Jump to content

Is it possible to turn an external drive into an internal one?

so i just got a dell 7577 and i bought one with just the pcie ssd. I have an external seagate backup plus slim because i used it while i was using bootcamp on my mac. since i have plenty of storage to do most of my tasks, is it possible to turn a external drive into a internal one by just popping off  the case? im scared to do it without a little guidance because i don't want to ruin a drive because i couldn't make it work. I have the caddy and cable already in the laptop, just wanna make sure i dont run into anything weird with the hard drive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, asiancorruption said:

so i just got a dell 7577 and i bought one with just the pcie ssd. I have an external seagate backup plus slim because i used it while i was using bootcamp on my mac. since i have plenty of storage to do most of my tasks, is it possible to turn a external drive into a internal one by just popping off  the case? im scared to do it without a little guidance because i don't want to ruin a drive because i couldn't make it work. I have the caddy and cable already in the laptop, just wanna make sure i dont run into anything weird with the hard drive.

If this is the same. It looks like it is just a normal drive

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Almost all external hard drives are simply enclosures with a simple usb>sata or usb>ide controller on the inside, connected to a standard sata or ide drive.

The only problem you may to run into is if the drive is old (and therefore IDE) you may not have IDE controller ports in your pc to connect it to.

 

In some cases, especially with smaller external drives (those using 1.8 or 2.5 inch drives), they may not use the standard full size sata connector. Sometimes it'll be micro sata or slimline sata, they never really had much traction but they are basically incompatible with standard sata in your pc. Likewise for mini IDE, an even older and less likely connection.

 

At worst, as long as you're careful disassembling the drive, you can just put it back in the enclosure and keep it as an external.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Ethocreeper said:

you can

its most probably a 2.5 inch drive

do i need to worry about windows recognizing the data on the drive? i've read some people's experiences that their computer couldn't read off the drive when they tried this. regardless im just gonna back it up on my computer anyways

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, asiancorruption said:

do i need to worry about windows recognizing the data on the drive? i've read some people's experiences that their computer couldn't read off the drive when they tried this. regardless im just gonna back it up on my computer anyways

 

So long as it's formatted using a standard filesystem in Windows (and not a multi-disk enclosure using raid etc), you should have no problems. 

 

The only folk likely to have problems doing this, are those that are pulling from network attached storage arrays. Off the shelf NAS boxes usually run some kind of bsd/Linux and so the drives will be natively formatted in a filesystem Wndows won't recognise by default.

 

If the drive you're pulling from is a simple usb enclosure with one drive, you'll probably be fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

update: spent an hour taking apart the drive enclosure and my laptop and putting back together. works great thanks guys.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×