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    Getting hard drives from portal usb drives

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by gnimble, Jun 8, 2010.

  1. gnimble

    gnimble Notebook Consultant

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    Hi everyone,

    I noticed a discrepancy in prices for portable hard drives versus bare drives for laptop. For example, I can get a 750GB portable external drive (USB powered) for $90, and may be cheaper in some places with coupons when available. Yet, the lowest price I found for a bare laptop drive is $115. I was wondering if it is possible to buy those portable drives, crack them open to take our the large capacity 2.5" drive inside, replace that unit with the smaller drive that comes with a notebook and use the large capacity drive you take out for the notebook? Has anyone done this? Is this feasible or doable?

    Here is an example:
    750GB for $90 (the 1TB is $110 versus $175 for the bare drive)
    http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...=BF&cid=7421&lid=197378&acd=10466193-1909457-

    Thanks!
    Gnimble
     
    gnimble, Jun 8, 2010
    #1
  2. kosti

    kosti Notebook Virtuoso

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    Of course that's doable. I've done this.
     
    kosti, Jun 8, 2010
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  3. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Those external drives could either:

    A: Come with different connectors

    or

    B: Be a super thick 2.5" drive that wont fit

    or

    C: Both of the above.

    or

    D: It could work.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Jun 8, 2010
    #3
  4. kosti

    kosti Notebook Virtuoso

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    It's probably a SATA interface based on that size. The thickness is a good point though!
     
    kosti, Jun 8, 2010
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  5. andrewliu6294

    andrewliu6294 Notebook Consultant

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    As far as I know the WD external drives won't work, as they use a direct USB connection instead of SATA.
     
    andrewliu6294, Jun 8, 2010
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  6. ygohome

    ygohome Notebook Deity

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    yeah, the older WD portable drives (passport) you could do this but lately they've been soldering the usb connections instead of the sata drive simply plugging into a usb adapter.

    but anyway, you can buy a 500GB hitachi 7200 RPM bare drive for about $70. The link to that 750gb wd drive does look alot thicker compared to their other passports.
     
    ygohome, Jun 8, 2010
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  7. kosti

    kosti Notebook Virtuoso

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    Wow...that's interesting. Maybe that explains the big price difference too. I'm thinking that maybe they're re-manufactured drives too.
     
    kosti, Jun 8, 2010
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  8. gnimble

    gnimble Notebook Consultant

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    Thank you. I'll just wait on some good deals for high capacity laptop drives.

    Cheers,
    Gnimble
     
    gnimble, Jun 8, 2010
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  9. gnimble

    gnimble Notebook Consultant

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    Just FYI, Newegg has the 640GB Hitachi 2.5" 9.5mm drive for $70. I just placed an order. Two of these drives cost less than the price of 1TB, so I figured I can survive with less storage. Now I have to check what I can pawn to pay it off...

    Cheers,
    Gnimble
     
    gnimble, Jun 9, 2010
    #9
  10. Orinix

    Orinix Notebook Geek

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    I've had friends who have done that before. I have also heard that external drives that have been used internally die faster than internal drives used internally.

    No personal experience. But I would just buy a internal drive and not have to deal with the hassle.
     
    Orinix, Jun 10, 2010
    #10