Turn an old notebook hard drive into a USB drive for $10.99

(Credit: Meritline)

So you pulled that cramped old 40GB hard drive out of your notebook and replaced it with 160GB of storage goodness. Ever wonder what you should do with the leftover drive? Simple: stick it in an enclosure and use it as a portable USB hard drive.

You supply the drive; Meritline.com has an enclosure for just $10.99 shipped (after entering coupon code HW1971413OFF, which expires 1/25). It's compatible with all 2.5-inch IDE and SATA drives, and it includes both IDE and SATA external interfaces (cables, too). You also get a carrying case and a little screwdriver for opening and closing the enclosure. The drive itself gets powered by the interface, so there's no need for an AC adapter.

For 11 bucks you can get yourself a terrific little portable hard drive for transferring files, on-the-fly backups, and so on. Sweet.

[joe643]

Does anyone know if such a product exists for PC hard drives?

[rickbroida]

Of course. What you need is a 3.5-inch drive enclosure. They tend to cost a bit more because they require external power supplies, but you should be able to find one for as little as $20.

[robsachs]

Absolutely; if you want an enclosure for a PC (3.5") hard drive, lots of places have them. Try Newegg.com; here's a listing: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000092+1053807123&Description=drive+enclosure&name=3.5%22. Desktop HD enclosures usually have an external power source, as they require more power to run than a laptop HD drive, which can be powered; you'll have to plug it into an outlet. Another suggestion: if you don't get an enclosure that has an onboard fan (=noise), make sure the case is aluminum to help dissipate any heat created by the drive.

[joe643]

Thanks!

[MrKhaki]

Sold out!!! Great buzz does move product!!

[Nalts]

Wow- this was just what I was looking for, and I'm so stoked it helped me find your fab blog which I've now RSS. Wait- this sounds like spam. It's not. I just searched for that converter and it's sold out, but there are some $40 at bestbuy. I'll bet you can do better. :)

[landonOWNS]

I have an old Toshiba Satellite L-35 S2162 laptop that doesn't work anymore, although nothing's wrong with the hard-drive. If I were to remove the hard drive, and use this enclosure, would I be able to transfer files that I had on my old laptop to a new computer?