Converting internal SATA II to an external bootable hard drive

[1landshark]

My system just stopped working and I'm still trying to figure out how to repair it. In the meantime I want to buy a case that I can use to take one of my Hitachi SATA hard drives and use it to boot up on my laptop. Can someone recommend a good external USB case that would work>
TIA

 

[ihyagp]

If its just until you can get your main rig up and working, there's not too much difference between enclosures. Get something with a fan.

Keep in mind though that your laptop might not be able to boot from USB. Also don't expect that your laptop will be able to boot from your old OS installation. It might, it might not.

What's wrong with your main system?

 

[1landshark]

Thanks, ihyagp.

I think my mobo died. I built it 3 years ago and am going to upgrade now that I pretty much have to.

I have a Thinkpad running XP Pro as was my rig. How would I know in advance if I can boot from my hard drive?
Also, if I have SATA II, will that make a difference in which enclosure I need to get?

Thanks again

 

[ihyagp]

#1 issue when moving windows installations between machines is the IDE controller. If both machines used the same driver, you have a solid chance. If not, prepare to bash your head against the nearest wall for several hours.

If your laptop has SATA, you might be able to run cables from the laptop's internal SATA link to the desktop's old drive. Should work.

Otherwise, you'll be going from whatever your old controller was to USB mass storage. I recommend using both a helmet and some foam padding on the wall; if you live in an apartment you should do it during the day as well, as to not bother the neighbors.

SATA 1 vs SATA 2 doesn't really matter in this case. The bottleneck will be the USB link, by a very large margin. Naturally you should get SATA2 hardware as a general rule, though.

 

[QuixoticOne]

http://www.byteccusa.com/
http://www.directron.com/
http://www.svc.com/
et. al. they have some enclosures for USB 2.0 or Firewire to SATA that you might look at.
Yes, get one with a fan. SATA I/II is not so important but SATA II capability is good when available.

If you get an eSATA enclosure and an eSATA port for your PC you'll increase the chances that you'll be able to boot from the external drive , though if you are just quickly and temporarily doing this you could just run a SATA cable between the systems and use the other system's power supply to power the drive it encloses (assuming this causes no problems with the system in its condition).

 

[corkyg]

There's only one good way to get an eSATA port on a laptop these days . . .

eSATA

That works well if your BIOS will boot from it. Otherwise - you are stuck with USB.

 

[1landshark]

Corkyg,
This looks good. Can you tell me if I need an enclosure with it or do I just take out my internal hard drive and connect it through a SATA cable?
thanks

 

[QuixoticOne]

That unit doesn't seem to provide POWER to the drive, nor should it be expected to do so.
Hence you'd need to hook the drive to some power supply in order for it to work.
That is one reason why you'd use an eSata enclosure to hold / power the drive AND that interface card.

Originally posted by: 1landshark
Corkyg,
This looks good. Can you tell me if I need an enclosure with it or do I just take out my internal hard drive and connect it through a SATA cable?
thanks

 

[corkyg]

A PCMCIA card is powered by the laptop. eSATA cable carries data only - no power. The eSATA enclosure that connects to it has its own power. The link was for the PCMCIA card, not the enclosure. That is a NexStar 3 by Vantec. Also available at NewEgg, ZZZ, etc. I use two of them. One on lappy and one on desky. They can be moved between them and make a great sneaker net.

Laptop + eSATA PCMCIA ---> Powered eSATA external HDD.