Questions about installing things into my PC

tcrash247

tcrash247

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My uncle's computer just crashed not too long ago and he didn't want it anymore. So he gave me the hard drive and the RAM out of it. I have no idea how to install the hard drive into my computer. I opened it up and there is a slot above my other hard drive, but I can't fit my other one it in. I could probably force it in, but I'd rather not. And I don't know what plugs to use. What should I do?

And then theres the RAM. I have 4 RAM slots on my motherboard. 2 are red, 2 are black. I already 512MB of RAM in one of the black slots. My uncle gave my 2 sticks of RAM, but I have no idea what kind of RAM they are. I also don't know what kind of RAM I already have in my PC. I'm afraid that I will fry my motherboard if I try to install this other RAM. Any suggestions on anything I talked about in this post?
 
Sounds like you shouldn't be opening up computers. :p J/K

If you don't have a friend or someone who can help you, I suggest you don't try to do this on your own. There's all kinds of settings you have to work with (master/slave, etc. for hard drives), what interface your hard drive is using (IDE, SCSI, etc.), ram probably isn't compatible (since there's so many kinds, your chances of having matching set are slim, you'd have to find out the kind and speed of your ram from the manual/manufacturer/deciphering the writing on motherboard/ram).
 
Did you computer come with any sort of documentation? Back when I didn't know a damn thing about hardware installation, that's where I went to. Read the basic manual that came with the system back to back, and followed it's instructions.

I certainly agree with the second post though, don't do a thing unless you're read up on the subject first.
 
Yeah, as for the RAM, I was able to find out some pretty detailed info on the sticks that came in my system when I was replacing one. I just googled the serial number/whatever number(and manufacturer's name, it said Samsung on my sticks) and looked around. I'd be interested on the hard drive too, cause my 80gig one is almost full so I'm gonna have to either get a new one to replace it, or a new one to add on (I dunno if I have another slot for another)...
 
If you don't want to install those, you can sell them to a computer shop. Just another option, maybe get 50-100 bucks for them, depending on how big they are.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. My PC didn't come with a manual. I bought a prebuilt computer off TigerDirect.com. I probably won't do anything with them right now, I don't want to screw anything up. My uncle that gave these to me is good with computers, so I'll get him to check out the situation. And I'll have to try out googling my RAM to see what everything is. I won't sell them because I really need the hard drive.
 
[quote name='humidore']Yeah, as for the RAM, I was able to find out some pretty detailed info on the sticks that came in my system when I was replacing one. I just googled the serial number/whatever number(and manufacturer's name, it said Samsung on my sticks) and looked around. I'd be interested on the hard drive too, cause my 80gig one is almost full so I'm gonna have to either get a new one to replace it, or a new one to add on (I dunno if I have another slot for another)...[/QUOTE]

you could always get an external hard drive that you connect to your comp by usb.
 
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