How to Make a Hard Disk Drive Into an External Drive

Turn your spare hard drive into a USB external drive with an enclosure.

Hard drives are the primary method of storage for desktop and laptop computers. Drive manufacturers offer external drives that connect to computers via USB, allowing for instant storage expansion in a portable medium. If you've got a spare hard drive, you can turn it into an external drive with a hard drive enclosure. Just install the drive in the enclosure case and plug the USB cord into the computer, and you've got easy and portable storage.

Things You'll Need

• 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch hard drive
• compatible hard drive enclosure
• Phillips-head screwdriver

Instructions

1. Open the hard drive enclosure and clear all power and data cables away from the drive cradle. Depending upon your particular enclosure, you may need to use a screwdriver.

2. Place the hard drive in the cradle. Screw the drive into place with the mounting screws included with the enclosure.

3. Plug the power and data cords into the back of the hard drive. Close the enclosure and secure it.

4. Plug the enclosure into the power supply (if necessary) and the USB cord. Plug the USB cord into your computer to access the drive.

Tips & Warnings

• Hard drives come in two primary sizes: 3.5-inch drives for desktops and smaller 2.5-inch drives for laptops. In addition, drives come with connections in the IDA (parallel-ATA) and SATA formats. Make sure you have an enclosure that's compatible with your hard drive's size and connection format.

References

• Rosewill support: USB Hard Drive Enclosure
• Thermaltake: HDD Encloser User's Manual