How to Get Computer Access to Removable Hard Drives

Remavable hard drives can be USB or hot swappable.

Hard drives can carry anywhere from a few gigs to a few hundred gigs or more depending on the model and how old they are. But a drive in the hand isn't worth anything unless you can access the information on the drive. Removable hard drives may be portable drives that plug into any computer or may be hot swappable drives that fit into certain enclosures.

Things You'll Need

• Screwdriver

Instructions

1. Find a place to connect. If the hard drive is of the portable USB type find any computer with a USB port. Otherwise find a hot swappable drive bay on a computer or install one on your computer if you don't have one. These type of drive bays connect to a motherboard like a regular hard drive.

2. Connect the drive to the computer or enclosure. Hard drives that use enclosures just get pushed right into place in the bay. Plug a USB drive's cable into an open USB port on the computer. USB portable drives must also be plugged into a wall power outlet.

3. Right click on the Start menu and choose "Open Windows Explorer." This will allow you to access all of the drives on the computer including the removable hard drive which should now show up.