Connecting 40gb Laptop HDD to Desktop to use as only/primary HDD

HugoSP

I think this may have been answered before but I need a HDD for my PC min 40GB, but I have a 3 year old working 40GB HDD from an old laptop.

Mainly because I like to reuse stuff if I can I was wondering how I would go about fitting the laptop hdd to my deskptop to use as the main HDD with Windows xp etc on it.

I currently have 2x 20gb HDDs installed and I (my children) have a problem running the Sims 2 and all its expansion packs on the 2nd/slave hdd due to the way the software needs to run with Windows. The sims sw on its own takes up around 10gb!

I would probably keep one 20gb hdd as a secondary hdd, giving the machine a total capacity of 60gb, as opposed to the 20 it's got now.

fwor

Yes, but you will need an adaptor. If you search for "laptop HDD adapter" on Ebay, you'll find one finishing around every 20 mins, at a cost of about £3, shipped from Hong Kong. If you have a local PC shop, you'll pay about twice that, but you'll have it quicker!

motorguy

I agree with fwor. Heres one on ebay that i;ve used before

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-2-0-HARD-DISK-DRIVE-2-5-HDD-LAPTOP-CASE-ENCLOSURE_W0QQitemZ230207546341QQihZ013QQcategoryZ16178QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p1638.m118

Dont forget not to rely on these (or any single device for that matter) as your only copy of important files, particularly if you're using a used hard disk.

fwor

Ah yes - good point. I hadn't thought of a USB-based external caddy! I was actually thinking of the internal ones which adapt to a standard IDE ribbon cable.

If you are thinking of the USB-based solution, you should check firstly that your motherboard can boot from a USB device (more then about 3 years old and it probably can't) and that it has at least 1 USB2 port, or it will have slow access and you'll notice it!

marms

Using the old laptop drive will slow the computer down quite a bit, why not just get a new 80Gb drive, they cost less than £30. You'll get better performance and it'll be more reliable.

motorguy

marms wrote: »

Using the old laptop drive will slow the computer down quite a bit, why not just get a new 80Gb drive, they cost less than £30. You'll get better performance and it'll be more reliable.

Oops, misread the original post! i thought the o/p was looking just to use it as an external drive. Yes, you're right running it via USB would be a bad idea.

I'd definitely buy a new internal drive, as you're saying.