Put a notebook's hard drive in a desktop?

J

John Corliss

Is this possible? The drive I want to temporarily put in my computer is
from an old notebook made in '97. It has a EIDE interface and is a 2.5
inch form factor. My computer uses a controller that provides ultra
DMA33/ATA66/ATA100. My motherboard is described here:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/Manual_Model.aspx?ProductID=1353

What I'd like to do is to try to quickly copy the drive's contents onto
my hard drive since the drive is failing.

My question though, is: will I be able to hook that small form factor
drive up to my desktop computer?

TIA for any help.
 
G

Gerard Bok

Is this possible? The drive I want to temporarily put in my computer is
from an old notebook made in '97. It has a EIDE interface and is a 2.5
inch form factor. My computer uses a controller that provides ultra
DMA33/ATA66/ATA100. My motherboard is described here:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/Manual_Model.aspx?ProductID=1353

What I'd like to do is to try to quickly copy the drive's contents onto
my hard drive since the drive is failing.

My question though, is: will I be able to hook that small form factor
drive up to my desktop computer?

The formfactor poses no problem, the connector does :)

Your desktop IDE has a 40 (well, 39) pin connector on a .1"
pitch. And a separate power connector.
A laptop drive has a 44 pin connector on a 2.5 mm pitch.

So, you'll need a converter. (Cheap and common, some US$ 10)
 
P

Paul

Skeleton said:
Yes, all you need is a simple laptop to desktop adapter such as this:

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=HD-108&cat=HDD

Regards,
Chris

The 2.5" drive uses +5V for power. (A 3.5" drive uses +5V and +12V,
for comparison.) And that is why, on the adapter shown on the
geeks.com page above, the power adapter only has a red and a black
wire connected. The red and black, pick up +5V and GND from the
power supply. No 12V (yellow wire) is needed.

A laptop drive generally draws less than 5V at 1 amp, so not much
current will be drawn through the power plug.

Paul
 
J

John Corliss

Gerard said:
The formfactor poses no problem, the connector does :)

Your desktop IDE has a 40 (well, 39) pin connector on a .1"
pitch. And a separate power connector.
A laptop drive has a 44 pin connector on a 2.5 mm pitch.

So, you'll need a converter. (Cheap and common, some US$ 10)

Thanks very much for this info! Kinda thought there would be some kind
of difference. Looks like the power connector is different too.
 
J

John Corliss

Paul said:
The 2.5" drive uses +5V for power. (A 3.5" drive uses +5V and +12V,
for comparison.) And that is why, on the adapter shown on the
geeks.com page above, the power adapter only has a red and a black
wire connected. The red and black, pick up +5V and GND from the
power supply. No 12V (yellow wire) is needed.

A laptop drive generally draws less than 5V at 1 amp, so not much
current will be drawn through the power plug.

Thanks to both you and Skeleton Man for this info. This adapter is what
I'll be going with.
 
P

paulmd

Is this possible? The drive I want to temporarily put in my computer is
from an old notebook made in '97. It has a EIDE interface and is a 2.5
inch form factor. My computer uses a controller that provides ultra
DMA33/ATA66/ATA100. My motherboard is described here:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/Manual_Model.aspx?Prod...

What I'd like to do is to try to quickly copy the drive's contents onto
my hard drive since the drive is failing.

My question though, is: will I be able to hook that small form factor
drive up to my desktop computer?

TIA for any help.

Yes. There are two major kinds of adapters. a cheepie pin adapter, and
a usb enclosure. I use the pin adapter to make backups and do recovery
for various clients.
 

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