Need an external casing for a Dell Inspiron N5030 hard drive

[jdskinner]

My old Dell Inspiron N5030 has been broken in an accident (screen broken and almost snapped off) and I have a newer laptop now anyway, but would like to take out the harddrive and put in an external casing so that I can still access my photos and a few other saved files.

 

Can anyone advise whether there is a casing that is suitable or some other form of connector? I am not an expert at all, but have seen some of the online tutorials about replacing the hard drive and I can follow those ok, but I don't need to replace the drive, just connect it to my new laptop to copy some of the files across. Many thanks.

[KenB]

Hi and welcome to ExTS

 

There are lots of choice when it comes to external hard drive cases ( caddies )

Some are very cheap - others a bit more expensive.

They all do the same job.

 

Take a look here:

click here

 

When you get the enclosure all you do is to take the hard drive out of your laptop > pop it into the enclosure ( there will be a connection inside )

Some drives have a steel plate that needs to be removed before you put it in the enclosure.

Then use the USB cable(s) and connect up to your new laptop.

If the hard drive is OK then the new Operating System will detect the old hard drive and you will be able to see it in "Computer"

 

Couple of things you need to know:

 

1. Laptop hard drives are 2.5 inch [ desktop drives are 3.5 inch ]

You need to get an enclosure to suit.

 

2. Older hard drives have different connections from the newer ones.

click here

 

You need to buy an enclosure that is designed for your type of drive.

I did a quick search and it looks like you have a SATA hard drive ( newer type )

 

3. You may see USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 in the enclosure specs.

This refers to the speed of data transfer.

Your new laptop will probably have at least one USB 3.0 port. If you can get a USB 3.0 enclosure then your hard drive will run faster.

It doesn't matter if you put a USB 2.0 enclosure in a USB 3.0 port - it will work fine.

 

So you are looking for a 2.5 inch SATA hard drive enclosure.

If you Google this you can compare reviews and prices.

[ double check that you have a SATA drive ]

 

If you wish you can post a link to what you find.

Basically you need to decide what you want to spend - but they are not expensive :)