Changing Harddisk for 3.5 inch external harddisk

rmxhaha

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Aug 9, 2014
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I dropped my 3.5 inch external harddisk (FreeAgent GoFlex 3.0). The file inside is not critical. I got the backup at least. There is a loud clicking noises and I think it's 100% broken.

Now I want to change the harddrive inside. I want to know if this kind of external harddisk have some sort of special harddisk inside.

I have tried to open this external harddisk before (as it's already out of warranty) and connect the harddisk directly to computer SATA just to find out that it's not readable as a normal drive. It's only readable if used with the dock included.
This has let me to believe maybe it's some sort of encryption or special kind of encoding or special kind of harddisk. Have anyone got an experience with this kind of replacement before ?

Can I use normal harddisk like Seagete Barracuda 7200rpm drive
 
Solution


Typically, yes you can just use a regular internal disk drive. They even sell drive enclosures with nothing in them so you can just add your own. Any type of encryption or proprietary encoding would be rare.
 
Solution