External USB drive mounted internally?

[aeroencychris]

Hi,

I'm going to be building in a Silverstone SG13 soon, and I'm a bit worried about hard drive placement. I was planning on having a 120GB SSD and some form of mass storage to go along with it. Fitting a 3.5 inch drive would be kinda hard in that case singe I would have to move the SSD somewhere else. I'm also on a tight budget so if I could save $50 that would be great. However, I have an external WD My Passport Ultra 1TB USB drive I use for my laptop right now. Would there be a way to mount this internally and maybe get some sort of USB to mobo USB header adapter? I would save money and but both drives on the bracket. Thoughts?

[Tedster]

Hi,

I'm going to be building in a Silverstone SG13 soon, and I'm a bit worried about hard drive placement. I was planning on having a 120GB SSD and some form of mass storage to go along with it. Fitting a 3.5 inch drive would be kinda hard in that case singe I would have to move the SSD somewhere else. I'm also on a tight budget so if I could save $50 that would be great. However, I have an external WD My Passport Ultra 1TB USB drive I use for my laptop right now. Would there be a way to mount this internally and maybe get some sort of USB to mobo USB header adapter? I would save money and but both drives on the bracket. Thoughts?

You can definitely get those headers. For storing the drive just find somewhere where there's space where you can safely mount it and make sure that the cables are the right length.

[TheRandomness]

Hi,

I'm going to be building in a Silverstone SG13 soon, and I'm a bit worried about hard drive placement. I was planning on having a 120GB SSD and some form of mass storage to go along with it. Fitting a 3.5 inch drive would be kinda hard in that case singe I would have to move the SSD somewhere else. I'm also on a tight budget so if I could save $50 that would be great. However, I have an external WD My Passport Ultra 1TB USB drive I use for my laptop right now. Would there be a way to mount this internally and maybe get some sort of USB to mobo USB header adapter? I would save money and but both drives on the bracket. Thoughts?

You can tape a 3.5" drive to something

[aeroencychris]

You can tape a 3.5" drive to something

Well if I were to include the 3.5" drive I would put it in the normal mounting bracket and move the SSD somewhere else (most likely velcro it to the PSU like Linus did in his SG13 build). Obviously that's not ideal and costs money.

[aeroencychris]

You can definitely get those headers. For storing the drive just find somewhere where there's space where you can safely mount it and make sure that the cables are the right length.

Okay, will do. This isn't ideal since my USB 3.0 header will be taken for front panel so my USB 3.0 drive will have to use USB 2.0, but it'll do.

[zzenigmaxzz]

Okay, will do. This isn't ideal since my USB 3.0 header will be taken for front panel so my USB 3.0 drive will have to use USB 2.0, but it'll do.

you can get a usb to sata adapter as well 

[aeroencychris]

you can get a usb to sata adapter as well 

Oh wow, really? Would I keep the USB 3.0 speeds?

Edit: Can't find them anywhere, only SATA to USB (mounting SATA drives via USB)

[Brannan]

if you want, you can take apart the wd 1tb external hdd And inside there should be a regular notebook hard drive. I have done it to other external hdd enclosures and inside there is usually a sata III to usb adaper.

[aeroencychris]

if you want, you can take apart the wd 1tb external hdd And inside there should be a regular notebook hard drive. I have done it to other external hdd enclosures and inside there is usually a sata III to usb adaper.

I researched my specific drive to see if this was possible and found this helpful video.

But in all seriousness, it looks like the USB connection is soldered to the actual drive, so I can't use this via SATA

[braneopbru]

You could still pull the drive out of it's plastic enclosure. 

 

It looks like it's a standard drive with a custom board, but the mount points should be the same. Mount it in one of the case's 2.5" bays and the use one of these with the drive's stock cable to plug it in inside the case.

[aeroencychris]

You could still pull the drive out of it's plastic enclosure. 

 

It looks like it's a standard drive with a custom board, but the mount points should be the same. Mount it in one of the case's 2.5" bays and the use one of these with the drive's stock cable to plug it in inside the case.

I need my USB 3.0 header for front panel USB though

[braneopbru]

I need my USB 3.0 header for front panel USB though

I guess you're going to have to decide if it's more important to have USB 3.0 in the front panel or for the 1TB drive. You could always connect your front USB 3.0 to a USB 2.0 header and use them as 2.0 ports. 

[Captain_WD]

~snip~

 

Hey there cdsboy2000,

 

I wouldn't try to open the WD My Passport drive as this would void any warranty that the drive has. Moreover, the drive features hardware encryption and it cannot be read outside its enclosure so if you do take it apart and plug it in the motherboard you won't be able to read the data that's already on it and you'd potential data loss. There are a couple of options that I can suggest:

- You can use the WD My Passport externally as it is either with the front or the back USB ports and place it on top or on the side of the case for simple secondary storage purposes.

- You can look for a good dock station, connect it to the case via the USB3.0 port and place the dock itself somewhere on a convenient spot and get whichever 2.5" or 3.5" you'd like and use them. For massive storage I would recommend WD Green: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=16E0bW

 

Captain_WD.

[aeroencychris]

 

Hey there cdsboy2000,

 

I wouldn't try to open the WD My Passport drive as this would void any warranty that the drive has. Moreover, the drive features hardware encryption and it cannot be read outside its enclosure so if you do take it apart and plug it in the motherboard you won't be able to read the data that's already on it and you'd potential data loss. There are a couple of options that I can suggest:

- You can use the WD My Passport externally as it is either with the front or the back USB ports and place it on top or on the side of the case for simple secondary storage purposes.

- You can look for a good dock station, connect it to the case via the USB3.0 port and place the dock itself somewhere on a convenient spot and get whichever 2.5" or 3.5" you'd like and use them. For massive storage I would recommend WD Green: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=16E0bW

 

Captain_WD.

 

I probably won't open it. Are there any decent 2.5" drives I could buy to make mounting easier or are the speeds too low?

[aeroencychris]

I guess you're going to have to decide if it's more important to have USB 3.0 in the front panel or for the 1TB drive. You could always connect your front USB 3.0 to a USB 2.0 header and use them as 2.0 ports. 

I'll probably sell the external and buy a new drive.

[Captain_WD]

~snip~

 

You can check out WD Blue, WD Black and WD Green and see which one could fit your needs best (in terms of capacity, speed, features and budget). WD Black drives are designed for performance and durability when used in heavier and longer workloads. WD Blue are drives designed for regular everyday computing and should handle everything pretty well. WD Green are drives designed for massive storage and cool and quiet performance as well as saving energy. Here's more info on all three drives:

WD Blue: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=3CIDlt

WD Black: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=s6evBL

WD Green: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=kg6UGU

 

Another option that you can consider is WD Blue SSHD if you are going to use the drive mainly for just a few things and take advantage of what hybrid drives offer as speed boost: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=VYWcRx

 

Captain_WD.