Build your own External Hard Drive

[linnemeyerhere]

Well it's just keeping it warm and safe from the elements as I will install it proper in a new laptop or my mid-tower soon. I was just so mad after cloning the spinner to it and then finding out it was a pata drive....yikes my lappy is old....time marches on does it not !

 

[tjgentz]

OK guys (and gals)..... I've been told to buy an encasement to put my old hard drive in for the purpose of extracting the photos and docs that I THOUGHT I had done before the repair place installed new HD. Someone has suggested this:
Customer Image Gallery for 2.5^ SATA External Hard Drive Enclosure Case - 500FB Max Capacity
But how do I know if it will work for my specific HP pavilion laptop?
Thanks.

 

[DocBrown]

Welcome tjgentz

If your old laptop drive is a 2.5" Sata then it should work just fine.

You might want to check NewEgg for some of their enclosures & prices

 

[essenbe]

Paragon migrate will transfer the OS and align it. But, it's not free. 12.95 I think. Or transfer and use Paragon alignment. It will align the SSD with the OS on it with no data loss.

Both of them are great tools, thanks essenbe...

Migrate OS to SSD from Paragon for about 20 bucks, may not align the SSD correctly, but certainly worth it. Paragon also sells the Alignment Tool 3.0 for 30 bucks that kind of makes me believe so...

I could be dead wrong since I have not used either of them...

I just wanted you to know that Paragon Migrate will properly align an SSD. I just used it to migrate the OS from 2 computers to 2 SSDs. The first SSD I aligned first then migrated the OS. I nothice that in the process it said it was going to format it. It was aligned perfect. The second one, since it was going to format it anyway I left raw. Migrated the OS and it also was aligned exactly right. Just wanted you to know that it does work, and for $20, was a good investment, I think.

 

[essenbe]

OK guys (and gals)..... I've been told to buy an encasement to put my old hard drive in for the purpose of extracting the photos and docs that I THOUGHT I had done before the repair place installed new HD. Someone has suggested this:
Customer Image Gallery for 2.5^ SATA External Hard Drive Enclosure Case - 500FB Max Capacity
But how do I know if it will work for my specific HP pavilion laptop?
Thanks.

Doc is right, there is no reason it wouldn't work with any laptop. But the price would concern me. $3.54 ?, you couldn't buy a USB cable for that. You might look for a better quality one. They are very useful for many purposes.

 

[Britton30]

Welcome tjgentz, here's some choices. I own the top, USB 2.0 version here. If you have USB 3.0, the 2nd one would read/write faster. I have a 2.5" laptop drive in it and it works fine.


Newegg.com - Computer Hardware, Hard Drives, External Enclosures, Kingwin Inc..

 

[tjgentz]

I really appreciate all the advice. And you can probably tell I am definitely a novice.
1. I know that there are USBs 2.0 and 3.0, but I don't know what I have or how it pertains to my encasement issue.
2. I really would like to understand this, so can you tell me what I need to look at on the side of my laptop and also what specs I need to know from looking at my old hard drive so I can make sure I choose the right encasement?
3. I don't anticipate needing to use my old HD other than this one time to transfer my pics and docs (you've mentioned these devices are useful for many things) That might influence what I purchase, right?
3. Also..... Probably a dumb question, but do I need to ask the repair place what they found wrong with my old HD? Is there a possibility of it being "dangerous" to hook it back up to my laptop?
Thanks!

 

[essenbe]

Typically all USB ports are alike, but USB 3.0 ports are blue. It would be dangerous if the drive was full of viruses, trojans or such. You may also ask if the drive is operable at all. It has to run for any enclosure to work. External enclosures are excellent storage and backups to name a couple of issues. If you have read through this thread at all, you can see that most of us have several that we use for quite a few things. As an example; if you had an external hard drive you used for backups, you would have copies of those photos and documents that you need to get off now. You could use them for storage of things you want to save and use, but don't have room on your internal drive. Many people like to have video libraries, but at video takes up a lot of space. Most here have several as you can tell from this thread. I have 5 that I use regularly and probably 4 other hard drives I can put in enclosures when needed. That's why I am using a dock. I can change hard drives in about 30 seconds.
Thermaltake BlacX It can take 3.5" and 2.5" hard drives. But it is also esata, but they make several that are USB 2.0 and 3.0. Maybe this answered some of you questions.

 

[Britton30]

1. Maximum PC | Everything You Need to Know About USB 3.0, Plus First Spliced Cable Photos
For some explaining of USB. USB 3.0 will let the drive go faster than USB 2.0, if used in a USB 3.0 port and the new cable.

2. USB ports look like this. The new 3.0 are usually Blue.


3. In start Search type sys then click System Information, in the LEFT pane expand Components, then go down and click USB, the right pane then will display what your USB is. If it say something similar to "USB Enhanced", it is 2.0, otherwise it'll say like mine does, USB 3.0.


4.These are the SATA and SATA, or IDE, 2.5" hard drive connectors. This will determine what type of enclosure to buy.


If your old drive will operate, you can use an enclosure to recover your old files from it. Later if you want to buy a new drive you may use it for storing files in case of another disaster.

(Click the pics to enlarge)

OOPS, I repeated some of essenbe's info.

 

[essenbe]

1. Maximum PC | Everything You Need to Know About USB 3.0, Plus First Spliced Cable Photos
For some explaining of USB. USB 3.0 will let the drive go faster than USB 2.0, if used in a USB 3.0 port and the new cable.

2. USB ports look like this. The new 3.0 are usually Blue.
View attachment 167445

3. In start Search type sys then click System Information, in the LEFT pane expand Components, then go down and click USB, the right pane then will display what your USB is. If it say something similar to "USB Enhanced", it is 2.0, otherwise it'll say like mine does, USB 3.0.
View attachment 167444

4.These are the SATA and SATA, or IDE, 2.5" hard drive connectors. This will determine what type of enclosure to buy.
View attachment 167443

If your old drive will operate, you can use an enclosure to recover your old files from it. Later if you want to buy a new drive you may use it for storing files in case of another disaster.

(Click the pics to enlarge)

OOPS, I repeated some of essenbe's info.

That must mean that at least some of my info was correct.:roflmao:

 

[tjgentz]

You guys are the best! I will let you know how it goes

 

[James Colbert]

...the price would concern me. $3.54 ?, you couldn't buy a USB cable for that.

Actually ...:

USB Cables

I buy all my cables there, not just USB. No problems whatsoever. They have great prices on many items and are well reputed.

 

[essenbe]

Thanks James. Just added them to my list. Just looking a little I saw several that I needed but haven't been able to find. Thanks. But that is still cheap for a HD enclosure.