Old Laptop HDD's for backup / archive


  1. Posts : 5,941
    Linux CENTOS 7 / various Windows OS'es and servers
       #1

    Old Laptop HDD's for backup / archive


    Hi there.

    If you are upgrading a Laptop to an SSD or higher capacity drive or even replacing a laptop DON'T throw away the internal HDD's -- even if they are only 160 GB.

    These make absolutely EXCELLENT backup / Archive storage areas or even Music / movie libraries.

    Use a USB2==>SATA connector to connect to machine (even a tablet) - the low power of these devices make them great for this purpose as you don't need any extra power supply or even have to use enclosures.

    I "rescued" 20 of these from a store that was just chucking out stuff -- re-format, HDD test and they are all good. Provided you haven't got too many users concurrently they go well in a NAS server too. Even though these disks aren't the fastest they are more than fast enough for streaming purposes (the limit is probably your Wi-Fi connection rather than the HDD's).

    Here's the pic of a USB==>sata connector -- costs around 2 USD.

    BTW opening up a laptop to get at the HDD is no problem -- even if you have a very old laptop the HDD can be "rescued".



    Cheers
    jimbo
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Old Laptop HDD's for backup / archive-satausb.png  
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 9,600
    Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
       #2

    Excellent advice, jimbo. I've rescued every drive from previous machines except the 60GB IDE Maxtor that was in my seven year old Gateway I retired around six years ago. I even still have three 3.5" dead drives I use for dummies in a new case for making up PSU cables, etc.

    Instead of a cable like what you show, I have both a 2.5" and a 3.5" dock built into my desktop computer. I use a couple of USB 3.0 enclosures for backing up my current notebook (I'm using a couple of 500GB 2.5" WD blacks I had purchased specifically for backups in them, however). Before the enclosures, I used a cute little StarTech 2.5" docks. I use the rescued 2.5" HDDs for tests, experiments, and transferring data from one machine to another when I have more than what my USB sticks can handle. Otherwise, they are mostly too small and/or too slow for anything else.
      My Computer


 

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