new internal HDD use the removeable tray or bolt in cage?

It makes absolutely no difference which method you use for mounting the drive if you don't plan on removing it with any frequency. Otherwise, use the supplied tray. Windows will discover the drive, but you'll have to format it yourself. Go to the Control Panel and select System and Security -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> and Disk Management. Right click on the drive displayed in the graph and select Create Simple Volume. Follow the wizard and assign a drive letter and let it do it's thing. When it's done it will show up under My Computer as a new drive with the assigned letter. You'll also get a pop-up window asking if you want to open the drive and view its contents.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T

As others have said , location of the drive is not real critical if its gong to be mounted and forgotten .
However, one thing you may want to consider is what location will give u the best air flow or should I say , the location that impedes air flow the least.
Edited by flocko - 10/2/12 at 5:57pm

that and if you want to use your removable location in the future, you'll have to pull the drive. I have a port like that and I do occasionally use it to swap in and out drives, so I ended up installing the extra drive internally.

1. One would assume so. See how the mounting holes line up between the tray and the drive.

2. S.M.A.R.T. stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology. It's software that's embedded in the firmware of the drive for monitoring the status of the drive. If an impending failure is detected it trips the S.M.A.R.T. monitor and may prevent the drive from booting while displaying an error on the POST screen. The idea is to alert the user of an impending failure so as to allow any data to be safely copied to another drive before the drive fails completely. There's nothing to download or install, although some drive manufacturers post firmware updates for certain drives on occasion that need to be installed by the end user.

3. You should have an installation CD that came with the motherboard containing all of the necesary drivers. However, it's always a good practice to check the manufacturer's website to see if newer drivers have been published and made available. Compatibility with hard drives is embedded in the BIOS installed on the motherboard. Using a smaller hard drive is of no consequence. If there's an issue using larger hard drives then check and see if a newer BIOS version is available that fixes the problem. If not, you may be limited to hard drives of a certain capacity or less.

4. All HDD manufacturers have their own diagnostic utilities that either come with retail drive kits on a CD or can be downloaded from their websites. Manufacturers generally require a fault code that's generated by running the diagnostic tests which result in a failure. This lets them know that the drive is indeed faulty and can be replaced if still under warranty. You'll need this code when requesting an RMA for a faulty drive.

I'm curious to know why someone with well over 600 posts is asking such blatantly newbie questions. This is all basic PC knowledge.

# 3 Then you will need to go to the computer manufact. web site and d/l drivers from there Ie: Acer . I had this prob with a Gateway once and they sent me disks for free minus postage . Of course that was back when big box was a tad better than it is today ,

Yes , 99% of the time unless you are in a very unusual situation , you will format NTFS

If there is better air flow in the bottom (cage area) then I would put the drive there. It will help kep the drive cooler and judging by the pics , it will not impede air flow at all.

One other piece of advice . I would spend about thirty minutes and re work that factory "rats nest" of wires inside that case . My God ! I almost forgot how bad they were

It would also appear that there is room to add an exhaust fan on the rear of the interior of the case . Proly a 90 or 120mm size if I had to guess. This will help a lot for air flow. Obviously that would require the mother board to have a spare fan header .

I fail to see where post count is tied to knowledge or lack there of either . This is a forum , PLEASE , if you have a question ..... ASK IT !! No harm
Edited by flocko - 10/4/12 at 3:15am