Is there anyway to turn an internal hard drive into an external hard drive (or a way to use an internal HDD as an external HDD??)?? Like is there some sort of enclosure or case or something that allows me to use an internal hard drive as an external hard drive??
2007-02-18 13:45:06 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computers & Internet ➔ Other - Computers
Lots of external enclosures around for doing just this.
Depending on where you are, they cost anywhere from $19.99 to $99.99
Basically, all you need is one of these enclosures, a hard drive and either an empty USB, firewire or jack on your router.
2007-02-18 13:52:01 · answer #1 · answered by ? 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, you can get an enclosure, but you have to make sure that it is a SATA enclosure of adequate size. But, also consider what you are doing. You are taking a hard drive that connects directly to the power supply through a (possibly shared) power cable. It requires a decent amount of power. It gets warm. Now, if you connect it to an eSata port (if you have one), then that is a good way to go. If you don't have one, then you need to connect it to a USB port. Unfortunately, USB ports are not ideal for this kind of thing because they have a limited amount of power. If you are also using other USB devices, such as a keyboard and mouse, then you may not have enough power to also power the hdd. Therefore, if you do use a USB port, my advice is to get an externally powered enclosure - one that has a separate tranformer that you plug in somewhere. (A "wall wart.") Get something that has good cooling, too. Heat is the enemy of solid state devices. Remember, too, that you cannot boot the computer from a USB device. So, if you wanted to boot into Windows on this external hdd, it cannot be a USB connection...
2016-05-24 04:35:17 · answer #2 · answered by Deborah 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sure... you can get an external hard drive enclosure for any hard drive! Check your local computer egghead store... the ones I have run about $25, and come with a cable that connects the hard drive to your usb port and a cable that serves as a power supply.
I do a lot of graphics stuff, and external drives have saved my sanity over the last few years... before I learned of this, I was rebuilding my desktop to add more hard drives and ram every 6-9 months. I now have a shelf in my office with (currently) nine external hard drives of 250 gig each... so if you count those along with the three hard drives currently INSIDE my computer, I have about three TERABYTES of space - more than enough for even the most space-consuming program. :)
2007-02-18 13:53:55 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can buy external hdd enclosures at many different computer stores. some hook up using firewire others usb, yet others are NAS via lan or RJ45. Check them out at these sites...
2007-02-18 13:53:35 · answer #4 · answered by alk99 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sure. Open your favorite seach engine and search for Hard Drive Enclosure.
2007-02-18 13:51:28 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋