Waste not, want not.
If you’ve recently upgraded the hard disk in your laptop to a bigger one, then you may be wondering what possible use you could have for the old drive.
Thing is, just because it’s not big enough to be useful in your laptop anymore, doesn’t mean it’s useless.
One of the best things you can do is chuck it into a reasonably priced enclosure and use it as an external USB disk.
External caddies can work out incredibly cheap from online resellers, though you’ll want to avoid anything too cheap and nasty, especially if it’s being shipped from the Far East.
The process is quite simple, the first step is to get yourself an external caddy.
The only thing you’ve got to watch out for is making sure you get the right kind of connector. Most machines built-in the last 5-6 years will use SATA hard disks, but if you’re not sure, you can always check the packaging that came with your laptops NEW hard disk (since that will be the same type as the one you removed).
This enclosure is one that I picked up on a well-known auction site for less than £10. It comes with the screws necessary to hold the enclosure together, and the USB lead needed to connect it to your PC.
Now, all enclosures will have slightly different methods of installing the hard disk, but you should get a little paper leaflet showing you how. If you don’t, just take your time to think about how to install the hard disk properly. There’s rarely a wrong way to do it.
In the enclosure that I bought, it’s just a case of sliding the hard disk into the metal case, connecting the back plate to the hard disk and then screwing it into place using the provided screws:
Job done really. Now all you need to do it connect it to your PC and format it ready for use.
I’m going to assume that you’ve already recovered all of the necessary information off of your hard disk, so all you need to do is “right-click” it within the “Computer” window in Windows 7 and select the “Format” option: