using an internal hard drive externally
 

I pulled a 1TB hard drive out of my old desk top and am wondering if I can use it as external HD. It says SATA 64 MB cache on the label
Do I need anything more than cable?

You can look up hard drive enclosures. They are common. It will be a plastic box, and a power supply and the connectors. You will need to get cables as well most likely.

That way you can just turn it on when you need it.

Be 100% is is a USB 3.0 or 3.1 if you have the 3.1 connector on your computer. Do NOT even buy a USB 2.0 enclosure. That is so slow as to be useless.

The are cheap. And it will let you easily turn it off, and put it in the closet or someplace out of the way when you don't need it.

I don't know one USB from another. :confused:

Exactly what Glen said. You buy an enclosure, mount the HDD and then plug in the power and communications cable (likely USB) and you're good to go.

You'll need to know the details of your drive to ensure that you buy something that fits, but that's not likely to be a big deal.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=sata+enclosure

Something like this
https://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Docking-Station-Offline-Function/dp/B06XYL599P/ref=asc_df_B06XYL599P/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=241907595991&hvpos=&hvnetw= g&hvrand=2801693147628654193&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt =&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9015981&hvt argid=pla-401132470768&psc=1

Some folks call them a toaster. I searched external hard drive toaster. I suppose docking station makes more sense. :)

If you go into your device manager it should tell you what your USB adapter is.

Thanks guys!

Don't let him scare you. Remember, his PC is super powered. For the avg person, if you've only got USB 2, it works. It's slower than if the thing was inside your PC, but it works. But yes, if you've got USB 3, then definitely make sure that you take advantage of it.

My understanding is that the main difference is that USB 3 ports should be blue while USB 2 ports are usually white.

https://www.buildcomputers.net/image...5CpB673Doq.jpg

When you get into other formats A vs B vs micro vs mini, etc... there are some other differences.

http://www.l-com.com/images/usb-tutorial_connectors.gif

USB 3.0 typically has a blue edge on one side of the connectors. USB 2.0 is just balck and white.

USB 3.1 is a little tiny one with the same connector on both sides. It is common in cell phone charging cables. There is no upside down with 3.1, it works no matter what side is up.

If you computer does not support it, stick to 3.0. You might have to look at the back of the computer if it is a desktop. A laptop is likely all 3.0 if it is not really old.

The difference is speed from 2.0 to 3.0 is HUGE.

2.0 is really slow and you will hate copying much at that speed. It is like an old dial up modem instead of broadband.

Blue they be.

Then you're good. My older stuff doesn't have them. Slow video uploads and things like that. Time to upgrade when no 3.0 USB's.

It's always time to upgrade. ;):D

I have quite a few docking stations sATA to usb(2 and 3) and they are great and rarely fussy. AND if you need more storage you have plenty of super cheap options in bare sATA drives.

That is USB Type C. 3.1 is the specification, not the shape.

Easy peasy....

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1629388566.JPG

Thats what I have except that it is WD Blue. Which case is that?

It's a Sabrent case.
I have a blue WD too.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1629398111.JPG

Just slide it out and plug in the other one. Simple.

I dont know how it works but my brother put an extra one in my computer. Semi external?http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1629415452.JPG

wtf!?!

Damn Dell and their proprietary non-standard PS connection.

Custom!

One more question, my drive measures 4 x 6

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1630506061.jpg

This dock says 3.5 inches.

https://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Docking-Station-Offline-Function/dp/B06XYL599P/ref=asc_df_B06XYL599P/?tag=hyprod-20

Think of it like a 2x4.

That is a 3.5 drive. Standard Desktop size.

Laptops are 2.5.

There are also half, full, and double height.

That appears to be full height.

Pretty much the most vanilla generic common form factor you will find.

You'd have to try really hard to get the wrong case for it.


EDIT: Just looked at the linked docking station. That's perfect. You won't come across a drive that won't fit it.

Think of it like a 2x4.

That is a 3.5 drive. Standard Desktop size. 3.5 refers to the chassis size, think DIN or Double DIN for car stereos.

Laptops are 2.5.

There are also half, full, and double height.

That appears to be full height.

Pretty much the most vanilla generic common form factor you will find.

You'd have to try really hard to get the wrong case for it.

Thanks!!

Yea, the 3.5 inch is the size of the spinning platter. You never get to see that, unless you are ready to destroy the drive.

(Geezer voice) my first hard drive was a 10 MB (not gigabyte!) 3.5 inch drive. When I upgraded to my next computer it was a full height 5.25 inch hard drive, and it was a whopping 32 MB drive. It was physically massive, but not so much for storage. (end geezer voice)

Segate technologies had a local design and hard drive plant and they were customers. One day they brought in a old 14 inch 100MB hard drive the size of a power washer. They had a large box of high density 5.25 inch floppies and their new state of the art 1GB 3.5 inch hard drive. I drooled all over it, and I could not even imaging how anyone could ever fill up a 1 gig drive.

We took a lot of pictures that showed haw many floppies it was to be a gig, next to the drive. They used the photos in their advertising and corporate publications.

I "got" to go into the clean room and take photos of the building of the drives. I can tell you hauling a tripod, Sinar S 4x5 camera and multiple sheet film holders around in there taking photos was a sweaty chore. I was in the full tyvac clean suit, gloves, mask the whole kit. I felt like an astronaut. The photos turned out great and the loved them.

You'll want to unscrew those brackets from the sides of your HD before putting it in any housing you buy. They are for mounting it in a desk top case, not a case you're going to be buying.

That's Not a hard drive!
This is a hard drive!<br>http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1630525930.gif

^ Is that the 5mb hard drive from 1973

IBM 3380, 1979 to 1986. Max'ed out at 5.01Gb.
And the price for this monster:
Depending on the features selected, purchase prices at announcement for the 3380 Model A DASDs (<i>Controllers</i>) ranged from $97,650 to $142,200 (<i>the price of a house here in San Jose at the time</i>). Lease charges ranged from $2,170 to $3,713 a month. Model B devices could be purchased for $81,000 or $111,600, or leased for $1,800 or $2,480 a month.<br>I worked in the Media fab, then in the Box Test area and finally in Development back when these were new.

I was part of a group of mostly retired engineers from Segate, AT&T, FAA, GE and other large organizations. I was way out of my league but loved hearing the stories the early days. The GE engineer said the early hard drives they built had a room all to itself, a clean room of course and hydraulics to spin the platter and move the huge heads.

He said the morning maintenance was for an employee to go in, and mop the top platter as some dust always settled on the platter. It was millions of dollars of hard drive.

The AT&T was engineer of the year at AT&T twice. Once in the 1970s and once in the 80s for his designs for long distance switches, and recording the number called, and the length of the call for billing purposes.

It got to be like the 4 Yorkshire-men Monty Python skit one night and I loved it with stories of early computing days from the big players.

I miss those guys.

I was never in the design side of things. Just a "Line Rat" as we used to call ourselves. A lot has changed in the 40+ years I've been working in the industry.<br> I did work on a project for a few years where we developed a tool that used IR light to measure the lube retention on the disks. That was pretty cool.