edgarhaines

Honorable
Oct 2, 2012
4
0
10,510
I bought a cheap external enclosure for an old laptop DVD drive that has been working beautifully. However, now I am in need of an external HDD enclosure. Since the DVD enclosure has SATA connections couldn't I just plug the HDD into it for the time being? I'd hate to buy a special HDD enclosure since I only need it for a little bit.
 
Solution
Hi Edgar,

The enclosure you have won't work with the 2.5" HDDs you have. The power connector for the DVD is different than what is required for the HDDs

DVDSATAConnector.png


You can see there is not a 15 pin SATA power connector present.

You could purchase a full SATA enclosure which would have to be for 2.5" drives. However for $15 the Vantec converter I mentioned earlier can be used temporarily, and down the road, if you need a temp connection for a full sized SATA drive, even an IDE drive, you would have it.

John_VanKirk

Distinguished
Hi Edgar, & Welcome to Tom's Hardware!

Give us the make and model # of the enclosure, and possibly someone can find the specs to tell if a HDD would also fit. Does this one have a USB cable for connection?

Also what is the size and model # of the HDD (2.5" laptop HDD)?

The other simple option for temporary use is to one of the SATA/IDE to USB converters that comes with a power connector you could just connect without a formal enclosure, like the Vantec one here on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Vantec-CB-ISATAU2-Supports-2-5-Inch-5-25-Inch/dp/B000J01I1G/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1349235638&sr=8-5&keywords=SATA%2FIDE+to+usb+converters
 

edgarhaines

Honorable
Oct 2, 2012
4
0
10,510
The enclosure is just a cheap Chinese one I found on Amazon here:
http://www.amazon.com/External-Enclosure-Connetor-Notebook-included/dp/B00274HQY0/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1349283150&sr=1-1&keywords=dvd+enclosure
As you can see in the link, it came with two USB cables (one for power+data and a second for power). However, I have only needed to use the power+data cable on the computers I have used it with.

The HDD's I want to plug in are both 2.5" SATA drives from old laptops. One is a Seagate Momentus ST9808011AS and the other is a WD Scorpio WD2500BEVS. They both are 5400 rpm drives.

I just need to use the HDD's as temporary external drives since I am planning on upgrading the OS on my MacBook. So I was thinking that the HDD could plug into just the circuit board and sit exposed on my desk while I move files or clone my MacBook drive.
 

John_VanKirk

Distinguished
Hi Edgar,

The enclosure you have won't work with the 2.5" HDDs you have. The power connector for the DVD is different than what is required for the HDDs

DVDSATAConnector.png


You can see there is not a 15 pin SATA power connector present.

You could purchase a full SATA enclosure which would have to be for 2.5" drives. However for $15 the Vantec converter I mentioned earlier can be used temporarily, and down the road, if you need a temp connection for a full sized SATA drive, even an IDE drive, you would have it.

 
Solution