Convert External Usb 2.0 hdd into Internal Sata drive

Discussion in 'Computer Hardware' started by Mostwest, Nov 23, 2015.

  1. Mostwest

    Mostwest Platinum Record

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    Hi guys i was wondering if i will benefit from converting my 6-7 years old HDD into an internal Sata drive for my PC.
    I'm using it only for storing purpose and i'm gonna take another 4 TB external hdd for all my film and movies.

    The drive is the WD Elements Desktop 1 TB wich should contain a WD Caviar Green

    When i runned Crystal benchmark it scored only 33 mb/s (both R and W) using the USB 2.0
    I've seen a video from 2011, the guys just removed all plastic and stuff and he got the sata drive.

    Will it benefit from converting it into a sata drive and put it directly in my PC's case?

     
    Last edited: Dec 1, 2015
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  3. JockÄl

    JockÄl Member

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    Probably, but there are some other factors which are important, e.g. what kind of SATA-connection does your drive got ? There are currently three types of SATA-standards. Even if your HDD does only the SATA I connection, you probably benefit from a switch (USB 2.0 does have a maximum of 480 MBIT/s, whereas SATA I does have 1500 MBIT/s [dividing MBIT/s with 8, you will have the maximum and real speed of how much MBYTE/s you got]). There's also the factor, of how speedy is your HDD from itself, without looking at the connections. Most 2,5" HDD's only have a maximum of 5400 rpm, which mostly ends up between 80-150 MBYTE/s, which doesn't mean that it wouldn't pay out switching from USB 2.0 to SATA, because SATA is always faster (but you'll probably will miss your mobility).
     
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  4. Mostwest

    Mostwest Platinum Record

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    thanks as soon i buy a new 4 TB HDD, i'll convert my old 1TB to sata
     
  5. mono

    mono Audiosexual

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  6. Mr_Amine

    Mr_Amine Rock Star

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    why you want to do that since external drive is more expensive than internal one
    and when you do that , there is a risk of loosing DATA
     
  7. statik

    statik Audiosexual

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    i sorta did this a few years back, HD of my dad's comp had to be replaced and there was a HD shortage so the normal build in ones were kinda expensive, bought an external one, took the casing of and build it into his system. if you have a bit of experience then it shouldnt be a big problem to do this
     
  8. Mostwest

    Mostwest Platinum Record

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    ok, that's my experience.
    Everything went fine as i expected, i had one free slot for HDD on my case, so everything fitted without problems. I didn't lose any files.

    I just upacked my external HDD and turned into internal Sata. Speed is atleast double for both read and write from 33 MB/s of the USB 2.0 to 70 MB/s of the sata port. I'm really happy to be able to get that extra speed since i'm using this drive only for storage purpose. I'm still keeping the External HDD parts and plastics so if i need i can revert it back to external USB.

    I just followed this little video, without any trouble. Took me only 5 minutes as first attempt

     
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