Have an old internal hard drive gathering dust? Turn it into a speedy external drive in five simple steps.
By Pelumi Paul Jacob (greatprof)
An internal hard drive is a terrible thing to waste. If you've got one sitting on a shelf (or about to land there after a system upgrade), it's easy to give that old drive new life. In just a few steps, you can slip the castoff into an inexpensive enclosure—and create a fully functional external drive that boosts your storage space and lets you take large amounts of data with you.
An internal hard drive is a terrible thing to waste. If you've got one sitting on a shelf (or about to land there after a system upgrade), it's easy to give that old drive new life. In just a few steps, you can slip the castoff into an inexpensive enclosure—and create a fully functional external drive that boosts your storage space and lets you take large amounts of data with you.
Step 1: Choose the right enclosure
Consider two key factors when choosing an enclosure: size and
interface. Size is easy: If the drive came from a desktop PC, it's
probably a 3.5-inch model—though, if it dates from the late '90s,
there's a small chance it could be 5.25-inch. Most notebooks, meanwhile,
use 2.5-inch drives. These three size classes don't match the exact
physical dimensions of the drive (a 3.5-inch drive is about 4 inches
wide, for instance), but you need to know the class you have to choose a
matching-size enclosure.
Next, determine the interface your drive uses and look for an enclosure with a matching internal connector. If your drive is more than a couple of years old, it probably uses IDE. (Look for two rows of pins—40 total—on the back-edge data connector.) Steer clear of SCSI drives (some have similar-looking 50-pin connectors), as they're poor candidates for economical reuse. Many newer drives employ the Serial ATA (SATA) interface, which has a much smaller, flat, and pinless data connector.
Next, consider the enclosure's external interface—how the box will
connect to your PC. Most enclosures support USB 2.0, and some add
FireWire to the mix. If your drive uses an internal SATA interface,
consider an enclosure with an external SATA (eSATA) interface, which
promises significantly faster maximum data-transfer rates than USB or
FireWire. Few PCs have eSATA ports, though. One solution is to install a
SATA interface card—your desktop PC needs to have an open PCI slot, or
your notebook an available CardBus PC Card slot. (Plan on spending
around $45 for a PCI SATA card or $60 for a PC Card equivalent.) Or, if
your desktop already has internal SATA ports on its motherboard, you can
install an inexpensive cable and bracket that extend one or more ports
to the back of your PC's case, effectively creating an eSATA interface.
(Some eSATA enclosures include this hardware.)
Other features to look for in an enclosure include a built-in cooling fan—highly recommended, especially if you'll leave the drive running for long periods. Less-critical items include a stackable design, or decorative elements like LED lighting or transparent casing. A few models, such as the $89.99 Powmax Movie World 3.5" Aluminum Enclosure, even let your hard drive double as a media player you can connect to your television.
As for price, most hard drive enclosures range from $10 to $100, depending on size, interface, build, features, and extras.
Many newer drives employ SATA, which uses a much smaller connector
(above). Older IDE drives connect via two rows of pins (below).
Next, determine the interface your drive uses and look for an enclosure with a matching internal connector. If your drive is more than a couple of years old, it probably uses IDE. (Look for two rows of pins—40 total—on the back-edge data connector.) Steer clear of SCSI drives (some have similar-looking 50-pin connectors), as they're poor candidates for economical reuse. Many newer drives employ the Serial ATA (SATA) interface, which has a much smaller, flat, and pinless data connector.
For coverting an internal 3.5-inc IDE hard drive to an external unit,
we used a $34.99 X-Craft 350 USB enclosure from Cooler Master.
Other features to look for in an enclosure include a built-in cooling fan—highly recommended, especially if you'll leave the drive running for long periods. Less-critical items include a stackable design, or decorative elements like LED lighting or transparent casing. A few models, such as the $89.99 Powmax Movie World 3.5" Aluminum Enclosure, even let your hard drive double as a media player you can connect to your television.
As for price, most hard drive enclosures range from $10 to $100, depending on size, interface, build, features, and extras.
Tip:
If you just want to temporarily access an old internal drive, consider
NewerTech's $24.95 USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter. It's a cable that
connects your bare internal drive to a USB port, without the casing.
Compatible with all drive sizes and both IDE and SATA interfaces, it's
fine for one-time copying tasks.
Step 2: Install the drive
If you're handy with a screwdriver, installing your drive in the
enclosure should present little trouble. Before doing so, however, make
sure the drive's Master/Slave/Cable Select setting is configured
correctly. (This applies only to IDE drives.) Look for a small grid of
pins on the rear edge. Typically, two pins will be bridged by a
removable bit of plastic called a "jumper." The enclosure's instructions
should explain the required settings; based on our experiences, the
jumper usually should be set to Master. Check the drive's manual or its
maker's Web site if you're unclear how to set it.
Once done, simply open the enclosure, connect the drive to the internal interface and power-supply plugs, and secure it using the provided screws. The enclosure's instructions should walk you through the job, but the procedure varies little from one model to another.
First, connect the data cable, then press the four-pin power cable into place. Use even, firm pressure.
Once done, simply open the enclosure, connect the drive to the internal interface and power-supply plugs, and secure it using the provided screws. The enclosure's instructions should walk you through the job, but the procedure varies little from one model to another.
Tip: Don't rush. If interface pins get bent or broken, you could render your drive useless.
Step 3: Plug it in
It's time to
connect the enclosure to your PC. First, plug in the enclosure's power
supply (if it has one—many 2.5-inch drives draw power from the
interface). When you switch on the enclosure's power, you should hear
the hard drive spinning up. Now plug the enclosure into your PC's USB,
FireWire, or eSATA port. If you're using a Mac or Windows XP/Vista
system, the machine should automatically detect the drive. Windows 98
and Me systems will probably require a driver CD, which should come with
the enclosure.
You can format your new drive from Windows XP's Computer Management
window. Be sure that the drive you're formatting is the new external
one, not another drive or partition.
Step 4: Format and partition the drive
Before you can start using your repurposed drive, you may need to
format it. A new drive will definitely need formatting; an older,
already used drive may be good to go. The only sure-fire way to find out
is to connect the enclosure, see if Windows recognizes the drive, and
try to access it. If Windows doesn't immediately assign it a drive
letter or let you access the contents, you'll need to reformat. (You may
want to do that anyway, just to start with a clean slate.)
In Windows XP, right-click My Computer, and click Manage. (Alternately, click Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management.) Under the Storage section, click Disk Management, then look to the right-hand pane for your new drive—it should be the one with the black bar next to it. Right-click that bar, and select New Partition. This will launch the New Partition wizard, which will take you through formatting and partitioning the new drive. The process is the same in Windows Vista if you choose Classic View within Control Panel; otherwise, access the utility via Control Panel > "Create and format hard disk partitions."
Once formatting begins, grab a snack. It can take an hour or more, depending on capacity.
In Windows XP, right-click My Computer, and click Manage. (Alternately, click Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management.) Under the Storage section, click Disk Management, then look to the right-hand pane for your new drive—it should be the one with the black bar next to it. Right-click that bar, and select New Partition. This will launch the New Partition wizard, which will take you through formatting and partitioning the new drive. The process is the same in Windows Vista if you choose Classic View within Control Panel; otherwise, access the utility via Control Panel > "Create and format hard disk partitions."
Once formatting begins, grab a snack. It can take an hour or more, depending on capacity.
Step 5: Use it!
Once formatting's done, you'll have a plug-and-play hard drive that
functions like an internal drive. Test it by copying files to and from
the drive.
As you may have noticed when it was an internal drive, your external drive's available capacity might fall shy of the manufacturer's specs. (A 320GB drive, for example, often shows only around 300GB available.) That's a common scenario owing to how drive sizes are calculated. You can't do anything about it, but know that it doesn't indicate a malfunction.
As you may have noticed when it was an internal drive, your external drive's available capacity might fall shy of the manufacturer's specs. (A 320GB drive, for example, often shows only around 300GB available.) That's a common scenario owing to how drive sizes are calculated. You can't do anything about it, but know that it doesn't indicate a malfunction.
Tip:
If you unplug your drive while it's reading or writing, you could
damage it and/or corrupt your data. To be safe, double-click Windows'
Safely Remove Hardware icon (in the system tray), choose the entry that
corresponds to your external drive, click Stop, and hit OK to confirm. A
message notifies you when it's safe to unplug.
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