hooking old internal hard drive into new external hard drive

[bigdan]

i want to buy an external hard drive on craigslist. now i do have an older internal drive that i'd also like to be able to plug into this external drive. i have done this before with another drive i bought. but apparently internal drives cant be plugged into just any external drive. sooo what is it i should be looking for to see if this would work?

thanks!

 

[MindoverMaster]

An external enclosure, you mean? An external drive (WD, Seagate) already has a HDD in it.

What external chassis are you getting? all you need to make sure if it is SATA and/or PATA (IDE)

 

[bigdan]

An external enclosure, you mean? An external drive (WD, Seagate) already has a HDD in it.

What external chassis are you getting? all you need to make sure if it is SATA and/or PATA (IDE)

Well the last time I bought one on Craigslist I bought an external enclosure and drive. Maybe they were separate items and the person selling them had just combined them, not sure. But the product I purchased was an external 80GB hard drive out of which the actual drive could be taken out and other drives be put in.

An enclosure is typically about $10-$20, while I'm having people offer me external 500GB drives for $30-40, so I'd prefer to go w/ the latter if they can accommodate that.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Normally, you aren't supposed to open external drives. It breaks the warranty if you ever need it repaired.

Again, you need to know the type of extension you have between your drive and the PCB. SATA or EIDE.

 

[bigdan]

these are off craigslist so they prolly dont have a warranty anyway. but besides its $20 so not a big deal.

 

[strollin]

Instead of an external enclosure, you might want to consider a USB HDD dock or a USB adapter. These will let you attach different drives easily.

Amazon.com: StarTech.com USB to SATA External Hard Drive Docking Station for 2.5 or 3.5-Inch HDD USB 2.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure - SATADOCKU2 (Black): Electronics

Amazon.com: USB 2.0 to SATA/IDE Cable Adapter For 2.5 3.5 HDD: Electronics

The dock is easier to use but generally only supports SATA drives. The adapter is a little less user friendly but is more versatile in that it can be used with both SATA and IDE drives.

 

[MindoverMaster]

I use this one for when I need to quickly swap drives: Newegg.com - Thermaltake BlacX N0028USU External Hard Drive SATA Enclosure Docking Station 2.5" & 3.5" USB 2.0

I don't know if that is what he is looking for, though.

 

[bigdan]

Instead of an external enclosure, you might want to consider a USB HDD dock or a USB adapter. These will let you attach different drives easily.

Amazon.com: StarTech.com USB to SATA External Hard Drive Docking Station for 2.5 or 3.5-Inch HDD USB 2.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure - SATADOCKU2 (Black): Electronics



Amazon.com: USB 2.0 to SATA/IDE Cable Adapter For 2.5 3.5 HDD: Electronics

The dock is easier to use but generally only supports SATA drives. The adapter is a little less user friendly but is more versatile in that it can be used with both SATA and IDE drives.

ahh the adapter seems to be a good fit for my budget, esp with what im assumign the cost of shipping is for a hub. thanks fellas