|
Wednesday June 18, 2008
|
This question from Blake Leeper came in for Extreme Tech editor Loyd Case:
I have a 60GB laptop drive that I salvaged from my dead notebook. It has some of my files on it--pictures and valuable stuff like that. I was wondering if there was a way I could turn it into an external hard drive. I read the article titled "Build an External Hard Drive." The article was a little helpful, but I was hoping I could plug it in through a USB port. I was also wondering if there were any stores by me that would have the parts I need. Stores that are around me are WalMart, Comp USA, Circuit City, Staples, and Radio Shack.
See Loyd's reply after the jump.
Loyd's reply:
The short answer is, Yes.
What you need is an external drive case that supports USB connectivity. There are dozens of these on the market, and most are pretty similar. What I'd recommend is getting an external drive case that supports multiple connections. You can even find cases that support USB 2.0, FireWire, and eSATA. This will give you additional flexibility in the future.
These cases aren't very expensive, either. A USB-only case should cost you $30 to $75 at retail. Installing a hard drive into one of these cases is quite similar to the procedure outlined in the PC Mag article you've already read.
Posted By:
Jared Preusz
|
|
|
Stumble
Digg
del.icio.us
Slashdot
June 18, 2008 9:24 AM
Several stores sell IDE/SATA cables that have an IDE and/or SATA port on one end of the cable and a USB and/or Firewire port on the other, they also include a power supply so you just plug everything in and use it. The drive just shows up in vista or xp when you hook it up. This is MUCH cheaper than buying an enclosure and if you just want to get files off an old drive a little bit easier. However, if you want to use the drive on a regular basis then I'd recommend going the case route. Good luck.
Here is a link to the one I purchased from NewEgg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002