- 1). Check your Gateway computer manual to ensure that the system supports ATA or IDE drives. The two terms are used interchangeably in most cases.
- 2). Purchase a new hard drive from a reputable computer parts vendor. In most cases, the drive will be referred to as an Ultra ATA drive, but the terms Parallel ATA and IDE may also be used.
- 3). Shut down the computer, and unplug the power cord. Open the case, according to the instructions outlined in the computer manual. A screwdriver may be necessary.
- 4). Mount the new hard drive in an available 3 1/2-inch slot, if one is empty. If there is no 3 1/2-inch slot available, the hard drive may be mounted into a 5 1/4-inch slot with special adapters that may be included with the new hard drive, or purchased separately. If you are replacing the old drive, the new drive may be mounted in its place, but the new drive should remain connected to power and data cables for the moment.
- 5). Connect the large, 40-pin data cable to the new drive. If there is an available IDE connector on the motherboard, connect the new drive to that, and set the drive to master, according to the instructions on the drive. If there is no additional IDE connector, you will need to use an IDE cable with two drive connectors, in addition to the motherboard connector, and set the new drive as slave. Sometimes such a cable is included with the drive. Otherwise, it may be purchased separately.
- 6). Connect a power cable to the new drive from the power supply. If there are no available power leads, a y-cable may be purchased to connect two drives to one lead.
- 7). Start the computer up, partition and format the drive. Often, the hard drive manufacturer will include a bootable utility disk that can handle this task, as well as formatting the drive. Alternatively, you can use the disk tools on a Windows or Linux disk, or use a stand-alone partition, such as the GParted Live CD, to partition the drive (see Resources below).
- 8). Transfer the data from the old drive to the new drive, if the old drive will no longer be used. The utility CD included with the hard drive can be used for this, or you may use a separate disk-cloning program. Once done, remove the old drive, and set the new one to master.
- 9). Close the case of your Gateway computer, and enjoy the new capacity of your Ultra ATA hard drive.
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