As computer technology changes and parts start to wear or become obsolete, we have to purchase new equipment to replace the things that fail or upgrade in order to take advantage of the latest and greatest. A laptop is a prime example. Some laptops can be usable for a very long time. But eventually, either the technology inside will become too obsolete to use or certain parts will become damaged and unfeasible to repair. Often times, these computers and parts end up in the closet or in the trash.
Fortunately, with a little $$ and effort, you can make use of these old or broken laptops. One of the easiest and most convenient modifications is building an external hard drive from your old laptop hard drive.
Tools Needed:
- Laptop hard drive
- 2.5” external hard drive case (SATA or IDE)
- Screwdriver
- USB cord
- Time (5-10 minutes)
Why an external had drive you might ask? There are many advantages:
- Add additional storage capacity to your current computer or laptop.
- Create a backup drive; it can be used as an emergency backup. You can backup your important files such as pictures and music, or work documents in case your primary hard drive fails.
- Portability-small and lightweight, you can easily pack your new external drive with you when you travel and transfer files between computers and other devices
Getting Started: Choosing the Enclosure
The only thing you need to purchase is a enclosure for your hard drive. This enclosure supplies power, protection and a USB or FireWire interface
The primary consideration is size. For notebooks, you’ll need a 2.5-inch enclosure. These can be found for as little as $10. A great place to find enclosures online is Newegg.com
Some more expensive cases have more functionality, but for basic external hard drive operation, the low cost option is usually sufficient. (There are also 3.5 inch cases which are made for desktop hard drives. The procedure for creating a external hard drive is essentially the same for a laptop or desktop, but the drives will only fit in their 2.5” and 3.5” cases respectively)
Many external cases are built to work with IDE drives. These supply a USB and/or FireWire external interface for connecting to your PC. Some newer enclosures support SATA drives and include an eSATA interface, so be sure to research what interface your hard drive utilizes and purchase the correct case.
(Know how to tell an IDE drive from a SATA drive? an IDE connector is about two inches long and has two rows of pins; SATA connectors are smaller and have only one row.)
- IDE Connector
- SATA Connector
Assembly
Now time to get to work. Remember the usual electronics-handling rules: work in a static-free environment, handle everything with care, don’t force things together etc. Now lets get started:
Remove the hard drive from the laptop. Typically the hard drive slot is on the side of the computer. It can identify by looking for a slot cover held in place by a couple of screws.
Laptop hard drive slot
Unscrew the hard drive sled and slide it and the hard drive out of the laptop. Be careful when removing the hard drive, try not to touch the hard drive near the circuitry, it is very sensitive to static shock which can damage the drive.
Laptop had drive and sled removed
Remove the hard drive from the sled. It is usually held in with a couple of screws. Once the screws are out, remove the hard drive from the sled. If you’re enclosing an IDE drive, make sure to set its master/slave/cable-select jumper in accordance with the instructions provided with the enclosure. (SATA drives don’t require any special jumper settings.)
On your external hard drive enclosure, there are 2 main pieces. The case/enclosure and the usb interface. Connect the interface to drive, making sure the alignment is correct.
2.5" hard drive enclosure
Laptop hard drive and enclosure USB interface
Special Note: Some noteboke harddrives contain a special connection adapter that covers the pin heads on the hard drive. With the connection adapter in place, it is not possible to connect the drive to the usb interface. You must carefully remove the plastic connection adapter. It takes just a little pulling force to separate the pins from the adapter, be careful not to bend the pins. If you do slightly bend them, tyipically you can bend them back into place with your finger. Just take your time and dont force anything.
notebook connection adapter
Slide the hard drive and usb interface into the enclosure and screw together. Notebook-drive enclosures are usually powered by their USB or FireWire connections, no plugin external adapter is necessary. A 3.5” drive normally requires a external power adapter.
USB interface connected to hard drive, sliding into enclosure
insert screw to hold it all together
Attach your usb cord and plug it into the computer. If you hear the drive spin up and see LED activity ( if the case has LEDs.) you are pretty much good to go.
USB cord connected
Look for your new external hard drive on your devices page. it should show up like any other device you connect, like your digital camera or thumb drive. From here, you can start transferring files immediately.
So if you have a old laptop laying around, grab your screwdriver and in just a few minutes, you can be transferring your files and taking them wherever you go.
