Upgrading a hard drive from usb 2.0 to 3.0

Chaseonbase82 · Aug 15, 2016

I currently own a 1TB. WD my passport essential. Im trying to connect it to my xbox 1. My xbox requires a usb 3.0 to operate. My passport is a usb 2.0. Ive been trying to find the cheapest option possible. So I purchased a 2.5in hard drive sata enclosure. I opened the passport and noticed the circuit board is not sata, and has the power cable hookup.

So here goes my question? Is it possible to find a circuit board that is sata compatible. That will plug up in my enclosure.

drtweak · Aug 16, 2016

No. the new portables by Seagate and WD that are USB are not normal 2.5 SATA drives anymore. Rather than have a separate SATA/USB converter they put it all on one board. You can NOT swap them out, at least not without losing all the data but to find one would be hard.

SuperSoph_WD · Aug 16, 2016

Welcome, @Chaseonbase82!

Unfortunately, @drtweak is right, you cannot swap the board on your WD My Passport Essential.

These WD external drive models incorporate a hardware-based encryption that is very specific, you can only use identical hardware if you want to change something. Keep in mind that taking any external HDD out of its original enclosure voids the warranty. Moreover, the hardware encryption on this drive won't allow you to access your files without the original My Passport Essential case.
You can also refer to this article from our knowledge base regarding What kind of HDDs you can find inside WD's external products,

Good luck! Hope this was helpful.
SuperSoph_WD

Samer1970 · Aug 16, 2016

Chaseonbase82 :

Can you please post a pic ? I doubt that this Harddisk is not standard SATA ...

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Upgrading a hard drive from usb 2.0 to 3.0

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