How to connect sata 3 to motherboard. How to connect a second hard drive to your computer
Hello, friends. Sooner or later, disk space runs out. We constantly fill our devices with data and one day we find out that there is no more space on our disk. And I want it to always be there. Today I’ll tell you how you can quickly solve this problem yourself. In today's article we will connect ourselves HDD to the computer.
So, friends, you have discovered that you have a problem, but don’t worry, connecting the HDD is actually simple. IN regular computer install from one to six hard drives. You can turn them into a place to store files, or install another operating system. For example, you have Windows 10 on one disk, and Windows friend 7. When necessary, you boot from “seven”, and when not, from “ten” - you can do that. And you can do RAID arrays if necessary.
We connect a 3.5 hard drive from a laptop to a computer via a USB adapter
The easiest and most hassle-free option is to buy an external portable hard drive. This drive is connected via a USB connector and used as a large flash drive. The advantage of this solution is that you can store a lot of things on it? It connects easily to your computer, is compact and easy to carry. There are also disadvantages:
- the presence of a cord that must be connected all the time;
- speed read-write lower than that of a disk connected in the usual way;
- special sensitivity to shocks and falls.
What does this have to do with a laptop disk? Inside this building is the most regular hard laptop disk. And if you have such a used laptop disk, you can make it portable yourself. The most important part is the adapter. You can buy an adapter in a store, taking the disk with you, and the seller will select an adapter for you, and perhaps even a beautiful case. Putting everything together we get a portable disk:
It can now be connected to a USB port. Or this option, without an adapter, just a connector screwed to the case, into which the hard drive is then inserted. The body itself can be secured in a basket system unit for screws:
This option is suitable for connecting an HDD without an adapter, inside the system unit. Read on.
Connecting a HDD without an adapter at home
You can easily connect the same 3.5 hard drive yourself. You will need an additional SATA cable for hard drive and possibly an additional power plug (if there are not enough connectors on the power supply). On sale there are the following cable options where everything is in one:
We open the system unit after disconnecting all the wires from it, and unscrew the screws:
...remove the cover,
Connect the data cable to motherboard…
...and the hard drive along with the power connector:
It is highly desirable that the 3.5 disk does not hang on the wires. If possible, it is better to secure it in a stationary state to avoid vibrations and shocks.
Then, we find a suitable place for it and secure it, if possible, with standard mounting screws in the basket, or at worst with plumbing tape, so that our disk is firmly and motionlessly fixed. We put the cover of the system unit in place.
How to connect a second, additional hard drive to a computer via a SATA connector
if you have standard hard drive from your computer, you can just as easily connect it as a second drive. We do everything according to the same scheme. First, we secure the new disk with standard screws on both sides in the disk basket so that there is no vibration:
Then we connect the cable and the power connector. The disk is connected.
Connecting an IDE hard drive to the motherboard and SATA connector
If your computer's motherboard has connectors for connecting a hard drive IDE drive, you can try connecting such a disk. For a long time, all computers worked on the IDE interface, something like this until 2005. A disk with such an interface looks like this:
The connection socket looks like this:
Sometimes the connectors are multi-colored. And the cable for connecting to the motherboard looks like this:
The blue block connects to the motherboard, the black (topmost) to the hard drive, and the white to the DVD drive.
Eat important point at using IDE disks. If you are going to use such a disk, you need to correctly switch the jumper to the position Master or Slave. This option tells the system what role this disk will play. Master— this disk is considered the main one, and loading will take place from it. Slave— secondary disk.
U different manufacturers own pinout of jumpers. The decoding of the switching modes is always indicated on the disk case:
By setting the jumpers to a certain position, we indicate the priorities - which disk is the main one. Previously, when there were several such disks, it took a lot of time to switch them. The SATA interface does not have these disadvantages. The IDE interface has long been outdated and is no longer used modern devices. However, you can connect your existing IDE drive to the SATA socket on the motherboard using a special adapter. You need to connect the adapter to the IDE drive:
...and a SATA cable and power cable to the motherboard and power supply. In this way you can increase disk space by some albeit small (by modern standards) amount. Everything is more than a flash drive!
If you bought new hard disk, it must be initialized before use, otherwise Windows will not see it, even if it is connected correctly. This is done using special programs type Acronis Disk Director 12. First, install the disk in the system unit, connect, load Acronis Disk Director:
At first you will not see the new connected disk under Windows. However, if in your Windows versions If the “Disk Management” snap-in is available, you can try to initialize the connected disk through this snap-in. In the photo, we first went to “Computer Management”, then to “Disk Management”.
However, I always use Acronis; it is guaranteed to see all disks connected to the computer.
Need to choose required disk, right click bring up the menu with your mouse, select “Initialize disk”, and then at the very top click “Apply pending operations”:
After initialization, we create a partition or partitions on the disk, formatting them in the NTFS file system. At this point, the operation of connecting the disk to the computer can be considered completely completed. We connected it physically and programmatically. After these steps, the disks can be used for their intended purpose - installing an operating system or making volumes out of them to store your data.
If you decide to install another operating system on a new drive, then after installation, when you boot your computer, you will need to select the drive on which you installed it. This is done through the BIOS. To enter the BIOS, first press the key DEL, and then select the desired disk:
I repeat, you need to select from the list that appears the disk that you need. You can then change the download at any time. In general, you can connect a hard drive yourself very easily, try everything and you will definitely succeed.
How to connect sata hdd to ide
Just in case, let's immediately point out the external differences. IDE - also known as ATA - Advanced Technology Attachment (advanced connection technology) and later - PATA - a standard interface for connecting hard drives and drives to a PC, was popular in the 90s and early 2000s. It is a wide, 40-pin cable. SATA (Serial ATA) - the standard that later replaced it, became popular in the mid-2000s and is still relevant today, much smaller - 7 contacts versus 40.
With the passage of time and the evolution of progress in the market, new, high-speed interfaces are replacing the old ones, and the problem of compatibility inevitably arises - is it worth throwing away an HDD that is incompatible by default? modern system? Or vice versa - if the outdated motherboard does not have SATA controller(this interface is a standard on this moment), and a well-worn forty-gigauge screw with an 80-pin cable has given up a long life - you will be surprised to find that you can no longer find such a rarity in the nearest computer store, and the machine should still work... Just how to make it work with a relatively new sata hdd to ide? We will try to answer these questions.
How to connect SATA HDD to IDE?
The solution to both problems lies on the surface - a HDD with an old interface is very difficult to find in a store, but here is a controller that makes it easy to make almost any new hard drive work on the old system- quite! As a rule, this is a small chip, on one side of which there is an output for an IDE cable (the 40-pin wire itself is plugged into the corresponding output on the motherboard and into the controller), and on the other - SATA (connects directly to the hard drive) and 4-pin power supply ( comes from the PC power supply).
Nuances and disadvantages
It is worth considering that if you have a well-worn computer, then most likely its power supply is old - and a SATA hard drive, in some cases, has a different power supply from that of an IDE (i.e. not MOLEX) - you need either new block, or another adapter (it’s not difficult to find one, but its price is pretty cheap). 
There is also one obvious disadvantage this approach– if the hard drive is designed for SATA and takes advantage of this interface, then when connected via the old bus, the speed will be noticeably limited: even the very first revision of Serial ATA gives in theory from 150 MB / s versus 133 for IDE, and in bandwidth the difference is several times not in favor outdated port. Otherwise, you can even connect an SSD to an old system, but the higher the speed indicators of the connected media, the more noticeable the loss in speed will be.
Also, do not forget that old hardware often has an outdated operating system, which may not support partitions larger than 2 TB or even file system NTFS. For majority decision similar problems you will need a program to work with HDD partitions– you will need to properly partition and format the volumes in order for the OS to see them and install on them. In some cases (for example, in the case of excessively large 32x volumes bit systems and Windows XP) there is nothing to be done, and you will have to put up with the limitation.
How to connect IDE HDD to SATA?
The story is approximately the same in the opposite case, with the only difference that a problem with power supply for the media will be less likely and there will be no speed restrictions, only you need to keep in mind that an IDE hard drive connected to a modern PC may become tasks “ bottleneck” – even new HDDs with high spindle speed and SATA interface latest version performance is far from exorbitant - the gain from the same SSD is more than noticeable, therefore, at a minimum, we do not recommend installing an operating system on an outdated screw. Also keep in mind that IDE devices, unlike SATA, do not support “hot swapping” - i.e. they cannot be connected or disconnected while the computer is running - there is a high probability of failure of either the device itself or the controller that is responsible for its operation!
ISA/PCI/PCIexpress controllers
There are also expansion cards for PCI connector– if there is one on the board, then you can organize the connection of drives using it. Such boards may have 2 or more SATA connectors and one IDE - do not forget that it is possible to connect two devices to it simultaneously. The disadvantage of this approach is that by default the OS or its installer may not support it (the PCI controller), and this will lead to additional headaches with creating bootable media with drivers. Plus, controllers on some chips are poorly compatible with certain systems– either they will not be detected at all, or it will be impossible to select such a thing in the BIOS HDD bootable(basically, such PCi boards have their own “mini-Bios” and their own disk tree), or the computer with it will refuse to turn on at all. Often these problems cannot be solved unless updating the motherboard firmware can help.
There is also one more nuance - the PCI standard has had many revisions, and the old ones support much lower data transfer rates, which can also impose some restrictions. On very ancient ones personal computers, which appeared before the widespread use of PCI, have an ISA bus at their disposal - there are IDE controllers for it. But due to technical limitations, when connecting a drive with more or less normal characteristics to them, the outdated bus will become a serious limitation, and with the help complex circuit(ISA IDE->SATA) you can connect almost any hard drive. For modern motherboards without a PCI connector (and there are more and more of them), there are combined solutions for PCIexress/miniPCiexpress, which have both IDE and SATA. There are far fewer problems with their support, although the speed advantage of the new express standard over the old PCI will not significantly increase the performance of the drive (if we are talking about IDE).
Additional;
Select which hard drive will be the main one, that is, the active one from which the operating system will boot. Determine the order by installing small jumpers in the appropriate positions according to the diagrams shown directly on each hard drive.
Turn on your computer and go to BIOS settings. If the hard drives are not detected automatically, identify them manually with the appropriate command. Then save the changes and exit the BIOS.
Video on the topic
Sources:
- how to put second hard disk
- How to connect a second hard drive
To connect to computer as second hard disk external device, designed to work via a USB port, you just need to insert the connecting wire into the corresponding connectors on the bodies of both devices. The process of installing a stationary hard disk as the second main drive in the system unit of your computer. The sequence of actions for this option is described below.
Instructions
Shut down the operating system, turn off the computer, and disconnect it network cable. Position the system unit in such a way that you have free access to both of its side surfaces.
Remove both side panels. As a rule, to do this, it is enough to unscrew two screws connecting them to rear panel, and then move it 5 centimeters back and put it somewhere not very far.
Install the new hard drive into one of the free slots in the case. Do this carefully so as not to accidentally disconnect the wires, which are abundant inside the case. The connectors for connecting power should be on the motherboard side, and the hard drive is secured with four screws - two on each side of the system unit case. As a sample placement and fastening, use already installed hard drive.
Connect the power cable and data cable (“cable”) between the new hard drive and the motherboard. These wires differ depending on the type of hard drive being installed (IDE or SATA), but in any case, their connectors are asymmetrical in shape and the connectors can only be inserted in one way, so you cannot make a mistake. An already installed hard drive will help you find the necessary slots on the motherboard - the connectors you are looking for should be located next to those used to connect it. On hard drive cases that use the IDE bus, there are jumpers that are used to establish a hierarchy of disks installed in the computer - one of them must be designated as primary, and all the rest as secondary. However, in most cases there is no need to use them, since the BIOS is able to figure out the device configuration itself with the jumpers set by default.
Make sure that you have not damaged anything inside the system case during the installation process or forgotten any tools in it. Do not rush to close the case - you should first check the result of the operation performed. Connect all the necessary wires, the last of which should be the network cable. Then turn on your computer and go into the BIOS settings to make sure it can recognize the new device. After this, turn off the computer and replace the side surfaces of the system unit.
Sources:
- how to connect a drive to a computer in 2019
Modern “hard drives” are presented in a wide range of models and technological versions. There are those that connect to the PC through motherboard slots. Can also be used external hard a disk connected to a computer via a USB port. There are even more exotic media formats - wireless, working via Wi-Fi. But today we will talk about more or less familiar Russian user modifications of hard drives. Let's figure out how to connect the hard drive of the internal or external type and get it to work correctly. In the first case, we will “climb” into the PC system unit (or by opening the laptop case). In the second, we will use a USB connection.
PC hard drive: main interfaces
It will be useful to take a short theoretical excursion into “disk” technologies. What is the difference between the IDE and SATA interfaces that we just talked about?
The IDE standard appeared quite a long time ago - in 1986. But it remains relevant to this day. Its main advantages: versatility, as well as a data transfer speed that is fast enough even for most modern user tasks. SATA - much more new format. It appeared on the market in the late 90s. There are, of course, other standards for connecting a hard drive to a PC - such as, for example, SCSI, which, like IDE, appeared in the mid-80s.
The most widespread today (if we talk about the desktop segment) is SATA. But on those computers that were introduced to the market in the mid-2000s (many of them are still used by their owners) IDE interfaces are installed and fully functioning. The SCSI standard, due to its relative high cost, is used mainly in servers.
One of the main reasons for SATA's leadership is its high (for home-level PC) data transfer speed. As a rule, it reaches values of several hundred megabits/sec. Of course, the same SCSI interface works much faster - the typical value for it is 600 Mbit/sec or more.
There are also separate class hard drives connected via a USB connector. From a technological point of view, they are practically in no way inferior to the “classics” in the form of hard drives with IDE and SATA interfaces, and at the same time, connecting them is much simpler. You just need to find a free USB connector on your PC.
Inside the system unit
If we're talking about about a desktop PC, then how to connect a new hard drive to it? Unlike, for example, a laptop (not to mention a tablet or PDA), “desktops” make it possible to connect not one, but several internal “hard drives” at once - the dimensions of the case allow it. And user tasks, one might say, also require it. In practice, the need to connect a new “hard drive” may arise if the current one is full (nowadays this is not uncommon, even if you have a 1 TB hard drive - modern games and HD movies consume a lot of space) or for some reason its functionality is not suits the PC owner. The steps for connecting the media are as follows.
First of all, you need to determine what data connection the new hard drive uses (and make sure that the motherboard is capable of working through this connection standard). Most modern hard drives operate via SATA technology. Legacy models may work through the IDE channel. They differ not only technologically, but also appearance. The SATA standard involves the use of a cable with a small number of cores. IDE, in turn, is a multi-core tape. By the way, if the motherboard, as they say, is too modern and does not have a slot for outdated IDE drives, you can always buy an inexpensive adapter between the two standards.
IDE
As for IDE slots, as a rule, there are two of them on the motherboard - primary and secondary. However, each can be connected to two hard drives (or another type of device compatible with the IDE standard, such as a DVD drive). In turn, there is also a subordination between them: there will definitely be a “main” (in English master) device and a “slave” device. Thus, there are four options for connecting a hard drive to a PC: as a master (or slave) primary (or secondary). There are no problems with how to connect a second hard drive.
The width of an IDE connector is approximately twice that of a SATA connector. However, it is completely impossible to mistakenly connect to the other instead of one. What is important is the color of the IDE cable with which the motherboard and hard drive are connected. IT specialists call the cable less productive gray. In turn, the more advanced ones are yellow. It will be great if you can buy a second one if it is not available by default. The fact is that gray cables have only 40 cores, and yellow cables have as many as 80. Of course, the difference in speed will not be twofold, but an order of magnitude.
An IDE cable usually has three slots - at one end, at the other, and also in the middle. Thus, the first one connects to the controller located on the motherboard. You can connect hard drives to the second and third.
It is advisable that when connecting an IDE cable to the primary slot, the connector to be connected is marked with a small triangle. This will ensure the greatest stability of the installed hard drives. Another rule is that when connecting an IDE cable to a hard drive, you should connect the primary slot of the cable to a similar connector on the hard drive. As we said above, they are designated in English - primary.
After connecting the power cable and the IDE connector, you must also remember to connect the wire leading to the indicator lamp (which is usually located on the front panel of the system unit. It is designed to signal to the user that the hard drive is working (it is being accessed). Of course, You don't have to connect it - that's optional.
Jumpers
How to connect an additional hard drive in the most correct way from the point of view of its interaction with the previous hard drive and the hardware structure of the PC as a whole? Much depends on correct location so-called "jumpers". They regulate the mode in which the hard drive operates - “primary” or “slave”. Also, the position of the jumpers is determined by the number of hard drives connected to the PC. Exactly how they should be fixed depends on specific model Winchester. Typically, when you purchase a new hard drive, it comes with a user manual. What should you pay attention to when reading it?
First of all, on terms such as “Drive Select” and “Slave Present”. The first one is responsible for the correct position of the jumpers relative to setting the disk to master or slave status. Usually, if the jumper is in place, the first mode is activated, if not, the second mode is activated. If we use only one hard drive, then the corresponding part must be removed from it. The "Slave Present" type switch should be installed on the disk that is supposed to be used as the main one (but provided that an additional hard drive is connected to the same controller).
SATA
If we have a modern PC at our disposal, then with a high probability our new hard drive will work in the SATA standard. Installing a new hard drive, as many IT specialists believe, working within this interface is extremely simple. All we do is find the corresponding wire on the motherboard and connect the hard drive to it (after placing and securely fixing the device in the socket provided for it using fasteners or bolts - see the figure).
The next step is to connect the wire responsible for power supply, having also first found it on the motherboard (as a rule, there are plenty of them there). It is very important to secure the hard drive - you cannot let it, say, hang on a SATA cable.
BIOS setup and additional software
Installing a hard drive, as a rule, does not end with working only with the hardware. Despite the fact that the PC is almost guaranteed to recognize the hard drive as a new device and will be able to establish communication with it at the hardware level, most likely we will need to configure some software options.
It is worth noting that, as a rule, no drivers for the hard drive are required to be installed. The basic hardware system pre-installed in the PC almost always guarantees correct operation with hard drives (provided, of course, that they are connected correctly). However, sometimes additional software still needs to be used. We are not talking about drivers - there may be a need for application applications.
The most common scenario in which there is a need for additional software settings- disk boot sequence failure. The point is that when it happens installing hard disk in addition to the current one, then basic system computer control - BIOS, may mistakenly calculate (figuratively speaking) that Windows boot(or the OS that is installed) must come from the new hard drive. Since the hard drive that we connected most likely does not have any operating system, the computer will not be able to boot in this case. But this can be easily fixed by setting the required sequence of disk accesses during boot in the BIOS.
You should go into this system (DEL key at the very beginning of the computer boot), and then find the Boot Sequence option. It is important that the first place in it is to boot from the main hard drive (HDD1). If the BIOS already has HDD1 (and the OS still doesn’t load), then, on the contrary, you need to install HDD2 in the first position. Or, as an option, get inside the system unit again and change the SATA connectors between the two hard drives in some places - but it's quite difficult option, despite the fact that you can get by with a simple change of settings in the BIOS. Everything should work. None additional program For a hard drive, it is usually not required.
In some cases, it becomes necessary, in addition to setting the order in which disks are loaded, to carry out more fine tuning Winchester. For example, set parameters such as the number of heads and tracks (and in some cases, sectors) used as resources for storing data. However, this kind of settings should be left to experienced IT specialists.
Sometimes you need to format a new hard drive. What type of hard drive program is optimal for solving this problem? You can almost always get by standard means Windows. You can start the process of formatting the hard drive by right-clicking on it in the “My Computer” window and selecting the appropriate option. Usually this program asks you to select a file system - NTFS or FAT32. In the majority modern computers The first one is used and we select it. It is recommended to perform a full format.
Inside the laptop
Laptops are an equally common type of personal computer technology, when compared with the popularity of desktop PCs. Therefore, it will be useful for us to know how to connect a hard drive to a computer of this type. Speech in in this case It's about the internal hard drive (about the external one - a little later).
As a rule, the internal space of a laptop case allows only one hard drive to be connected to the device; a second one simply will not fit. Therefore, in this case we are not dealing with adding a hard drive, but with replacing the old one with a new one. But how to connect two hard drives to a laptop at the same time? Only in one case - if at least one of them is external. Theoretically, you can connect two hard drives if you use a SATA cable with two connectors. But this will reduce the mobility of the laptop - the second hard drive will have to be located outside the case. It is unaesthetic and inconvenient.
In space laptop hard The disk is usually located closer to the bottom of the case (and not to the keyboard). As a rule, the hard drive is open to view immediately after unscrewing the cover. But sometimes it is hidden behind protective panels that functionally complement the walls of the case. To remove them, you usually need to unscrew just a couple of screws.
Let us note right away: if the hard drive is installed in the laptop much deeper than in the case of protective panels (that is, it is necessary, as an option, to remove the keyboard to gain access to desired area inside the case), then it is better to entrust the replacement of the hard drive to IT professionals. Otherwise, there is a risk of incorrectly assembling the computer, after which it will not work.
Removable old hard drive is usually very simple. The new one also connects quite easily. In many cases, the connection to the motherboard laptop is coming without cables (directly into the connector - and almost always the same SATA). Therefore, it is difficult to “miss” the required slot when connecting a new hard drive. There are also almost never any problems with how to connect the old hard drive back.
OS in reserve
Since the standard hard drive will most likely be connected to the laptop only in a single copy, you need to take care in advance about where the operating system will be loaded from (we remove the old hard drive with the pre-installed OS). The main difficulty here is that you need to install it in advance on hard drive Windows or another OS using another laptop with a guarantee that it will work on a new computer is impossible. The selection of hardware components may be too different. There is a possibility that the operating system will not boot. Therefore, it is recommended that when planning the installation of a new hard drive, get bootable media, from which you can reinstall the OS. Or, as an option, temporarily use some portable operating system- from the Linux series, for example, which does not require installation.
Disk outside the computer
Having studied how to connect a hard drive to a computer or laptop through installation as a hardware component, consider the option of connecting external hard drive. There are two main technological implementations possible here.
There is an option with connecting a hard drive, the standard purpose of which is to connect to the motherboard, externally. To do this, you need to use a special adapter that converts SATA signals into those transmitted via USB technology. In this way, you can connect almost any hard drive to a laptop (as well as to another computer equipped with USB ports). This scheme, however, has one drawback - the relative high cost of the adapters in question. In some cases, it can be comparable to the price of a good, large hard drive that does not require additional accessories for connection via USB.
This device reflects the second technological implementation of connecting a drive to a computer. This is a “classic” external hard drive, which is sold under this name in most stores digital technology. It can be connected to any free USB slot on a PC or laptop - much like a flash drive.
One thing to note the most important nuance, concerning the first technology. If we decide to connect a hard drive via USB (we are talking about IDE and SATA devices), then it is very undesirable to disconnect the device from the port in active state. It is necessary to engage in advance " safe removal"in Windows. Otherwise, the hard drive, whose speed is "spinned up", may not withstand a sudden stop and fail. In turn, a "classic" external hard drive (we know how to connect it - via USB without adapters) works in slightly different ways principles, and is fully designed to be disconnected from the PC, even if you do not use “safe removal” in time. Although, as IT specialists note, this, if possible, should not be done. Such experiments can reduce the life of the hard drive.
Precautions when working with a hard drive
Before connecting the hard drive to the computer, you should make sure that there are no sources of static electricity nearby (which could be, for example, a woolen sweater). IT specialists do not even recommend removing the hard drive from the packaging (it performs antistatic functions) until its direct installation into the system unit. When installing a hard drive, you must not touch the parts of the microcircuits that are brought out. The most important thing is that before connecting the hard drive to the computer, it is important to turn off the power to the system unit (and ideally, all devices connected to it - monitor, printer, etc.).
Good day everyone.
A fairly typical task: throw a large number of files from the computer’s hard drive to the laptop’s hard drive (or, in general, you just have an old drive from your PC and you want to use it for storage different files, so that laptop HDD, as a rule, less capacity in volume).
In both cases, you will need to connect the hard drive to the laptop. This article is just about this; let’s look at one of the simplest and most versatile options.
Question No. 1: how to remove a hard drive from a computer (IDE and SATA)
It is logical that before connecting the disk to another device, it must be removed from the PC system unit ( The fact is that depending on the interface for connecting your drive (IDE or SATA), the boxes that will be required for connection will differ. More on this later in the article...).
Rice. 1. Hard drive 2.0 TB, WD Green.
Therefore, in order not to guess what kind of disk you have, it is best to first remove it from the system unit and look at its interface.
As a rule, there are no problems with extracting large ones:
- First, turn off the computer completely, including unplugging the plug;
- open the side cover of the system unit;
- remove from the hard drive all the plugs that are connected to it;
- unscrew the fastening screws and remove the disk (as a rule, it goes on a slide).
The process itself is quite easy and fast. Then take a close look at the connection interface (see Figure 2). Nowadays, most modern drives are connected via SATA (a modern interface that provides high speed data transmission). If your drive is old, it is quite possible that it will have an IDE interface.
Another important point...
Computers usually have “large” 3.5-inch drives (see Fig. 2.1), while laptops have smaller in size- 2.5 inches (1 inch is 2.54 cm). The numbers 2.5 and 3.5 are used to denote form factors and indicate the width of the HDD case in inches.
The height of all modern 3.5 hard drives is 25 mm; this is called "half-height" compared to much older drives. Manufacturers use this height to accommodate between one and five wafers. B 2.5 hard drives everything is different: the original height of 12.5 mm was replaced by 9.5 mm, which includes up to three plates (there are also more thin disks). The 9.5mm height has actually become the standard for most laptops, but some companies sometimes still produce 12.5mm hard disks based on three plates.
Rice. 2.1. Form factor. 2.5-inch drive - top (laptops, netbooks); 3.5 inches - bottom (PC).
Connecting the drive to the laptop
For direct connection you will need a special BOX (box, or translated from English as “box”). These boxes can be varied:
- 3.5 IDE -> USB 2.0 - means that this box is for a 3.5-inch drive (and these are the ones found in PCs) with IDE interface, to connect to USB port 2.0 (transfer speed (actual) no more than 20-35 Mb/s);
- 3.5 IDE -> USB 3.0 - the same, only the transfer speed will be higher;
- 3.5 SATA -> USB 2.0 (similar, the difference is in the interface);
- 3.5 SATA -> USB 3.0, etc.
This box is a rectangular box, slightly larger than the size of the disc itself. This box usually opens from the back and the HDD is inserted directly into it (see Fig. 3).
Actually, after this you need to connect power (adapter) to this box and connect it via USB cable to a laptop (or to a TV, for example, see Fig. 4).
If the disk and box are working, then in “ my computer"you will have another disk that you can work with like a regular one hard drive(format, copy, delete, etc.)
If suddenly the disk is not visible in my computer...
In this case, 2 steps may be required.
1) Check if there are drivers for your box. As a rule, Windows installs them itself, but if the box is not standard, then there may be problems...
To get started, run device Manager and see if there are drivers for your device, if there are any yellow exclamation marks anywhere ( as in fig. 5). I also recommend that you check your computer with one of the utilities for auto-updating drivers: .
Rice. 5. Problem with the driver... (To open the device manager, go to the panel Windows management and use the search).
2) Go to disk management on Windows ( to go there, in Windows 10 just right-click on START) and check if there is a connected HDD there. If it is, then most likely for it to become visible - it needs to change the letter and format it. By the way, I have a separate article on this subject: (I recommend reading it).
Rice. 6. Disk management. Even those drives that are not visible in Explorer and “My Computer” are visible here.