Installing Auxiliary Drives
There are several different types of auxiliary drives available for your homebuilt computer, such as CD-RW and DVD-RW drives, ZIP drives, tape drives, and drive-like devices such as card readers. The installation procedures for all of these devices are quite similar.
For this demonstration, we will be installing a CD-RW drive on an EIDE interface.
Like any other EIDE device, the first step in installing a CD-RW drive is to decide where it will be positioned in your particular drive configuration (that is, as a master or a slave), and to set the jumpers accordingly. If you don't remember how to do this, please review the pages on hard drive configuration, which begin here.
)
Once you have decided on the drive configuration and have put the jumpers where they belong, you can begin to physically install the drive. In most cases, this means removing a metal plate from the drive bay where you will be installing the drive. Most often, you do this by simply prying the metal plate from the rest of the case using a screwdriver. Always wear eye protection when doing this.
)
The next step is to insert the drive in the case. This is usually easiest to do from the front. Simply slide the drive back until it's faceplate is flush with the front of the case.
Be careful not to catch the drive's faceplate against the plastic bezel of the case, or you may mar or damage the drive or your computer's case.
)
Finally, secure the drive into place with the mounting screws, and connect the data and power cables. The power and data cable connections are made in the same way as when installing a hard drive. Most optical drives, however, have an additional connector to send legacy analog audio to the sound card. Chances are, you don't need to connect that cable; but if your motherboard or sound card has a connector for analog audio, it does no harm to connect it.
Installing the Cabinet Fan
)
While we're at it, let's also install the cabinet fan. On our case, the cabinet fan is mounted in a fan shroud, which is in turn snapped into the computer case. Other cases simply have holes for the fan to be directly mounted to the case using special screws that come with the fan.
Some people always mount the cabinet fans to blow the air outward, to avoid sucking dust into the computer.Others say you should install the front panel fan to draw the air inward, and the rear panel fan to blow the air outward.We say it depends. If the computer is going to be used in a dusty place, point the fan to blow the air out to avoid dust. If not, then point it in to increase airflow.
Either way, a cabinet fan or two will go a long way towards keeping your computer cool and comfy.
Next, let's install the Panel Connectors
