Upgrading external harddrive?

Is there anyway to upgrade an external hard drive? I currently have an 80GB drive and it's nowhere near enough...

 

Buy a new one?

 

I think Greg has pretty much hit the nail on its head - unless you want to swap the actual HDD which is pointless.

 

Somehow I had the impression that upgrading costs way less than buying a new one imprinted on my mind...

 

For comparison(on newegg.com):

750GB WD Caviar Green drive, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136359

Cheapest 500GB External Drive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822242011

so if your external drive can handle it, it seems that for 5$ less you can get a better drive, and 250GB more storage. Changing the drives in most external enclosures I've come across have been a fairly painless process involving removing 4 screws or just sliding it out.

 

If you wanted to go crazy you can open up the external, see what interface it is, and then purchase a bare drive of that interface.

I did the opposite this past summer: bought a 500GB portable external on clearance at staples for $35, cracked it open, and it was a 2.5" SATA drive so I put it in my laptop's second bay. For fun I tested another 2.5" SATA drive in the enclosure, and it worked flawlessly.

With 80GB you're probably looking at an EIDE/IDE/ATA/PATA/etc interface, so you'd have to find another IDE hard drive for cheaps somewhere. I could be wrong though, it could be SATA.


...But I would still recommend just dumping the money onto a second external drive so you can use both the 80GB and whatever new one you get.

 

I would probably just buy a new one, more than once I have found externals for the same cost or less than an internal drive and you keep the 80gb as a spare and dont risk any issues/problems and save yourself the trouble.

I bought two of the 1TB WD drives that were on sale for $65 about a month ago and took them both out and installed them internally It was cheaper than buying the internal drive. I even went and sold the enclosures after the fact to make the net cost less.

 

And why cant you put a new harddrive in it?

Every external harddrive I have ever seen, comes apart either by removing a screw, or sliding the two plastic halves.

What is the external in mind?
If its a WD My book, look inside the holes with a flashlight, you will see 4 plastic snaps, simple press with your finger where they are and push, and the two halves will come apart.

If you have a drive around (the same form factor) - it can be an easy swap to more space.

K-TRON

 

I would buy an external hard drive case, a standard desktop hard drive, and put them together yourself. That way the next time you need to upgrade, it is fairly easy.

 

Guess I'm buying a new one! Thanks for the info guys