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Using 2.5" HDD in desktop system

W

wpcoe

Senior member
Are there drawbacks, other than price, of using a 2.5" HDD in a desktop computer? I'm gathering parts for a tiny ITX build and am considering using a 2.5" 2TB HDD instead of a bulkier (but cheaper) 3.5" drive. Mounting options and airflow would be better with a small drive.

Would endurance, performance, or some other factor suffer by using a 2.5" drive?
 
No drawbacks at all. 2.5" drives are perfect for mITX builds. If you benchmarked a 3.5" HDD vs a 2.5" the 3.5" will probably come out on top but you won't notice the difference in real world usage.
 
For a non system drive and just storage? Would be perfect for a tiny build. Go for it. You might lose some performance, but for storage, who cares.
 
I had wondered about this for more sophisticated uses. "Could I use laptop 2.5" drives in a server RAID?" Not such a good idea, but there were hot-swap devices with caddies which did just that. Of course, memory fades, and they might have required 2.5" "enterprise" drives -- I can't remember.

Finally moved a WD Blue laptop drive to my brother's system as a secondary data drive. No problems whatsoever. Lower power consumption, no less reliability than you'd see it showing in a laptop.
 
Been using 'em for years even in mATX due to lower noise with perfectly adequate peformance -potentially better than "not so old" desktops but in any case probably not noticeable as said.
 
Thanks. Good to hear. Of course, I just checked my usual suppliers (here in Thailand) and none of them carry 2TB 2.5" HDDs. 🙁 Maybe on an upcoming trip to the USA I'll pick one up.
 
Interesting idea. Do those portable HDDs have standard SATA & power connectors? I'd hate to buy one, open it up, and find proprietary connectors.
 
That's the catch-22. You want to know that the drive inside the box has the same fittings as -- say -- a WD Blue laptop drive. You don't want to buy one to find out otherwise.
 
Bingo! I guess as long as I didn't mangle anything disassembling the drive, I could re-assemble it and have a 2TB back-up drive. Granted, probably with no warranty anymore, but such is the price of living on the edge. 🙂

I have been waiting since 06-June for an AsRock mobo, and we're not all that far from Taiwan. Can only imagine how long I'd wait for a 2TB 2.5" HDD unless I try the disassemble-an-external-drive route.
 
There are lots of 2.5" HDs that are aggressive at saving energy, so they tend to park/spin down. That would be the biggest problem I would think.
 
Well, live and learn! I had no idea that CrystalDiskInfo was anything more than a passive reporting app. <we need a "thumbs up" icon...>
 
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