Comments for Can I convert an external USB hard drive into an internal one?

Comment from michael on 2009-11-16

2009-11-17T01:20:37Z

Yes you can connect a USB as an internal drive. I used a seagate 320Gb laptop drive as an internal backup drive in my Windows Home Server. I did not open the case so I do not know what the interface is, I suspect it is SATA. I cut a Mini D cable that I had laying around to about 10 inches long. I built a 10 pin header (with a key pin) from components to plug it into the motherboard. I siamesed both ports power leads to keep adequate wattage to the drive even under heavy use(there is only 500ma per port doubled to 1000ma or 5 watts). I also added an external switch to the harness so I can turn it off for secure storage. I did not remove the case and I can remove the drive simply by unplugging it from the harness. This also means I did not void the warranty. Works great and can be turned on at any time, just make sure you disconnect it (in windows) before turning it off. I also tried this with a mybook 160Gb drive (12v/IDE interface board 3.5" drive). I removed the case and covered the interface board to prevent a short. Modified the power plug to connect it to a spare hard drive power. It also worked great, matter of fact it responded faster than before. I believe this was due to the really short USB cable compared to the original 6 footer it came with. Just remember this is a USB interface and it is not going to be fast, but is a good backup and streams music just fine. There are many resources on the net to figure out the wiring.

]]>

A comment on: Can I convert an external USB hard drive into an internal one?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Lobo on 2009-08-04

2009-08-05T01:45:09Z

]]>

A comment on: Can I convert an external USB hard drive into an internal one?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Ignis on 2009-07-21

2009-07-22T05:52:15Z

Recently my external hardrive off 1TB wasqnt detected by windows anymore so i opened it and inside where 2 SATA drives off 500GB each, so i hooked them up to my pc to try and recover the data but it seems that only 1 drive has the filesystem on it from both drives.

Do you know of any way i can still recover the data from both cause datarecovery programs only manage to get around 5% off data off the second drive cause they cant detect the system (wich is FAT32)

]]>

A comment on: Can I convert an external USB hard drive into an internal one?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from anirudh on 2009-05-17

2009-05-17T12:24:37Z

hey,I want to make my USB hard drive an internal one because it keeps getting disconnected.Its a transcend storejet 25p USB hard drive.So can you tell me what the problem is and please tell me whether games can be run on a USB external hard drive.

]]>

A comment on: Can I convert an external USB hard drive into an internal one?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Rob on 2009-03-13

2009-03-13T17:19:03Z

I have a WD5000aajs external hard drive that has about a hundred gigs of music on it and my fiance plug the wrong power adapter into to it on accident. Was wandering if there is any way to hook it up to my desktop so I can atleast get my music off?? Would appreciate any help you can give me!
Thanks Alot

It depends on how comfortable you are playing with hardware, and exactly what's been damaged. Inside the external hard drive box are two components: a hard drive like any other, and a USB interface. If it's just the USB interface, then you migh have luck removing the hard drive and installing it into a computer directly. You'll just need to make sure that the computer has the correct interface for the hard drive - I did this and found that my WD500 had an eSata interface, which only one of my machines at the time could support.

- Leo
14-Mar-2009

]]>

A comment on: Can I convert an external USB hard drive into an internal one?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from chris on 2009-02-02

2009-02-02T20:57:59Z

i have a Maxtor SATA external HDD and i wanted to convert it into an internal...how can i do this? as the slave connector port is on a seperate board, i dont see any way to connect this? plz help!

]]>

A comment on: Can I convert an external USB hard drive into an internal one?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Karl Krautscheid on 2009-01-12

2009-01-12T20:27:35Z

Leo,
I have a cable to convert an IDE HD to USB.
I would like to put this into my computer case and power it with the computers power supply.
My question is:
Can I cut the 5 volt cable and ad a toggle switch to turn the drive off when not in use?
Will My Computer see the drive when I turn the power back on?
Thanks for the reply.

]]>

A comment on: Can I convert an external USB hard drive into an internal one?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Arjen on 2008-12-04

2008-12-04T20:17:54Z

Leo,

The power adapter (ad6008) of my WD harddrive has shut down. This adapter supplies 5V and 12V to the drive by a din plug. Is it still possible to use the drive internally?

Thank you for the reply.

]]>

A comment on: Can I convert an external USB hard drive into an internal one?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from William on 2008-10-15

2008-10-15T15:49:16Z

How about the reverse? I have a removable internal IDE HD (D:) but when I replace it, I have to reboot. Can I make it a USB plug and play?
Thanks

]]>

A comment on: Can I convert an external USB hard drive into an internal one?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Ken on 2007-08-22

2007-08-22T13:40:47Z

I have taken many internal drives and placed them in external USB enclosures, and they have always kept their contents. (Or, at least, they didn't lose anything else. Several of these were from non-booting Windows systems, and nearly all the data was recoverable once moved to another computer.)

Whether one can move a USB drive between Windows and Macs, on the other hand, I have no clue.

]]>

A comment on: Can I convert an external USB hard drive into an internal one?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.