Convert internal hard drive to external USB drive
November 9, 2024 7:08 AM Subscribe
Is it possible to convert this hard drive (salvaged from an Apple) to a USB drive?
Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000 Gbytes internal hard drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000 Gbytes internal hard drive
(Just for the sake of clarifying my own comment, the kind of cable would be something like this one that comes with a power supply rather than this one which doesn’t. I haven’t used either of those products and I am not recommending them, those are just examples. You might also need USB-C on the end that connects to your computer rather than the older style, so double-check that, too)
posted by bcwinters at 7:25 AM on November 9, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by bcwinters at 7:25 AM on November 9, 2024 [2 favorites]
Yeah, you can, but as bcwinters said, I don't know if I would. Meaning I wouldn't. If you need to get something off if it, OK, but for long term storage? No. It's a 13 year old 7200 rpm platter disk. You can get a USB solid state disk for really not at all much moneys (about $70 on Amazon for a 1TB one - I just checked)
posted by kbanas at 7:33 AM on November 9, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by kbanas at 7:33 AM on November 9, 2024 [1 favorite]
Not an endorsement, but this is the type of enclosure that you'd need. 3.5" SATA, USB interface, its own power supply. Agree with above posters that recovering data from the drive is one thing, but I would not trust a mechanical drive this old as a daily driver, and certainly not as something intended as backup storage.
posted by xedrik at 7:38 AM on November 9, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by xedrik at 7:38 AM on November 9, 2024 [1 favorite]
Hard disagree with the "Do Not Use" advice: obviously don't make it your only backup device but you should make use of it for as long as you can. Is there any reason to be suspicious of it other than "it's old"?
When the HDD actually dies or starts to be more trouble than it's worth, then take it out of the enclosure and replace it. Until then, extra backup copy for several GB of important data.
> long term storage? No. It's a 13 year old 7200 rpm platter disk. You can get a USB solid state disk
I'd trust a 20 year old HDD over an SSD for any storage. Not that I expect an HDD to be particular reliable, but at least it doesn't lose data by not being powered on, nor eats itself when written to. SSDs are probably the worst option for long term storage.
posted by Bangaioh at 11:14 AM on November 9, 2024 [1 favorite]
When the HDD actually dies or starts to be more trouble than it's worth, then take it out of the enclosure and replace it. Until then, extra backup copy for several GB of important data.
> long term storage? No. It's a 13 year old 7200 rpm platter disk. You can get a USB solid state disk
I'd trust a 20 year old HDD over an SSD for any storage. Not that I expect an HDD to be particular reliable, but at least it doesn't lose data by not being powered on, nor eats itself when written to. SSDs are probably the worst option for long term storage.
posted by Bangaioh at 11:14 AM on November 9, 2024 [1 favorite]
Hard disagree with the "Do Not Use" advice: obviously don't make it your only backup device but you should make use of it for as long as you can. Is there any reason to be suspicious of it other than "it's old"?
When the HDD actually dies or starts to be more trouble than it's worth, then take it out of the enclosure and replace it. Until then, extra backup copy for several GB of important data.
> long term storage? No. It's a 13 year old 7200 rpm platter disk. You can get a USB solid state disk
I'd trust a 20 year old HDD over an SSD for any storage. Not that I expect an HDD to be particular reliable, but at least it doesn't lose data by not being powered on, nor eats itself when written to. SSDs are probably the worst option for long term storage.
I disagree with a lot of what you've said here.
First of all:
"Is there any reason to be suspicious of it other than "it's old"?"
There's a reason why drives come rated with a 'mean time before failure' rating. A drive being over a decade old is plenty of reason to start to become a little gun shy of it for long term viability.
"I'd trust a 20 year old HDD over an SSD for any storage."
Uh, ok. Again, firmly disagree. I think most research on the topic would show you that SSD drives tend to be more reliable than mechanical disks - first and foremost because they're not mechanical. Moving parts fail!
posted by kbanas at 11:57 AM on November 9, 2024 [1 favorite]
When the HDD actually dies or starts to be more trouble than it's worth, then take it out of the enclosure and replace it. Until then, extra backup copy for several GB of important data.
> long term storage? No. It's a 13 year old 7200 rpm platter disk. You can get a USB solid state disk
I'd trust a 20 year old HDD over an SSD for any storage. Not that I expect an HDD to be particular reliable, but at least it doesn't lose data by not being powered on, nor eats itself when written to. SSDs are probably the worst option for long term storage.
I disagree with a lot of what you've said here.
First of all:
"Is there any reason to be suspicious of it other than "it's old"?"
There's a reason why drives come rated with a 'mean time before failure' rating. A drive being over a decade old is plenty of reason to start to become a little gun shy of it for long term viability.
"I'd trust a 20 year old HDD over an SSD for any storage."
Uh, ok. Again, firmly disagree. I think most research on the topic would show you that SSD drives tend to be more reliable than mechanical disks - first and foremost because they're not mechanical. Moving parts fail!
posted by kbanas at 11:57 AM on November 9, 2024 [1 favorite]
A couple of months ago I pulled some data off four 12-15 year old disks that hadn't been powered up in a decade, some of which were just loose in a case that had moved with me four times. They all worked just fine.
At work I have a bunch of 8 year old drives in production still that have been running 24x7 all that time, aside from a single digit number of power failures. Spinning rust is super reliable, especially for what it is.
That said, I would not rely on a 10+ year old drives (or any drive at all, for that matter!) to safely store the only copy of data I actually care about. I would totally use one to store temporary files or stuff that I could just download again if the drive crapped out.
As far as USB enclosures go, pretty much any USB3 enclosure you can find on Amazon or wherever will work well enough. At this point they're commodity items. There are only a few USB to SATA chipsets in use and there's not much to differentiate them in normal use. If you are going to use it continuously, though, cooling can be a bit of an issue for 7200 RPM drives. You really want one with a lid that you can flip open when the drive is powered up. Even without that the drive won't exceed its rated temperature, but they're better off being kept cooler if reasonably possible.
posted by wierdo at 3:08 PM on November 9, 2024
At work I have a bunch of 8 year old drives in production still that have been running 24x7 all that time, aside from a single digit number of power failures. Spinning rust is super reliable, especially for what it is.
That said, I would not rely on a 10+ year old drives (or any drive at all, for that matter!) to safely store the only copy of data I actually care about. I would totally use one to store temporary files or stuff that I could just download again if the drive crapped out.
As far as USB enclosures go, pretty much any USB3 enclosure you can find on Amazon or wherever will work well enough. At this point they're commodity items. There are only a few USB to SATA chipsets in use and there's not much to differentiate them in normal use. If you are going to use it continuously, though, cooling can be a bit of an issue for 7200 RPM drives. You really want one with a lid that you can flip open when the drive is powered up. Even without that the drive won't exceed its rated temperature, but they're better off being kept cooler if reasonably possible.
posted by wierdo at 3:08 PM on November 9, 2024
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If you want to use the drive more frequently or long term then you can get a “3.5 inch SATA enclosure” which is the same thing but with a case around it.
I wouldn’t plan to do much with a drive that is 13 years old though. I would just get the data off of it and move on.
posted by bcwinters at 7:19 AM on November 9, 2024 [4 favorites]