Gamers can never have too much storage space. Whether you need room to download the next AAA masterpiece or you want to keep your favorite indies locally stored and ready-to-play, having abundant hard drive space is an essential aspect of any gaming PC rig. 

In this story, we’ll walk you through the process of upgrading your PC storage with a new hard drive (HDD) or solid-state drive (SSD) for your gaming PC. 
 

What you’ll need to install a hard drive or SSD in your PC

Before you get started, it’s important to ensure that any drives you purchase are compatible with your current hardware. There are also a few tools that you may need, including:

• Data and power cables, if you’re installing a SATA drive
• A Phillips-head or flathead screwdriver
• Your new HDD or SSD
• Mounting brackets

Some of these things may come bundled with your hardware. 
 

How to install an HDD or SSD in a gaming PC

Power down your gaming PC

Turn off and unplug your gaming PC from the wall before installing your new drive. Otherwise, you could end up frying your system or giving yourself an electric shock. 

Locate drive bays

To find your drive bays—the place where HDDs and SSDs live inside your PC—you’ll first need to take your PC’s enclosure or side panel off. If you purchased your gaming PC or laptop, you can also reference your owner’s manual.

Typically, drive bays are rectangular and located in the bottom-front or side of your PC case. Drive bays come in a variety of sizes: 5.25-inch, 3.5-inch, 2.5-inch, and 1.8-inch. Their measurement-based names refer to the size or form factor of the hardware they’re designed to hold, not the entire size of the bay itself.

Alternate: Locate M.2 socket

If you’re installing an M.2 SSD, which looks more like a computer chip than a traditional rectangular hard drive, you'll instead want to search for a slot on your motherboard. 

Refer to your motherboard's manual, if you have it handy. M.2 SSD sockets are typically located on the motherboard and labeled M.2. This kind of SSD is installed directly onto the board, typically with a single mounting screw. 

Physically mount your drive

The process to mount and install a more traditional HDD or SSD in your PC is straightforward. First, remove any mounts or brackets in the way. Then insert your drive into the proper drive bay, and screw it into place along with any brackets or mounts necessary to hold it in place.

Connect cables

If your new drive is an M.2 SSD, you might be done after mounting. If it's a more traditional drive though, you'll need to connect it to your motherboard, both for power and to transfer data. 

SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) is a common interface standard for both power and data. SATA data cables physically link your new hard drive to your motherboard, while the power cables hook it up to your power supply unit (PSU). There's a good chance your hardware—either the drive itself, your motherboard, your PSU, or some combination of the three—likely came with the appropriate cables. If not, you'll have to acquire them.

Connect SATA data cables to your motherboard

When connecting your drive to your motherboard, look for ports that are typically labeled SATA or a variation like SATA_1. SATA data cables are designed with an L-shaped connector, which makes proper installation easy. 

Double-check connections

Power up your computer in BIOS mode. You can usually enter BIOS mode when you boot up your PC by pressing either F2, Del, or another key, depending on your motherboard's manufacturer. 

Once in BIOS mode, look for an option like SATA/NVMe Configuration, Boot,  or Storage. From there, you should be able to see if your drive was installed properly.

If you can’t find your new drive, there are a couple of things you can try. 

You may need to activate the SATA port on your motherboard. To do this, enter BIOS mode and look for Storage Devices, SATA Configuration, or NVMe Configuration. Look for an option that allows you to switch your ports from Disabled to Enabled.

If that doesn’t work, shut your PC down, open it back up, and double-check that everything is properly physically connected. 
 

Next steps on Windows

Boot your PC, and open Disk Management by right-clicking the Start button. From there, you can make any necessary changes to your new SSD. 

Initialize disk

Now that you’re in Disk Management, it’s time to initialize your new drive. 

Find your new drive, which should be labeled Not Initialized, and right-click on it. Choose the Initialize Disk option. 

You’ll now have to choose your partition style. The default option is GPT (GUID Partition Table), which was designed for modern computers. MBR (Master Boot Record) is also available, but there’s little reason to choose this unless you have an older system. 

Select your partition style, and click OK to begin.

Partition the drive (Maximum Size)

Your new drive is now ready for partitioning and formatting. In Disk Management, right-click on your new drive, and select New Simple Volume. 

If you want it to appear as one, big drive (which is typical), select Maximum Size, and then assign your new drive a letter name. (More on that below.)

You also have the option to partition your drive into separate volumes (partitions and volumes are interchangeable terms), which we cover in the next section. 

Partition the drive (Simple Volume Size)

You can also partition a single physical drive into separate volumes. For example, you could partition a 1 TB drive into two volumes of (approximately) 500 GB each. 

In Disk Management, instead of selecting Maximum Size, enter the amount of space for each drive. You’ll need to enter your desired partitions in megabytes (MB). It helps to remember that each GB of data is 1,024 MB. 

Once you’ve divided all the available storage space into your desired partitions, click OK to finish the process.

Pick a letter

When formatting your drive, you need to assign it a single-letter designation. Your PC’s primary storage drive is typically named C:, a convention that dates back decades. 

You’re welcome to assign your new drive and any of its partitions any available letter. Many choose to simply go down the alphabet (D:, E:, F:, and so on), but it’s your call.

Define the file system

Now you need to format the drive, so that your operating system can read from and write to it. 

NTFS is the Windows default, and it’s the best choice if you’re using your drive exclusively with Windows. You may also see exFAT as an option. Choose that if you want to use your drive with other operating systems. For example, macOS can’t natively read NTFS-formatted disks, but it can read exFAT-formatted disks. 

Finish the setup

Now that you’ve gone through the process of installing, partitioning, naming, and formatting your new drive, it’s time to finish the setup and use your new drive. 

The easiest way is to transfer or install a file on the new drive and then access that file. Congratulations on successfully installing a new HDD or SSD in your gaming PC!
 

Benchmark your drive

If you’re wondering how well your new drive is functioning, you can always give it a benchmark test. Benchmarking tools can test the performance of your drives, assessing everything from reading and writing speed to its overall performance. 

There are a number of popular third-party software options. Before downloading, do some research to find well-regarded benchmarking software. After you’ve decided on the right software for your needs, make sure that you’re downloading it from a reputable host. The internet is full of opinions, and message board discussions can help you learn from others’ experiences.

Time to load up your new drive with games. Browse the Epic Games Store to find something to play (and install, of course), and make sure you check out the Epic Games Store's news page to catch up on the latest from all of your favorite developers about all of your favorite games.