Converting External drive to Internal?

[jjlee138]

I'm working on a new build and now that I have 8x 3.5" bays in my case and 10x Sata ports on my mobo instead of the 4x I was working with previously, I'm curious if I can convert some of my 4x external USB drives into internals?

All the externals are 2-6tb WD or Seagate drives purchased within the last year or two. I realize that this may be too general of a question, but just wanted to toss it out there. Thank you!

 

[BSOD BSTD]

I'm not familiar with those particular drives, but its generally very easy to convert external to internal, if you open up the external youll see it is just a normal SATA drive with an extra circuit board to convert to USB, just remove this and hey presto, you've got an internal drive.

 

[getochkn]

MOST of the time, an external drive is just an internal drive in a case. SOMETIMES, companies have been putting weird interfaces on the drives so they only work in the external case, for some weird reason. Only way to know is to open it up and look and see if it's a standard SATA and power or not.

 

[jjlee138]

Fantastic, that's exactly the general type answer I was looking for. I can take it from there! Was just curious if there was normally any proprietary interfaces or software that usually made it difficult or impossible. Thank you!

 

[BSOD BSTD]

MOST of the time, an external drive is just an internal drive in a case. SOMETIMES, companies have been putting weird interfaces on the drives so they only work in the external case, for some weird reason. Only way to know is to open it up and look and see if it's a standard SATA and power or not.

I think they do it just to be a pain in the arse...:lol:

 

[ArtPog]

And that is why - for your future reference - in virtually every instance a PC user is well-advised to purchase a separate USB external enclosure/docking station + a HDD (or SSD) of his choice. It's a far better arrangement than purchasing a commercial "one-piece" product. For one thing a user will invariably be able to purchase a superior drive than the one furnished by a manufacturer. In addition the user can select the precise capacity of a drive needed. Another advantage is the flexibility afforded by this arrangement in that the user now has an UNLIMITED number of different drives that can be installed in the USB enclosure. And when all is said & done the difference in cost (if any) is usually trifling. There's just no downside to purchasing separate components for one's USB external needs.

 

[jsmithepa]

Now those extra drives will require spin-up juice so hopefully your PSU can handle it.

 

[jjlee138]

Now those extra drives will require spin-up juice so hopefully your PSU can handle it.

I'm thinking I will. I'm pulling my Corsair TX650M that I put in my old system 6mo ago and putting it into the new build. Without any HDD's figured in PCPartpicker has me at 331W. PCPartpicker seems to add about 10-15w requirement for every internal I add (2-5tb range)

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/PKR9YJ

 

[andysuth2]

I did this in an emergency in rural China.
Just gently feel around the case of the external drive, you can work out where the snap fits are, gentle pry the outer part of case outwards and it will pop out in that area.
Once the case is off you will find that all of the external HDD out there are the same as the internal 2.5" drives.
Think about it, economies of scale. Its not worth making HDD different when they can add a £1 circuit board with a sata connector, chip and USB B / micro USB port.

It should just plug into the laptop port or desktop and let the OS recognised it
This is a good way to fix an external that's stopped working too as its normally the interface board that goes kapuut.

That's what had happened in China, and I booted to Linux mint live CD, got my work files off the external(internal) HDD (no boot sector!) And copied to a USB memory stick.

Replaced original HDD, booted normally and continued working.

 

[AussiJoe]

Yes guys all very true. The HDD does work and is recognised in your computer. But what about the files on it? I have had 3 attemts to install in my computer. The HDD is recognised as an empty new drive that needs to be formatted. No way will it see the 1.5 TB of video files. Its a WD 2TB SATA 7200. Put it back to USB and its fine.
Are the external drives configured for USB recognition?

 

[jdandkitty]

Wow, did u get this worked out? I'd want to install a 2nd blu ray external internally. I need this answered before I move on to cracking the case. I've spent all i can and need the space on my desk, but like you I have videos I want to see and this is the only blu-ray reader I've got so far. not trivial costs in my pocket like others have said, it's the best I can do.