What is physically inside an external HDD?

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KingDingDong

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Sep 10, 2015
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On occasion a WD, Seagate etc. external HDD will be cheaper than an equivalent internal bare drive. I have never owned one either opting for an enclosure or my toaster. Is it just a regular SATA III drive with some fancy backup circuitry? Can I just crack it open and use the bare drive?
 
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Yes it mostly a 2.5" or 3.5" SATA 3 drive that has an adapter to allow USB connectivity and 12V DC power if it needs it. Yes you can crack it open and use it as an internal drive.
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Bubba Feet

Bubba Feet

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Nov 3, 2013
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Odd, most external HDD that use 3.0 are more expensive than their internal SATA counterparts. I wouldn't recommend opening up newer external drives, seeing as how they're usually 2.5" and they spin at 5400 rpm. So there's no benefit it its inside a case. If its some old external that needs a power cable and uses usb 2.0, then maybe open it up and go for it.
 
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