smallbusinessfree.blogg.se - Convert external drive for pc to mac

I’ve used cheap drives at home without problems, but you can invest in more durable materials and more attractive designs if portability or aesthetics are important.įor more compact laptop drives, things are just a tad more confusing, since they look so similar. That said, you do get what you pay for, to an extent. For smaller drives, their more compact 2.5-inch model works well for a dirt-cheap price and comes in multiple connection types. This model fits 3.5-inch drives, and you can grab it with old-school USB-A or new-school USB-C, depending on what ports you’ll need to plug it into. On the affordable end, ORICO enclosures are popular and have worked well for me in the past.

The label may also list the drive’s connection type.įor 3.5- and 2.5-inch drives, there are dozens of different enclosures out there. Just look at your drive (or, if you haven’t opened your computer yet, look at photos or video of your laptop’s repair guides) and compare it to the photo above.

That may sound like a lot, but don’t worry-you don’t necessarily need to know everything about each drive type. M.2 NVMe SSDs often look similar to M.2 SATA SSDs, but may not be compatible with the same enclosures.

M.2 NVMe SSDs: NVMe storage is super fast, and common in many of the higher-end laptops you’d buy today.

Not all M.2 drives are the same, though-some use the old SATA connection standard (and thus are similar in speed to 2.5-inch and mSATA SSDs), while others use a faster connection called…

M.2 SATA SSDs: M.2 is a new connection standard that looks similar to mSATA.

These mSATA drives are similar in speed to 2.5-inch SSDs, but are more compact.

mSATA SSDs: Modern laptops-that is, those manufactured in the past 10 years-save even more space by cutting down the 2.5-inch form factor into something much smaller.

2.5-inch solid-state drives (SSDs): The same size and shape as 2.5-inch hard drives, but with solid-state hardware, which eschews the loud spinning platter for much faster, long-lasting storage with no moving parts.

2.5-inch hard drives: Still slow and loud, but smaller so they can fit inside a laptop.

3.5-inch hard drives: Big, slow, and loud, but can hold the most amount of space.

On modern PCs, you’re likely to find one of the following: These days, hard drives come in a few forms. Find the right USB enclosure Identify the kind of drive you’re dealing with by taking a close look at the shape, size, and connectors. Once that’s done, if your old hard drive is still working-that is, if it hasn’t failed or isn’t filled with bad sectors-it’s time to breathe new life into it. You can google your computer’s model number to find a step-by-step walkthrough.

The actual process of switching drives is as easy as it sounds, even if you’ve never dug into a laptop’s innards before. But if you haven’t done so already, you’ll need to copy any important files off your old drive first, or clone your operating system installation with a tool like Macrium Reflect (Windows) or Carbon Copy Cloner (Mac) before you open up your computer and swap the new drive in. We won’t get into the ins and outs of upgrading your drive here, since that’s a guide all on its own. It’s incredibly easy, as long as you buy the right gadget. Don’t toss out that old drive when you’re done, though-you can put it in a USB enclosure and use it as an external drive for backups, extra storage for your gaming PC, or as a way to hand stuff off to your friends. If your laptop allows you to open up the bottom and pop in a new drive, upgrading the drive is easy. You think there’s no way you’ll ever need more than 256GB, but there you are, one measly year later, staring at an overflowing C: drive that won’t stop bugging you with reminders that it’s almost full. It’s easy to skimp on storage when you’re buying a computer.