Turn Your Old Hard Drive Into Portable HDD

You have an old Hard Drive 2.5'' or 3.5'' left from your laptop or PC and you don't know what to do. Then turn it into portable, that can be plugged-in every device that has an USB port.

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Step 1: HDD Interface Types

The most common interfaces are SATA and IDE.

• SATA - Serial Advanced Technology Attachment is most common in the newer PC and Laptop interfaces it is a hundreds of times lot faster than IDE and its been used since 2003.

• IDE - Integrated Drive Electronics aka PATA (Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment) is mostly used in PCs and Laptops between 1986 and 2003.

Check the photos above to see the difference between them!

Step 2: You will need:

An HDD enclosure and a hard drive (SATA or IDE). And 12v 3 W power supply if you hard drive requires higher power to work.

SATA

• 2.5'' SATA Enclosure

• 3.5'' SATA Enclosure

IDE

• 2.5'' IDE Enclosure

• 3.5'' IDE Enclosure

The links will take you to Amazon.com, but if you want something else check at Aliexpress.com or Banggood.com

Step 3: Put the HDD in the box

First plug the Hard Drive in the SATA / IDE to USB board and then put the Hard Drive inside the enclosure, turn the screws.

Step 4: Connect to PC

Connect the hard drive with your PC and wait for a few seconds to boot, and you are done!