How to Use Old HDDs as External Drives

[@askleonotenboom]

Old hard drives can be a valuable salvage with many uses.

[@Yas_Sin]

Just one thing Leo, these are 2.5/3.5 inch drives, not 3.5/5.5, other than that, great content

[@sylvainalain6637]

I noticed the same

[@paulbunn2255]

A really basic mistake that has confused a lot of viewers here. Should really be corrected in the video.

[@Yas_Sin]

@@paulbunn2255 Indeed, or at least he should mention that in the pinned comment

[@ahnus2130]

yes there are. or were. even 7,5"

[@Yas_Sin]

@@ahnus2130 Wrong, 5.5 inch hard drives never actually existed, there were 5.25 and 8 inch drives, but never 5.5 or 7.5

[@ionu4535]

This goes in his TOP 10% videos; best video seen on HDD reduxing and that is 20 years plus talking, TYVM Leo.

[@Dude_Guyman]

Ugh! Translation for others: when he says 3.5, he is talking about a 2.5 inch drive (laptops and non-M.2 SATA SSD). When he talks about a 5.5, he means 3.5 (older full size spinning disk hard drive). A 2.5 can be used externally with just a $5-12 self/usb powered SATA to USB adapter. A 3.5 drive requires an adapter or "enclosure" with a 12v/2.0 amp power supply, "wall wart/brick/adapter".

[@michaelnierer8503]

You stated the sizes of the HDD's as 3.5 & 5.5, they are actually 2.5 & 3.5. This is the size of the disc inside them, not the shell.

[@F16_viper_pilot]

Laptop drives are 2.5”, not 3.5”. And the larger desktop drives are 3.5”, not 5.5”.

[@dontown1531]

I have 3 SATA SSDs converted to USB via enclosures. Great video Lots of 'hands on' lol

[@anthony5708]

Thank you a pile, for all the information (a lot of talking but a pile of info.) on what to do and how to do it. Thanks again, Anthony.

[@fredbloke3218]

A cheap USB-SATA cable works with 2.5 drives you don't need that enclosure.

[@regularstan6212]

I was thinking about that

[@CD-ew8wz]

I have a 40 pin harddrive with four power pins,is it possible to do find external cases?

[@WRWhizard]

I bought a couple of cheap cables, one end plugs into the drive, the other into the SATA ports I had on my last motherboard. Alas, the new machine doesn't have them but they were much faster than USB. I do have one cable that is like it but USB. No need for a fancy case. Also I have a 2 bay dock that lets you hot swap hard drives so you can literally have a stack of drives of either size and plug them in like memory sticks.

[@snaker9er]

If I use this method to retrieve files on a drive from an old pc that still worked is there any reason I can't access my User folder even though everything else is there?

[@Stefan-]

I even use a universal harddisk to USB converter set to use old drives as secondary backups which i rarely access, these are without enclosures and may even be old IDE drives.

[@markbultitude6375]

Can i do same with sky+hd hard drive and connect to laptop to use as storage ?

[@NoEgg4u]

If you do not mind not having an actual enclosure for an internal drive, then you can purchase a SATA -> USB adapter for under $20. You plug one end into your hard drive, and you plug the other end into your computer's USB port. You also plug in the adapter's included power supply (one end into the drive, and the other end into your wall's electrical socket). That's it. You are good to go. And if you have more than one drive that you want to use with the adapter, you can either purchase another adapter, or if you use only one of the drives at a time, just detach one drive and attach the other drive. If you want to clone a drive, these SATA -> USB adapters make the job easy.

[@HoundDogMech]

My Toshiba Laptop slowly cratered right near the end of a 3 month edit for our 55th (1962) class reunion. The FKn Geek Squad refused to fix it because BB didn't handle Toshiba anymore and it was out of warranty by 12 days. With 2 weeks till the reunion I had to have a new computer so I bought a $1500+tax ASUS and a 2.5" enclosure. Loaded Premiere Pro and hooked up the HDD from the Toshiba and finished the EDIT. Thankfully It wasn't the HDD that Died. The 2 HDDs still live today in my Laptop Carry on rollaround.

[@dipiti8739]

Small cabinets have been there for 2.5" HDD for years now, Larger for the 3,5". High capacity external storage.

[@stewiegriffin6503]

I like how he made 12 minutes video out of 30 seconds content

[@askleonotenboom]

It's a gift.

[@beback_]

Unfortunately KZbin disincentives creators from conveying information efficiently.

[@deborahbeatty]

How do you bypass the Windows Bios when doing this? I just got a new computer but don't want to deal with copying hundreds of files. apps, etc.

[@askleonotenboom]

BIOS shouldn't come into play to attach an external disk.

[@angelolima4811]

If I'm trying to change my internal 3tb hdd internal g drive to an external 4tb ssd drive by copying that 3tb drive and putting the data on the 4tb will the location stay the same even though the drive won't be in the same location when I start my computer up again and the g drive slot will be empty but still all on that external

[@rvlyssup]

I use enclosures by Inatek, simple, efficient, and good value for the money IMHO.

[@nick6628]

Appreciate time stamps

[@tobytwirl04]

Hi again Leo, and greetings from Alicante/España...I am quite a novice in this, and I now bought the sat connection and 'plugged it in' to my desktop. I attempted to open the files, but unfortunately, I'm unable to 'open the files'...All that I get, is rows and rows of unrecognisable information, letters and numbers that I don't understand. Am I doing something wrong? Then they talk about 'partitions', I don't understand this either. Should you be able to advise what I need to do, then I would be eternally grateful. Thank you for your valuable time...Bryan S.

[@georgeshaw6207]

Superb video great presenter ! George U.K.

[@tonym6920]

Great presentation, thanks! 👍👍

[@bren730]

Thanks Leo Good job

[@hassanmaje5849]

I swapped my laptop's Internal HDD with an SSD to make the machine a bit faster. The Computer technician told me that I could use the removed disk as an external or backup drive provided I have a housing. What housing or enclosure can I use? Which is the cheapest recommended and how do I insert or connect to it? Thanks

[@askleonotenboom]

Depends on the physical size of the drive. Search amazon for "external hard disk enclosure".

[@gene6195]

Very informative video. My Seagate external just crashed, I can't even get into it without stalling my computer,any advice on possible retrieving my data ? I've been checking the prices on externals, not cheap. Who makes a good 3 1/2 drive adapter ? I noticed you have one made by Star Tech. Do I need to program the now external drive With Windows to make it operational or just format it ? PS I also back-up to USBs,back-up,back-up,back-up.

[@askleonotenboom]

Data retrieval: restore from a backup, if you have one. If you don't then perhaps a data recover service if the drive is truly broken. You don't need to "program" an external drive. As long as it's formatted in a way that Windows supports, it should just work.

[@The_workshop11]

He may have mentioned this but be sure when you format the drive that you use exfat as the file system so it has cross system compatibility 😁

[@brightonmusic]

Is this an easy way to transfer all files from an old PC to a new one, and then move any program folders to the C drive?

[@askleonotenboom]

For data: sure. For apps: not really. The correct solution for a new PC is to reinstall your software so that it's properly configured for that new machine. There are third party tools that can try, with varying degrees of success, to move installed programs, but the results can sometimes be unstable.

[@brightonmusic]

@@askleonotenboom Thank you very much for a realistic and workable answer! For some of my older programs I no longer have the installation disk or the sources are no longer on the web.

[@purpleleisureologist]

Thank you for this tutorial. Your videos are great. I was successful doing this with an old acer laptop. In doing so I notice the hard drive has almost half the drive used up by programs etc. How do I know what programs I can remove and still have the hard drive work? Like logs, intel, inetpub, perf logs, program files, program files x86, tmp, users, windows, windows old, rhd setup, user, book, avgtemp and a bunch of random numbers & letters files that are inaccessible.

[@wvelez26]

I have the same question. I don't want to delete something that it's needed for the hard drive to work.

[@schneeg]

@@wvelez26 once you remove the hard drive from a old computer you can backup the users folder to another external hard drive only then you can delete all the partions from the old hard drive and use it as a storage drive

[@alexherrera3918]

Great video. Can i just buy a sata to usb connector to connect the old hhd as external? why i need power? I have a usb 3.0 in my computer. i hope you can comment. Thanks

[@askleonotenboom]

Some drives require more power than is available over the USB connection.

[@alexherrera3918]

@@askleonotenboom I tried a sata with usb 3.0 it did not work. Already order a case like in your video. Thanks

[@wvelez26]

I'm using an old internal hard drive from a laptop as an external hard drive. It still has operating system from old laptop. Is it safe to delete or format the hard drive. Will it work without these files?

[@askleonotenboom]

Yup.

[@ajaykumarbhattar4016]

How to purchase that star tech device..As I have Internal HDD

[@askleonotenboom]

I got mine on Amazon.

[@InssiAjaton]

I would have hoped at least a short mention of the issue of the boot sector. If you take the one (c:) drive from the computer and put it back as an external one, what do you do to the boot sector on the now external drive? Can be a stumbling issue to many people.

[@askleonotenboom]

I do nothing. How's it a problem?

[@InssiAjaton]

@@askleonotenboom It used to be that two boot devices was a thing to be avoided. Maybe it has been taken care by newer BIOS - I don’t know.

[@WatchingTrainsGoBy-PassingTime]

Is it possible to use an extra hdd to expand virtual memory. Specifically I'm asking for one game I play. Cities skylines. I have 16gb ram and between system ram and game ram once you begin playing and building, or adding mods/assets to the game, it almost maxes out the 13-14gb ram so the game runs slower. It struggles trying to do enough calculations for the traffic/citizen simulations/pathfinding. Is it possible to improve performance by having a spare hdd being used SOLELY for virtual memory? Part of the equation for me is that I only have integrated graphics and no ability to add a dedicated gpu.

[@askleonotenboom]

Even if it's possible, (I don't think it is), an external disk would be FAR too slow. Either add RAM, or use an internal disk.

[@WatchingTrainsGoBy-PassingTime]

@@askleonotenboom I almost wish you hadn't answered... lol but thanks

[@icandivideos5743]

Where is best place/s to get cases?

[@askleonotenboom]

I get mine from Amazon.

[@RobertJinks]

Great video, thanks for this! I have a few random external drives that I'll be putting to good use. Als, I wanted to ask about enclosures for my hard drives. I currently have a number of loose 3.5'' drives from a RAID debacle, which I'd love to throw into housings to be able to use again. I have a few 10TB drives, 6TB drives, and 4TB, 7 drives totaling about 40TB. Each needs to be formatted. Do you know of any good housings for those drives I could look into? I'm not looking to do RAID, just mirroring. This would be for my archive, to add files to at the end of every year. FYI, I'm a photographer, I create 4-5TB/annually and keep 2-3TB each year long-term. Thanks for any help, and thanks again for the video.

[@askleonotenboom]

There are a couple of responses to this ont he site, but my approach has always been to go to amazon and search for "3.5in USB SATA External Hard Drive Enclosure". Haven't purchased any for a while, so don't have a specific recommendation, but the info there is generally useful.

[@oztrekgelsoft8409]

How do we salvage tho information from the old PC drive that is now external..

[@askleonotenboom]

Assuming nothing's wrong with the drive, it should just show up as another drive letter (say, "E:") and you just copy the data.

[@oztrekgelsoft8409]

@@askleonotenboom wrong. M.2 with windows loop issue. Remove from computer to save files put into external hard drive casing. Only brings up projects projects 86 user and not much more. . Half the program install is there tho not the filed them selves. So other than using something like yodot .disck drill etc. you can not see the files at All.. to retrieve the information 👌.. so using an old windows hard drive will not let you retrieve the old company information. I'm looking for a way to key prompt into it or ill have to pay to use yodot and I believe that I don't have to as all information bis on there eg clone would be useless as it will copy the 86 project and user tho basically that's is all 0 kB if you copy paste. So if you have any way if retrieved information on an old windows corrupted disc or my key prompt go try Im all ears

[@askleonotenboom]

@@oztrekgelsoft8409 If it's corrupted - especially if it's an SSD - I don't have anything for you, other than perhaps tools like Recuva. Since it sounds like a system disk, however, I'm guessing it's this: askleo.com/permission-to-access-this-folder/

[@oztrekgelsoft8409]

@@askleonotenboom thanks for your help 🙌 it was an infinite loop issue so I saved the drive . Added it to external to save the information. In which I need to retrieve . IAM trying not to pay for dusk drill or yodot, as there must be another way to access all information on that drive

[@HoundDogMech]

Are there Enclosure and cables that attach to modern computer to older USB/Firewire drives. I have never thrown away old computers they just sit in the closet. I did give away my TRS-80 Mod1 / Apple II+, And Commodore 64. Sorry I did that.

[@askleonotenboom]

Drives removed from older USB/Firewire enclosures? Those are usually SATA drives, so this all applies. SOME are IDE/PATA drives (a different connector) and you can generally find enclosures for those as well, thought they're not as plentiful.

[@bjohnson2143]

Hey!!! I had a Commodore 64 WAAAAYYYY back in the day.

[@thomasfucci2260]

Leo, Thank you for your video. Very informative. I see it was made Sept 2021 so I'm wondering why I cannot find a case larger than 3.5 for my WD 1.0TB WD1003FZEX hard drive that I'm pulling from a computer that is long past it's use. Any suggestions about where I might find the correct case or do I need to get what I am seeing is a hub? Thanks again. Thomas

[@danklord78]

Hey leo, here is your subscriber asking for help from india. While I was on discord I got a msg from a guy named ziggy and he forwarded a link to me i clicked on it and proceed more than i backed off and then he told me that he hacked me and given me my id and my location and he also give me my some details like my laptop specs and everything then I got scared, so what to do now can you tell me

[@askleonotenboom]

Since there's no way to know what that link did I'd scan for malware with up to date software.

[@danklord78]

@@askleonotenboom Ok leo i will scan my laptop than msg you and i am thinking of changing my password and format my laptop also to be on the safer side

[@Lennardish]

Hello Leo, It is fun to see and hear a man with a 100% DUTCH family name :) I am a great fan of yours :)

[@MinecraftCobblestoned]

Loss of credibility at: 1:50 - "This for example, is a 3.5" hard drive"

[@24Deutschmark]

Thank you for this video!

[@tedfritsch3340]

The best explanation yet. But,,,LOL...New Computer. Old computer has quicken program and data on it. Quicken DATA is backed up to zip drive and WD Passport. I can't get the short cut up on the desk top on new computer. So,,,,if I take the lap top old computer drive, make it an external drive. If I open it up on the new computer, hit the old DRIVE now the external, will that open the short cut to the program. I live and died by quicken for the last 15 years. Where in the HELL is that program on those drives? LOL

[@askleonotenboom]

No. Generally applications like Quicken must be reinstalled to operate from new computers. Your data file, however should be something you can locate and copy over, but you'll have to check with Quicken to see where they store it. (Likely somewhere under /users//AppData.... )

[@tedfritsch3340]

@@askleonotenboom Thanks,

[@DynamicOwl13]

I do take apart the ones that are pretty much trashed, dirty and gross, I'll take them apart just for the strong magnets. Great for the tool box and the 2 metal disks can be used for some kind of crafts. Maybe wind chimes lol idk or apart of some kind of nifty hanging decor.

[@HoundDogMech]

My problems with Back-up is your Operating system and programs aren't backed up You will have to do all this manually. Big N1PITA. Get a Drive Enclosure and exact Drive as your C:\Drive either HDD or SSD and do a Clone of the C:\ Drive. I clone overnight ounce a month.

[@askleonotenboom]

I back up using image backups, and those are what I recommend everyone do. They backup absolutely everything and can be restored to a replacement harddrive, as an example.

[@ms7165]

Where do you find 5.5 inch drive enclosures these days?

[@askleonotenboom]

Amazon works for me. (And as someone noted elsewhere, the drives are technical 2.5 and 3.5 inch drive platters, so while they're 5" on the outside, you might see them as 3.5" enclosures)

[@ms7165]

@@askleonotenboom OK, as documented the sizing thing had me confused. Thanks, enjoy your vids.

[@WanWan-vd6ce]

The moment he said 3.5 inch for a 2.5 inch i STOP. BS

[@askleonotenboom]

Death penalty for misspeaking? Got it!

[@enabledintergers9372]

ha! your doing good, till you got to software part! You can too Install software, on a external hard drive! How do you think people keep copies of their diy machines!???

[@kenndaily8451]

ahem. Just spent half an hour searching for a 5.5" external hard drive enclosure

[@askleonotenboom]

You may need to get an old 5.5 in floppy drive (PC recycle places often have bunches), and then get an external IDE adapter. Not seeing enclosures any more, but the combo should work.

[@kenndaily8451]

@@askleonotenboom 5.5 is standard. Got one on Amazon delivered today. Works perfectly. Thanks for your help.

[@Fitzzzzz57]

mac

[@jec_ecart]

Laptop drives are 2.5 inch. And desktop ones are 5.25 inch

[@zesqcpa3]

😘

[@boimemes3462]

Its my boot drive

[@rochellelewis5007]

Thank you for this tutorial. Your videos are great. I was successful doing this with an old acer laptop. In doing so I notice the hard drive has almost half the drive used up by programs etc. How do I know what programs I can remove and still have the hard drive work? Like logs, intel, inetpub, perf logs, program files, program files x86, tmp, users, windows, windows old, rhd setup, user, book, avgtemp and a bunch of random numbers & letters files that are inaccessible.