I have this external hard drive. It’s been sitting in its box for about ten months because six months after the warranty expired the power source (probably) died, and my inquires to i/o magic about buying a replacement were ignored so I bought a new one by someone else the day after Thanksgiving and forgot about it.
Recently my dad replaced the XP computer I lent him, so I have an unused computer on hand, and now I’m curious… the computer not being used by anyone has a second (back up) internal hard drive I had put in it years ago, so is it possible that I could open the case of the external hard drive and swap that drive with that second hard drive in that computer drive long enough to get the data off of it? I’m not really looking to use the drive for very long, just to take off the data that isn’t important but would be nice to have again.
If not, if I remove the drive from the case is there anything I can use to hook to that external hard drive to cheaply make it into a USB device? I know I could buy a $40 empty case w/power supply and it might work, but that’s a lot to spend when I’m not positive that the power supply is the problem; it’s my best guess based on other complaints about the drive ceasing to function.
It might be possible to dismantle the external drive and connect it to a motherboard, but since you won’t be able to boot from it without an OS it would probably be a lot easier to get an USB enclosure for the other drive and transfer whatever files you need that way. Something like this will work with any 3.5" hard drive and will allow you to use it as any other external drive: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1945393&CatId=1204
The Hard Drive inside the external box should be just a regular drive like you have in your computer and should be connectible as an additional drive in the computer.
Couple of things to watch for. Check the connection at the back of the drive is compatible with the cable in your computer. Also connect the drive as “slave” do this by setting the jumper to the slave position. The jumper pins are located at the back next to the power plug.
The only thing that could stop you is if the external drive is a SATA connector and the other computers only have the older PATA interface. You’ll have to get a new external case or adapter card for the computer board.
Hope it’s the same connector and you have nothing that is a problem.
It’s an external ATA drive. Wow that’s one short warranty most manufs offer 3-5 years these days. You can pull the drive and hook it directly to your desktop assuming you have an ATA(IDE) connector and cable. The drive should be already formatted by the manufacturer if it’s a retail box version, probably with FAT32 formatting. If you have the right connector on your PC just check to make sure the drive’s jumper settings are correct and away you go.