Using external hard drive as internal
- Thread starter jatin9326
- Start date
Solution
photonboy
Titan
- Jun 20, 2006
- 21,567
- 13
- 85,015
The drive inside the case is a 2.5" SATA HDD so you can certainly open the case (which may require breaking it) to obtain the HDD. After that you'd just mount it in the case and attach the power and data cables.
*it's possible you'd LOSE ALL THE DATA by removing the HDD from the enclosure.. that happens with some other drives
Should you use internal HDD?
Well, it depends:
a) do you think you might want a portable HDD at some point?
b) 3.5" HDD's are faster, especially 7200RPM HDD's (if performance matters... if it's occasional storage it doesn't matter much)
c) is 1TB (930GB usable) sufficient? If not get a 2TB or higher capacity 3.5" HDD
d) I don't believe using it internally has much benefit beyond being hidden away. It's a USB3 connection so if paired with USB3 on the PC it should perform about the same as internal
e) *you can also turn OFF the drive when it's USB so if you use so it won't spin up (it won't show up either until turned on again)
f) not suitable as the Windows OS drive in USB so should only be a secondary storage drive
*it's possible you'd LOSE ALL THE DATA by removing the HDD from the enclosure.. that happens with some other drives
Should you use internal HDD?
Well, it depends:
a) do you think you might want a portable HDD at some point?
b) 3.5" HDD's are faster, especially 7200RPM HDD's (if performance matters... if it's occasional storage it doesn't matter much)
c) is 1TB (930GB usable) sufficient? If not get a 2TB or higher capacity 3.5" HDD
d) I don't believe using it internally has much benefit beyond being hidden away. It's a USB3 connection so if paired with USB3 on the PC it should perform about the same as internal
e) *you can also turn OFF the drive when it's USB so if you use so it won't spin up (it won't show up either until turned on again)
f) not suitable as the Windows OS drive in USB so should only be a secondary storage drive
Solandri
Illustrious
- Jan 4, 2012
- 4,919
- 98
- 39,240
A couple other factors to consider:
Most external drives come with 3-5 year warranties, to give the owner more peace of mind of the durability of a drive that'll probably get banged around in a bag or car seat or drawer. Most internal drives only have a 1 year warranty. So part of the price you're paying for with an external drive is the longer warranty, which you're giving up if you crack open the case in a manner which makes it obvious it's been opened.
Some of WD's external drives don't have a SATA connector. WD designed a custom circuit board which accesses the drive directly via USB, so it can't be used inside a desktop computer.
Most external drives come with 3-5 year warranties, to give the owner more peace of mind of the durability of a drive that'll probably get banged around in a bag or car seat or drawer. Most internal drives only have a 1 year warranty. So part of the price you're paying for with an external drive is the longer warranty, which you're giving up if you crack open the case in a manner which makes it obvious it's been opened.
Some of WD's external drives don't have a SATA connector. WD designed a custom circuit board which accesses the drive directly via USB, so it can't be used inside a desktop computer.
neiler0847
Reputable
- Mar 25, 2015
- 384
- 1
- 4,965
It's handy to have an external drive kicking around (to share files between computers, have a portable backup, etc.). So I would put it in a drawer until that need arises.
Then get yourself a new 3.5" drive. It'll be faster. And they're dirt cheap.
Then get yourself a new 3.5" drive. It'll be faster. And they're dirt cheap.
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