Can I swap the laptop's HDD with a desktop HDD? Worried about extra consumption.

Hi,

I'm wondering if I could connect a SATA desktop HDD, to a laptop's SATA ports.
Of course I know that it won't fit, but this is not a problem, since the laptop won't be moved.

I'm worried that the extra power consumption might damage it.

What do you think?

 

As you hinted, the data connection won't damage it. But the power requirements of a 3.5" HD will not be met by the connectors on/in the notebook computer.

If you can power the 3.5" HD separately from the notebook, then I see no reason this won't work (as long as you don't introduce a ground loop between the two).

Good luck.

 

Laptops do not have a 12V power source, which all 3.5" drives require.
That is not to say it cannot be done.
You can use an external plug type power supply to power the SATA harddrive. This power supply will be about 20 watts or so and have a 5V and 12V line. Or you can even use an AT or ATX power supply to do so.
You will need to find a way to hook up the 7 pin data connection cable from the harddrive to the laptop. Some (a very few amount of) laptops actually have sata ports on the motherboard, but usually there is a converter.
You can buy a male to female sata extension cable to use, and that will work fine.

K-TRON

 

Powering it separately has a few disadvantages:
-requires extra power supply
-requires an UPS
-unsynchronised on/off power sequence for laptop/hdd in case of a power failure; not sure about it, i have to investigate more about this issue.

This is the power consumption for 2.5" HDDs:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/scorpio-notebook-hdd,2109-7.html
The most power hungry one peaks at 4.6W.
This is for the eco 3.5" ones:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/1.5tb-hdd-caviar,2331-8.html
The best one consumes 5.1W at max. The worst goes upt to 7 watts.


What do you think? Would it be possible?

LE: I've seen now K-Tron's post. So it isn't possible via internal power (.

 

I suggest buying a 2.5" that's USB powered. Bevause you will not always have a wall outlet.

 

The laptop won't leave the house. It will be 24/7 on. I would preffer a 3.5" because they are cheaper, faster and more reliable(this is questionable though).
Even the laptop will be something cheap and used. I won't trash a brand new one.

 

Most notebooks dont have a desktop type SATA port, they are usually modified to fit a propriety connector to the hard drive.

3.5" drive is not a viable option.

 

They aren't proprietary. They're just 2.5" form factor, which has different specs than the 3.5" connectors. If they were proprietary, you wouldn't be able to buy generic 2.5" drives off Newegg and upgrade.

 

i was referring to the propriety connectors + caddy you need to use to plug a 2.5" hard drive in. You cant use those on a 3.5"

 

Really? All my notebooks that have SATA HDD's have the same power and SATA port as my desktop ones... I know because I occasionally take my laptop HDD out and plug it onto my desktop MoBo to move large files, because I lost the power adapter for my external drive. If you have an external power source, and an extra SATA cable I see no reason why it shouldn't work, considering the drive itself is external of course.

 

*sigh* should have worded that better. Most notebooks ive come across have pins which require a caddy + connector to house the HD into the bay. eg. The receiving end in the notebook are pins not plugs

Referring to this connector

 

There are male to female SATA cables so, the data connection shouldn't be a problem.
http://www.cpustuff.com/7-pin-inter...-12-inches.-satamf8i-satamf12i-satamf19i.html

Now that I've discovered that there's no 12V output on the laptop, I need an elegant(aka simple, cheap) solution to power the 3.5" HDD.

It would have been nice to power it directly from the laptop, as the battery adds a layer of safety in case of power failures.

 

Yeah except the SATA pins i was talking about looks like this

but anyway does your notebook have an eSATA port? You can run an external 3.5" HD and make it run like it was an internal drive.

Why not a regular 2.5" internal drive or even external? At least youll have the notebooks battery acting as a UPS

 

Doh. Get a desktop.

 

No eSATA.

I need a high speed/capacity/fiability(24/7) HDD, over 500GB's. 2.5" that suit my needs are expensive.

External ones via USB are slow, you know that.

A desktop would require ~4 times more power than a laptop. And we're talking about 24/7 power on here.


LE: If you know desktops that have similar processing power to a T7200 and their power requirements are similar to a laptop, please tell me.
I'd rather buy a desktop which is more reliable, easier to upgrade, more flexible than a SH laptop.

 

My searching around didn't yield any solution to that problem, as far as I know, not many people want to do that, so I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a solution that does what you want.

If you can manage to make the investment for an eSATA PCI Express card (if the laptop can take it) it might be of use later.

 

flipfire, you have to open your mind up some more.
Look at what you have pictured. Every modern laptop has a sata connector.
If a 2.5" sata drive is designed to get in there, you already have all you need.
You simply install whatever adaptor there is, and get the male to female sata extension cable. They can be bought in lengths such as 24-36"
Then all you have is a sata cable coming out from the bottom of the laptop, and you can have the 3.5" drive completely separate, with its own power source.

K-TRON

 

Corrections: I just tested some stuff on my end.

K-tron is right, the cables and connectors for desktop and laptop SATA hard disks are the same, they are just located near each other unlike what we see on 3.5" disks.

@K-tron, I don't think it is a very good idea to draw conclusion on people's open-mindedness just based on their advice on hardware connectors and cables. Like me (initially), Flipfire assumed that the 2.5" and 3.5" hard disks use different connectors (as it is the case for something like the PATA vs IDE connectors)...

 

Sigh! Im not talking about the hard disks!! Ive used 2.5" and 3.5" SATA on both desktops and notebooks thousands of times. Of course they are the same lol

Im talking about the recieving end in the notebook. Mine are pins soldered to the board!! you will need to manually pin it out or glue the connector on to connect a regular SATA cable. Yes im aware its still SATA but the OP wanted it internally in his mind. He is better off running from the ODD instead of the bottom.

See here

 

No, you are still not getting it.
In your image, there is a proprietary to sata adaptor, which the harddrive then plugs into. You can use that independent of whether there is a 2.5" drive or not. You can use the sata data end of the connector without using the power source provided.
I know it will work, I speak because I have hands on experience doing this.

K-TRON

 

Again i dont think were on the same page. im talking about the pins in the notebook not that hard drive. Try plugging a SATA plug to this:



its not even L shaped so it wont fit which isnt what the OP had in mind.

 

flipfire, you know that the adaptor which is sticking out of your harddrive is removable right. (That gives you straight SATA)
That is what I am getting at. I thought you knew that

K-TRON

 

Well yeah how else could i have installed my scorpio blue into my desktop. thats why im saying were on a different page.

I was referring to some notebooks having SATA pins soldered into the motherboard instead of normal L style plugs as circled in the photo above. Meaning you cant just plug it in like it was a desktop mobo

 

correct me if i am wrong, but couldnt be connect it though a esata port ?

 

Even so, that is why all you need is a male to female sata cable, as I have been saying the whole time

K-TRON

 

Are you referring to hooking up a bare SATA hard drive via eSATA? No, it will not work as the HDD SATA interface will not physically allow an eSATA cable to connect directly to it. The connectors simply won't fit.

In order to facilitate this, you'll need an external HDD enclosure with eSATA capability, such as Silverstone's RVS01 for example (see link for a review I wrote on it).

 

Yeah, you are completely correct. I swap 3.5 and 2.5 drives into my external cases all the time.

 

Ktron thinks a step ahead and thought about reusing the drive caddy. He is "thinking outside the box" when connecting desktop hdd to laptop with proprietory connector.