Caddy to make Internal HDD an External HDD.

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Hi

I'm a bit of a n00b when it comes to laptops and stuff

So, can someone please recommend, actually not recommend, just tell me please, what I need to get to turn the internal HDD in a Dell Inspiron 1501, bought 18 months ago, with Vista on it, into an External HDD for an Acer Aspire 5610, with XP on it, second hand, but in great nick.

Is it a big operation to get the drive out of the Dell?

Cheers people.

Des

AlmightyCushion

http://elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=MMEV690025&productID=S3723642

None in stock but should be in stock in a week or so. I'll take a look for one that is in stock.

Edit: This is in stock at komplett.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=339051

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Thanks AC.

Now, this might seem like a silly question, but does that thing need a power source? Or does the USB supply that?

Also, is it hard to remove the HDD from the laptop, I could get started on that this weekend I think.

Does the HD stay permantly in the enclosure?

Alanstrainor

it's very easy to pop a drive out of that Dell, just undo 2 screws and it's out, you'll need an enclosure for it, something like this perhaps Komplett I just looked one up on komplett to give you an idea, you can buy them anywhere!

EDIT: AlmightyCushion beat me to it! Same drive as well!

Ruu_Old

Peats have a number of different enclosures, easy to use. One for €19.99. It will have a USB port and a power port (uses apower cable).

edit: As it is 2.5" hard drive, it will be USB powered I think, so no other power cable required.

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Thanks Alanstrainor,. and Ruu

What does SATA and IDE mean?

edit, that Komplett one isn't in stock until July seemingly.

Is the one in Peats a decent one? I could pick that up this weekend, and at 19.99 it's cheaper than the Komplett one.

Thanks lads.

AlmightyCushion

Ooops linked to the wrong page. Blue one is in stock.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=339052

Sata and ide are just different types of connections. The dell is more than likely a sata drive. The peats one is ide so if your dell hard drive is sata that won't work.

Voodu Child

Im using that blue one off Komplett, have another on the way. Works grand, only takes a couple of minutes to remove the drive and have it set-up in the enclosure.

If you're using USB to connect it (likely), it'll draw power from the USB port.

AlmightyCushion

Alanstrainor wrote: »

EDIT: AlmightyCushion beat me to it! Same drive as well!

Great minds think alike.

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*bump* (sorry)

I've finally got round to actually ordering from Komplett now, before I do, could someone just assure me that taking a HDD from a Vista Dell Machine would be ok for using it with a XP Acer Machine.

Also, how do I get the HDD from the Dell?

xsiborg

see the bracket looking thing on the left hand side underneath the words "strike zone", thats your hard drive, kept in by the two screws. you can unscrew these using a standard phillips head screwdriver. after you insert the drive in the caddy, then connect it to the acer laptop and xp will read it as just an ordinary removable HD with data on it, in other words, it doesnt even "see" an operating system, it just sees files a huge amount of files. from there, using windows explorer you can transfer over all your documents, music, pictures and data by browsing to your profile.

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Thank you very much for that.