Build your own External Hard Drive

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  1. Posts : 9,606
    Win7 Enterprise, Win7 x86 (Ult 7600), Win7 x64 Ult 7600, TechNet RTM on AMD x64 (2.8Ghz)
    Thread Starter
       #11

    Thanks everbody for the comments & suggested ideas, appreciated.




    I started this thread because I have seen so many new members having problems with MFG boxed Ext HD units. So, I thought let's show them one of the simplist & inexpensive ways to do an EXT HD




    I have been looking at some of the Dual HD docking units, & I'll probably get one, since I do a lot of HD testing & swapping.

    Build your own External Hard Drive-startech_docking_unit.jpg




    In the past, I have used the USB Tri-Head adapter for quick testing & swapping.


    Build your own External Hard Drive-tri_head_tb24611.jpg


      My Computer


  2. Posts : 1,127
    Win7U 64 RTM
       #12

    DocBrown said:
    Thanks everbody for the comments & suggested ideas, appreciated.




    I have been looking at some of the Dual HD docking units, & I'll probably get one, since I do a lot of HD testing & swapping.

    Build your own External Hard Drive-startech_docking_unit.jpg
    Now that's of great interest to me. It appears that not only can you hot swap 2 drives simultaneously, but also duplicate. And a decent price. I wonder if it's of durable construction. I'll be interested to hear how that goes. Thanks for your work.

    James
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 9,606
    Win7 Enterprise, Win7 x86 (Ult 7600), Win7 x64 Ult 7600, TechNet RTM on AMD x64 (2.8Ghz)
    Thread Starter
       #13

    I got this Rosewill USB SATA Dock for FREE when I bought the WD Green HD

    Build your own External Hard Drive-rosewill_sata_dock_single_hd.jpg
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 9,606
    Win7 Enterprise, Win7 x86 (Ult 7600), Win7 x64 Ult 7600, TechNet RTM on AMD x64 (2.8Ghz)
    Thread Starter
       #14

    Ext USB IDE HD


    I thought I would update this thread, as I have seen several members wanting to put older IDE Desktop HD's in External Enclosures to get to some of their old files, etc.

    Build your own External Hard Drive-100_0070-600-x-450-.jpg

    This works very much like the info in the first post here. But the IDE uses a little bit different Data & Power connectors.

    Build your own External Hard Drive-100_0071-600-x-450-.jpg

    Most important with an IDE HD is to determine the correct setting for a Master HD, not a Slave drive, or CS ( Cable Select).

    Build your own External Hard Drive-100_0072-600-x-450-.jpg

    Make sure the little plastic Jumper is positioned on the proper small jumper pins on the IDE HD.

    Build your own External Hard Drive-100_0074-600-x-450-.jpg

    Connect the 40pin ribbon Data cable correctly & the 4pin Molex power cable. Slide the completed unit into the enclosure & secure with the proper screws, etc.

    Build your own External Hard Drive-100_0075-600-x-450-.jpg

    Now you can connect the EXT unit power supply cable, then the USB cable. Finally connect the USB cable other end to a good USB port on your computer. Power up the Ext unit and watch for windows to recognize it & install the driver for it.

    Build your own External Hard Drive-100_0076-600-x-450-.jpg

    Hopefully if this IDE HD was from a previous Desktop, it was already formatted with either NTFS or FAT32 file systems, and it will be easily recognized.



    If it is an unformatted IDE HD, just follow the similar steps in post #1 to initalize & format it.

    Hope this was helpful and you get good use from your Ext HD enclosure unit.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 3,371
    W10 Pro desktop, W11 laptop, W11 Pro tablet (all 64-bit)
       #15

    I prefer to use eSATA for SATA drives instead of USB 2.0 or 3.0 on newer machines. eSATA is an external connection that connects directly to the SATA bus of your motherboard. There are lots of enclosures that support eSATA and an eSATA port for your computer is simply an eSATA connector with a cable that attaches to one of the available SATA ports of your motherboard. Adding eSATA to a laptop isn't as easy but there are eSATA PC cards available (example). If you have some computers with eSATA and some that only support USB, you can use the enclosure with either as the enclosure supports both so you can use a USB cable to attach to one computer then an eSATA cable to connect to a different computer (not at the same time).
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 11,424
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64
       #16

    I like my hot swap internal mounts all Sata connections.Build your own External Hard Drive-hpim1072.jpg
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 9,606
    Win7 Enterprise, Win7 x86 (Ult 7600), Win7 x64 Ult 7600, TechNet RTM on AMD x64 (2.8Ghz)
    Thread Starter
       #17

    linnemeyerhere said:
    I like my hot swap internal mounts all Sata connections.Build your own External Hard Drive-hpim1072.jpg

    Yes, Alan

    Hot swap racks are another great way Especially if your computer tower has enough available bays

    Both SATA & IDE are available
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Build your own External Hard Drive-100_0078-600-x-450-.jpg   Build your own External Hard Drive-100_0080-600-x-450-.jpg  
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 11,424
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64
       #18

    Your mobo also will need tons of sata ports and maybe some legacy to get it done. My mobo and two Sata / eSata PCIe cards powers all 13 sata devices/eSata ports.....wow and I needed to order IDE opticals to get it done. USB3 will take over where eSata ruled before. Watch for USB3 external inclosure's to become the norm soon.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 54
    Windows11 Pro
       #19

    DocBrown said:
    Thanks everbody for the comments & suggested ideas, appreciated.




    I started this thread because I have seen so many new members having problems with MFG boxed Ext HD units. So, I thought let's show them one of the simplist & inexpensive ways to do an EXT HD



    In the past, I have used the USB Tri-Head adapter for quick testing & swapping.


    Build your own External Hard Drive-tri_head_tb24611.jpg


    Hi.
    I use one of those tri head adapters with a WD green drive removed from a Sky HD box (I cancelled my subscription ) I cut up the plastic side vents of the box and made a holder for the drive. After plugging in & re-formatting it was recognised straight away and allocated drive letter "I" on my system. I do all my backups to that and another external drive (can't be to careful)
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 3,371
    W10 Pro desktop, W11 laptop, W11 Pro tablet (all 64-bit)
       #20

    linnemeyerhere said:
    Your mobo also will need tons of sata ports and maybe some legacy to get it done. My mobo and two Sata / eSata PCIe cards powers all 13 sata devices/eSata ports.....wow and I needed to order IDE opticals to get it done. USB3 will take over where eSata ruled before. Watch for USB3 external inclosure's to become the norm soon.
    I'm curious about your statement regarding USB3 and eSata. While, in theory, USB3 is faster than Sata, I doubt you will see an increase in xfer speed from an external drive since the drive itself can't xfer data fast enough to saturate the Sata bus, let alone achieve the theoretical speed of 5G for USB3. Perhaps with an SSD as the external drive you would see a benefit. USB3 may prove to be more popular than eSata though, when mass produced computers all come with USB3 ports. Unfortunately for eSata, it never became particularly widespread.
      My Computer


 
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