▷ How to install a hard drive in an external box

If you've upgraded your PC's hard drive and stick with this old, seemingly useless hard drive, don't throw it away! A surprisingly little effort is required to convert an old hard drive into a perfect external drive to store your additional files. Let's see how you can remove dust from those old discs and save money in the process. How to install a hard drive in an external box.

Everything you need to know when installing a hard drive in an external box

If you wish, you can purchase an external drive at an apparently decent price. But what appears to be a good surface value is not always the case. First, if you already have a unit on hand, it is extremely cheap to use as an external unit, as the higher cost (unit) is already assumed and the smaller cost (case) is trivial in comparison. Second, you get control over the quality and specs of the unit. It's a not-so-secret secret in the hardware industry that external hard drives rarely get premium drives. If you use an old hard drive of your own or even buy a new internal drive for this project, you will know exactly what you are getting. With all of this in mind, let's look at the considerations when choosing a case to use a hard drive externally.

We recommend reading our post on the best SSDs of the moment SATA, M.2 NVMe and PCIe

Considerations for choosing the external casing

Hard drives come in two sizes. Hybrid and mechanical hard drives have a 3.5 ″ form factor and are the size of a modest pocket novel. They are larger than the size units of a laptop, but they are also cheaper for the amount of storage you can store. They also require an external power supply, which means you'll need to connect the resulting external unit to the wall.

SSDs and mechanical drives in notebook notebooks come in a 2.5 ″ form factor. The benefit of using a 2.5 ″ unit, unsurprisingly, is that these units are about the size of a smartphone. Also, most 2.5 ″ boxes don't require external power, so they only have one cable, which connects to your PC's USB port. The downside is that 2.5 ″ form factor units are typically smaller in capacity, and unlike 3.5 ″ units that have a set height, 2.5 ″ units can be 7mm, 9.5mm, and 12.5mm Tall.

Hard drives connect to the internal parts of a PC through a PATA or SATA connection type. PATA connections (also known as IDEs) dominated the hard drive market from the mid-1980s until about around 2005, and had a wide connector type that resembled a printer cable. SATA, introduced in 2003, is now the dominant connection type and features a very slim L-shaped port. Data is transferred to the small L-shaped connection point and power is transferred through the larger L-shaped connection point. You probably have a SATA drive unless it is a very old drive. But check your unit before looking for a case.

SDI

SATA

Once you've identified the relevant items on your hard drive, it's time to choose a compatible enclosure. While external hard drive enclosures tend to be fairly simple, there are a few considerations we recommend you keep in mind when purchasing.

When purchasing an external hard drive enclosure, the first consideration is that you choose a enclosure whose interface matches the interface and size of your disk. Do you have a 2.5 ″ portable hard drive with a SATA interface? You want a 2.5 ″ SATA enclosure. Do you have an old 3.5 ″ desktop drive with a PATA interface? You'll want a 3.5 ″ case that supports PATA / IDE.

Finally, those who purchase a case for a 2.5 ″ portable unit should be more aware of the unit height issue mentioned above. Please check the fine print to see if the enclosure accommodates 12.5mm high units, 9.5mm high units, 7mm high units, or all / some of the above.

Another important consideration is to match external interfaces. Do you want to connect your box via USB 3.0? FireWire? An eSATA port? The market offers us a multitude of external housings that adapt to the use of all these interfaces. Just make sure your PC has the one you want to use.

Inateck - USB 3.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure (2.5 ", FE2010) What you get: Inateck external USB 3.0 HDD enclosure and USB 3.0 data cable (30 cm) 12.99 EUR SALCAR USB 3.0 Enclosure for HDD Hard Disks 2.5 "SSD, Case, Adapter, Case for 9.5mm 7mm 2.5" SATA HDD and SSD with USB 3.0 Cable, No Tools Required. Suitable for all 2.5 SATA-I / II / III HDDs or SDDs; Transfer speed up to 5Gbps with UASP transfer protocol 9.99 EUR POSUGEAR Hard Drive Enclosure 2.5 "USB 3.0, External Hard Drive Enclosure HDD SSD SATA I / II / III 7mm 9.5mm Height, Supports UASP, No Tools Required, with USB3.0 Cable 8, 89 EUR TooQ TQE-3527B - 3.5 "HDD Hard Drive Enclosure, (SATA I / II / III, USB 3.0), Aluminum, LED indicator, Black Color, 350 grs. Compatible Aluminum Enclosure with 3.5 "SATA I, II and III hard drives; USB 3.0 connection with cable included 15.75 EUR

This ends our article on how to install a hard drive in an external box, you can leave a comment if you have any questions. We also remind you that you can share the article on social networks so that it can help more users who need it.