How to back-up data to an internal drive without changing the OS?

[Ron99]

Is it possible to use an internal hard drive as an external back-up hard drive without changing my OS?

I connected my internal hard drive to my computer through a usb port using a sata-to-usb adapter. The problem is my computer does not recognize this drive as a back-up drive. I’d like for my computer to automatically mount it. Is that even possible without changing my OS? I’m trying to make this internal drive into an external back-up drive.

The problem is no computer recognizes this drive as a back-up drive or automatically mounts it. In other words, when I plug the drive in, I don’t see the drive in the file manager.

I’ve tried to format the drive before, and manually mount it, but either I didn’t do that correctly or didn’t do enough to it, because I still didn’t see the drive appear by my main drive in my files manager.

So now I would like to start over from the beginning with trying to get this drive to work and function like a back-up drive.

What steps do I have to take to make this internal drive be like one of those external drives used to back-up data? How do I make the drive mount automatically and show up in my files manager? I’d like to make it compatible with both Windows and most Linux distros. Thanks in advance!

TLDR: I have an internal drive. I’m trying to make this drive into an external back-up drive. How do I get my computer to recognize and treat this drive as a back-up drive? How to format this drive like a back-up drive?

 

[Mattios]

I have no experience with Linux, so I don't know how it works on that end, but on Windows you should just be able to plug it in and it will work. Take a look in disk management, you may need to format it as NTFS.

FYI a drive connected by SATA is not a backup. If you get a virus, your backup is gone. If you get a power surge, your backup is gone.