Convert old internal hard drives to external USB drives with hard drive enclosures

April 19, 9:28 PMSalt Lake City Technology ExaminerJulie Sartain

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Vantec NexStar Hard Drive Enclosure

If your computer crashes, save the hard drive!

On New Year’s Eve at 10:01 pm (2008), the power supply in my computer died which, in turn, blew out the motherboard, damaged one of my hard drives, and destroyed the system fan. I had not backed up since Tuesday night (my backup schedule then was on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at midnight). I had two articles due on Friday and the system crashed just 11 minutes after I had completed the second article. I freaked!

Thursday was New Year’s Day, so I assumed that everything would be closed. I knew I had to purchase a new computer, but all I was worried about was my internal hard drive and whether or not my articles were recoverable (along with everything else I had done on Wednesday and Thursday.) I called around and a couple of those big ‘chain’ computer stores were open.

After spending nine and a half hours and $160 for an untrained, rookie PC technician to copy my data from the crashed system’s internal drive to a 640 gig external drive (which I had to purchase for another $150), I finally headed home around 10:30 pm with my old drive in a Ziploc bag, my new external drive (with my recovered data), and a new desktop computer ($862.80). Grand total for the day: $1193.42.

The next morning, I discovered that Mr. rookie technician had only copied parts of my data. He would not allow me to observe the data copy process, but insisted that I shout (from the other side of the counter) which folders/directories I wanted copied to the new drive. I know my drive and all the directories I’ve created over the years like I know my own birthday. I wrote them all down in alphabetical order, gave him the list, and he still neglected to copy over a dozen folders. I was furious.

Two days later, after I submitted my articles (and regained my sanity), I went down to one of the smaller, local computer stores—a place called Bryson Computers (formerly called Cyber Exchange)—and for a mere $36 (and 15 minutes), the very experienced Bryson technician installed my old hard drive into a hard drive enclosure. I took it home, plugged it into one of the USB ports and, INSTANTLY, I had access to my old drive and all the missing folders that Mr. rookie technician had failed to copy.

Moral of the story
1. Check the Internet and research all your options BEFORE you purchase anything.
2. Never shop on a major holiday (and never buy anything while in a freaked-out state of panic).
3. Don’t believe everything the salesmen tell you; for example, I asked Mr. rookie technician before he got started if the store carried hard drive enclosures. He didn’t know what that was and, after I explained it to him, he said no.
4. If your computer crashes, DON’T toss out the hard drive! Even a damaged drive or one that won’t boot can usually be salvaged, especially if it’s rerouted thru a USB port (and no longer a boot disk).
5. Find a local, reputable computer store and support their business so you have a resource when things go wrong.
6. And last, backup your data everyday!

Most internal drives will fit inside a 3.5 inch hard drive enclosure. If not, other sizes are available. These devices cost between $29 and $59, based on features and manufacturer. See the links below (bottom right) for a short list of enclosure manufacturers, plus a link to the local computer store that I use and trust.