Computer Assembly - How To Assemble A PC
Install The SATA Hard Drive And Floppy Drive
Install The Floppy Drive
The Antec Sonata provides two external 3.5-inch bays for devices such as floppy drives. In the picture, they are the two smaller bays near the front center, below the bays for three external 5-inch drives such as DVD RW drives.
Remove the floppy drive tray by squeezing the two metal clips on either side of the bays and pulling the tray out. The tray for the two bays come out as one unit.
Like so.
Remove the two screws holding one of the faceplates. I've removed the bottom faceplate. These two screws will be reused to attach the floppy drive to the tray. The faceplate is not needed and can be stored with any other unused accessories from the computer case.
Align the screw holes on the side of the floppy drive with the holes of the drive tray and attach them using the two screws that were removed. Although the drive tray only includes the two screws for the front of the drive tray, it's best to also attach the floppy drive to the drive tray using screws in the holes nearer the back as shown circled in green. These are round head machine screws, size 4-40, length 1/4 inch, which I purchased from Radio Shack.
Slide the drive tray back into the bay.
Two connections need to be made to the rear of the floppy drive. In the picture below on the left, the socket circled in red is for the power connector. The socket circled in blue is for the ribbon cable. The picture on the right is a close-up of these two connections, and also shows the pin 1 indicator circled in yellow. There should be some marking on the back of the floppy drive where the ribbon cable connects to indicate the location of pin 1. It could be a little triangle as shown in this picture, or the number "1", or some other means. When the floppy drive ribbon cable is plugged in, the red stripe on the floppy drive ribbon cable should be on the same side as the pin 1 indicator for the ribbon cable socket.
The cable that connects the floppy drive to the motherboard is included with the retail package of the MSI K8N Neo Platinum motherboard. The floppy drive ribbon cable is bundled into a rounded cables rather than the usual flat ribbon cable. It looks similar to another cable included with the motherboard, the ribbon cable used to connect a standard IDE PATA hard drive to the motherboard, but there are differences that make them easy to distinguish. The cable for the floppy drive is coarser than the cable for the hard drive and has two connectors (one on each end) whereas the hard drive cable has a third connector in between.
The end of the floppy drive cable that plugs into the cable socket in the back of the floppy drive has a split-and-twist in the cable near the connector. The connection is keyed so it should only be possible to plug it in one way into the cable socket in the back of the floppy drive, but as keys go it's not so great and many have managed to unknowingly plug it in incorrectly, including myself. To be really sure it's connected properly, verify the pin 1 marking on the floppy drive (circled in yellow) aligns with the red-stripe marking the pin 1 of the cable (also circled in yellow). The enlarged picture shows both very well.
Select a floppy drive power connector from the bundle of power connectors coming out of the power supply like the one shown and connect it to the rear of the floppy drive in the power socket. This connectors is also keyed so it can only plug in one way - and it really can only be plugged in one way. The power connector shown is black, but they can also be white coming from some power supplies.
Here's how the rear of the floppy drive looks with the two connections made and installed in the computer case.
Connect the other end of the floppy drive cable, the end without the split-and-twist in the cable near the connector, to the motherboard. The cable connects to the MSI K8N Neo Platinum motherboard as shown in the blue circle.
The floppy drive connector is keyed so it can only be plugged in one way to either the motherboard or floppy drive, but like many people I've managed to plug it in wrong without realizing it. To ensure the cable is plugged in correctly, one side of the cable has a red stripe. This red stripe identifies pin 1 on the cable. It is easy to see in this picture running along the top of the cable. This is particularly helpful when plugging the cable into the floppy drive as described in the previous paragraphs. For plugging the floppy drive cable into the motherboard, make sure that the tab on the connector (circled in yellow) lines up with the notch on the cable socket on the motherboard (also pointed out with a yellow line).
Here's how the interior of the computer looks now with the floppy drive installed and the connections made for the power cord and ribbon cable.
Install The SATA Hard Drive
The Antec Sonata computer case has room for four internal 3.5 inch internal hard drives. The bays for the drives are located as shown circled in blue.
Here is a closer view of the bays. The locking clips are shown circled in yellow. Remove one of the drive trays by squeezing the two locking clips together and sliding the tray out.
The hard drive fastens to the tray at the black rubber washers. The rubber washers help keep the computer quiet by dampening the hard drive vibration. Use four of the hard drive mounting screws that came with the Antec Sonata computer case, as shown in the upper right of the second picture.
The hard drive is attached to the tray up through the bottom of the tray. The screws are inserted from the bottom of the hard drive tray through the black rubber washers and then into the hard drive. The holes for the screws are on the bottom of the hard drive and are circled in yellow in the picture below.
The hard drive could just have easily been mounted the other way around, with the rear of the hard drive facing away in the picture. The advantage with doing it as shown is that the connectors on the rear on the drive are easy to access once the hard drive tray is reinserted back into the bay. There is an advantage to doing it the other way, too, which is that the cables run much less cluttered if they connect on the far side of the drive. You'll see what I mean more clearly shortly when the drive tray is reinserted back into the computer. Either way you do it is fine, just personal preference.
Reinsert the hard drive tray into the bay.
These three pictures highlight different sections on the back of the SATA hard drive where the connectors plug in.
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The connector circled in blue is the power receptacle for the power connector.
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The connector circled in red is where the SATA cable connects.
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The jumper pins can be left as-is since SATA hard drives do not need their jumpers set for Master/Slave as PATA hard drives do.
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The MSI K8N Neo Platinum motherboard comes with the SATA cable shown below in the first picture. The second picture shows the SATA cable with the protective covers removed from the ends of the cable. Plug one end of the cable - it doesn't matter which end - into the back of the SATA hard drive at the connector circled in red above. The connector is keyed so it can only be plugged in one way.
Plug the other end of the SATA cable into the motherboard SATA 1 header, circled in yellow.
Select a SATA power connector from the bundle of power connectors coming out of the power supply like the one shown and connect it to the back of the hard drive in the power receptacle. This connector is also keyed so it can only plug in one way. Notice the power cord can be used to power up to two SATA hard drives since it has two power connectors, one on the end of the cord and one partway back on the cord.
And here's how the interior of the computer case looks with these connections made and with the DVD RW, hard drive and floppy drive installed. Things are starting to get a bit cluttered inside, aren't they? One thing to be mindful of is that data cables and power cables should be run in such a way as to minimize how much they interfere with airflow inside the case. This I've done with the ribbon cable for the DVD RW drive in particular. The cables for the other drives are much narrower and are much less of a concern in how they would affect airflow.
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Like My Super PC - Cost To Build A Computer. Here again are the recommendations for a hard drive!
| Description
| Where I Would Get It Today
| Today's Price
| Comments
|
| Western Digital Caviar SE 160GB 7200rpm Parallel ATA100 |
Amazon
|
$71.25 |
Free shipping! OEM version. Standard IDE/PATA (parallel ATA) hard drive.
Clicking the link takes you directly to it.
|
| Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB 7200rpm Parallel ATA100 |
Amazon
|
$89.99 |
Free shipping! OEM version. Standard IDE/PATA (parallel ATA) hard drive.
Clicking the link takes you directly to it.
|
|
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Like so.
Remove the two screws holding one of the faceplates. I've removed the bottom faceplate. These two screws will be reused to attach the floppy drive to the tray. The faceplate is not needed and can be stored with any other unused accessories from the computer case.
Align the screw holes on the side of the floppy drive with the holes of the drive tray and attach them using the two screws that were removed. Although the drive tray only includes the two screws for the front of the drive tray, it's best to also attach the floppy drive to the drive tray using screws in the holes nearer the back as shown circled in green. These are round head machine screws, size 4-40, length 1/4 inch, which I purchased from Radio Shack.
Slide the drive tray back into the bay.
Two connections need to be made to the rear of the floppy drive. In the picture below on the left, the socket circled in red is for the power connector. The socket circled in blue is for the ribbon cable. The picture on the right is a close-up of these two connections, and also shows the pin 1 indicator circled in yellow. There should be some marking on the back of the floppy drive where the ribbon cable connects to indicate the location of pin 1. It could be a little triangle as shown in this picture, or the number "1", or some other means. When the floppy drive ribbon cable is plugged in, the red stripe on the floppy drive ribbon cable should be on the same side as the pin 1 indicator for the ribbon cable socket.
The cable that connects the floppy drive to the motherboard is included with the retail package of the MSI K8N Neo Platinum motherboard. The floppy drive ribbon cable is bundled into a rounded cables rather than the usual flat ribbon cable. It looks similar to another cable included with the motherboard, the ribbon cable used to connect a standard IDE PATA hard drive to the motherboard, but there are differences that make them easy to distinguish. The cable for the floppy drive is coarser than the cable for the hard drive and has two connectors (one on each end) whereas the hard drive cable has a third connector in between. The end of the floppy drive cable that plugs into the cable socket in the back of the floppy drive has a split-and-twist in the cable near the connector. The connection is keyed so it should only be possible to plug it in one way into the cable socket in the back of the floppy drive, but as keys go it's not so great and many have managed to unknowingly plug it in incorrectly, including myself. To be really sure it's connected properly, verify the pin 1 marking on the floppy drive (circled in yellow) aligns with the red-stripe marking the pin 1 of the cable (also circled in yellow). The enlarged picture shows both very well.
Select a floppy drive power connector from the bundle of power connectors coming out of the power supply like the one shown and connect it to the rear of the floppy drive in the power socket. This connectors is also keyed so it can only plug in one way - and it really can only be plugged in one way. The power connector shown is black, but they can also be white coming from some power supplies.
Here's how the rear of the floppy drive looks with the two connections made and installed in the computer case.
Connect the other end of the floppy drive cable, the end without the split-and-twist in the cable near the connector, to the motherboard. The cable connects to the MSI K8N Neo Platinum motherboard as shown in the blue circle.
The floppy drive connector is keyed so it can only be plugged in one way to either the motherboard or floppy drive, but like many people I've managed to plug it in wrong without realizing it. To ensure the cable is plugged in correctly, one side of the cable has a red stripe. This red stripe identifies pin 1 on the cable. It is easy to see in this picture running along the top of the cable. This is particularly helpful when plugging the cable into the floppy drive as described in the previous paragraphs. For plugging the floppy drive cable into the motherboard, make sure that the tab on the connector (circled in yellow) lines up with the notch on the cable socket on the motherboard (also pointed out with a yellow line).
Here's how the interior of the computer looks now with the floppy drive installed and the connections made for the power cord and ribbon cable.
The hard drive fastens to the tray at the black rubber washers. The rubber washers help keep the computer quiet by dampening the hard drive vibration. Use four of the hard drive mounting screws that came with the Antec Sonata computer case, as shown in the upper right of the second picture.
The hard drive is attached to the tray up through the bottom of the tray. The screws are inserted from the bottom of the hard drive tray through the black rubber washers and then into the hard drive. The holes for the screws are on the bottom of the hard drive and are circled in yellow in the picture below.
The hard drive could just have easily been mounted the other way around, with the rear of the hard drive facing away in the picture. The advantage with doing it as shown is that the connectors on the rear on the drive are easy to access once the hard drive tray is reinserted back into the bay. There is an advantage to doing it the other way, too, which is that the cables run much less cluttered if they connect on the far side of the drive. You'll see what I mean more clearly shortly when the drive tray is reinserted back into the computer. Either way you do it is fine, just personal preference.
Reinsert the hard drive tray into the bay.
These three pictures highlight different sections on the back of the SATA hard drive where the connectors plug in.
Select a SATA power connector from the bundle of power connectors coming out of the power supply like the one shown and connect it to the back of the hard drive in the power receptacle. This connector is also keyed so it can only plug in one way. Notice the power cord can be used to power up to two SATA hard drives since it has two power connectors, one on the end of the cord and one partway back on the cord.
And here's how the interior of the computer case looks with these connections made and with the DVD RW, hard drive and floppy drive installed. Things are starting to get a bit cluttered inside, aren't they? One thing to be mindful of is that data cables and power cables should be run in such a way as to minimize how much they interfere with airflow inside the case. This I've done with the ribbon cable for the DVD RW drive in particular. The cables for the other drives are much narrower and are much less of a concern in how they would affect airflow.
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