What to do with an old 2.5 laptop hard drive?

Replacing a traditional hard drive with a solid-state drive is a hot activity among the community of computer users that are five or more years old. But this does not mean that these storage units are abandoned in some drawer of our work desk.

Instead, they can be used as secondary storage units, especially when it comes to desktop computer hard drives, given the space capacity and connection methods that these computers have.

The same does not happen with a laptop hard drive that has been replaced by obsolete, since there is practically no possibility of using it as a secondary internal drive due to the space and configuration limitations of its original cabinet. However, there are several ways you can still take advantage of its file storage capabilities.

Next, we show you the main ones.

Use a laptop hard drive as an external USB drive

For this, it is enough to get an adapter housing whose price does not exceed ten US dollars. This case is responsible for turning a 2.5-inch laptop drive into an external USB hard drive, capable of connecting to the USB ports of computers, printers and smart TVs and being detected without causing inconvenience.

Thus, it will be possible to use it as a portable means of exchanging files between the different computer equipment in the home.

Use a laptop hard drive as a network drive

Another interesting possibility that laptop hard drives have converted into USB external drives is to use them as network drives, capable of sharing the files stored inside via Wi-Fi.

For this, it is enough to connect them to the USB ports of compatible home routers and configured for the occasion. If you want to know more about this option, check the following article:

How to turn a Huawei router into a media server?

Use 2.5 inch HDD laptop drive as desktop computer internal drive

Despite having smaller dimensions, the SATA interface of 2.5-inch hard drives are identical to those of 3.5-inch drives, so there are no problems connecting to the interior of the cabinet.

However, it is preferable to consult the manual of the motherboard or power supply to rule out electronic incompatibilities. Likewise, the use of an adapter or fixing support is recommended.

Image by MH Rhee from Pixabay

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