Can I switch SATA drives in an external USB enclosure?

[Muse]

I have two SATA 500 GB drives:

Internal: SAMSUNG SpinPoint T166 Series HD501LJ 500GB SATA II 7200RPM 16MB

External: Cavalry 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM 16MB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive

The external Cavalry USB 2.0 accessed drive I believe has a WD 500 GB SATA drive in it.

The motherboard that I was using with the first drive, the Samsung internal drive died last week and the motherboard I'm using now doesn't support SATA. So, I can't access the internal SATA drive. I'm wondering if it is possible and reasonably convenient to put the internal WD drive in the Cavalry enclosure temporarily so I can get at the data in the WD drive. Meantime I'm shopping for a motherboard that supports SATA, and my other components.

Might get a better answer in Memory & Storage so I'll move this there
Anandtech Moderator
Gillbot

 

[Gillbot]

I would say it might be possible if you feel comfprtable opening up the enclosure. I've done that many times with IDE enclosures in the past. I upgraded one external 80GB to a 500GB and I still use it for backups.

 

[sutahz]

"I'm wondering if it is possible and reasonably convenient to put the internal WD drive in the Cavalry enclosure temporarily so I can get at the data in the WD drive."
Yes.
You'll void your warranty (as I'm sure you know) but for the avg. AT user I'm sure thats not an issue.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: sutahz
"I'm wondering if it is possible and reasonably convenient to put the internal WD drive in the Cavalry enclosure temporarily so I can get at the data in the WD drive."
Yes.
You'll void your warranty (as I'm sure you know) but for the avg. AT user I'm sure thats not an issue.

Yeah, I thought of that this morning. I guess it's worth doing anyway, because I'd like to have at the data on the internal SATA drive. Once I grab what I need, I'd put the WD SATA back in there.

I'm wondering if this is real easy to do. Can anyone speak to that? Thanks.

 

[Gillbot]

Mine was fairly easy to tear apart, you just need to be careful as many of them have plastic tabs that are easily broken. If you are unsure, it might be easier to purchase an empty enclosure and put your drive in there.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Gillbot
Mine was fairly easy to tear apart, you just need to be careful as many of them have plastic tabs that are easily broken. If you are unsure, it might be easier to purchase an empty enclosure and put your drive in there.

Thanks. I think I'll try it. If something breaks I suppose I can purchase an empty enclosure then! I'll try to be extra careful. I've been a DIY guy for a long time, not infallible, but pretty good.