘Disk Management’ for Windows OS or ‘Disk Utility’ for Mac OS. (Check the instructions above for ‘Use as a secondary Drive’)

Note: DSI is not responsible for consequential damages, including loss or recovery of data. Please make sure you ALWAYS backup your important data to another hard drive to prevent data loss or backup to Online Cloud Storage (i.e.:  Google drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, etc.) ALL drives need to be formatted prior to storing data.  Drives larger than 2TB must be formatted with GPT partition.