How to connect a SATA or IDE hard drive externally through a USB cable to your PC
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- Опубликовано: 19 мар 2017
- If you want to learn how to connect a hard drive externally through a USB cable via an adapter this video shows you how easy and affordable it is.
It can make backing up and restoring data or even migrating an existing system located on a mechanical (spinner) drive to a brand new SSD much easier. 
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At last a straight forward explanation of how to connect a HDD using an adapter good video thanks.
No problem, I like to keep things straight to the point.
Thank you so much, that was very informative. I've been wondering why the cable adapter has two USB ends. Now it is very clear.
That is a great video - answered everything I wanted to know about backing up a failing drive from a set top box hard drive. Cheers!
Thanks mate, was trying to only plug one of them in! I'm a plank I know, but now you've taught me something!!
Daniel, I really appreciate you making this video. I was extremely confused how to connect an external ihas124-14 to my PC, and with the information in this video and in the comments below, I went with the SATA-to-USB cable with the 12v power supply. I hope for a positive result!
No problem, I'm glad its helped you start off
Thank you I didn’t know if I needed external power to read the drive. Your video was fantastic!
You are welcome!
Oh my god thanks I took apart my grandmas old gateway laptop because I was curious about computers a few years ago, and I wanted to make sure I could still get the data back, thank you for the info!
Glad I could help!
Thank you for this video. Even though this is not the cable/adapter I required but it definitely gave me some hope that my hard drive could work again.
Watched a couple of other videos, did some research and got my hands on a sata adapter or whatever and damn it came on.
Thank u
no worries, hope you get it all working thanks!
so basically if you have an old hdd laying around you could use it as large size usb flash drive similar to external hard drives thanks for the straight up explanation and demonstration on how to use it cheers!
np
this video/cable at the same time gave me joy......im a musician with a broken computer...all the data stayed in the hardrive...2019-2022 im desided to extract all the data and recover all the music i recorded...also videos and stuff....and now this cable comes to live for me....sucks i just found out..this video is from 2017 no shit!!!! i had to really think if this cable existed...idk why i didnt imagine it before!!
Very nice demonstration. Appreciate your help. :)
After watching 2million videos, this finally satisfies my curiosity. Thanks.
Glad to hear that
Thanks buddy, it did help a lot. I was trying to understand whether my HDD would need a separate power cable and you confirmed it won't. From thereon, it has been a cakewalk.
One moment of silence for the 02:43 struggle. But u doing better as me. I usually have to flip my usb’s for about 6 times until it wil fit 😢
The way you unplugged the drive really skipped my heart a beat 😲
you should the way i rip usb flash drives out, whoa!
That is very good to know. Program data is saved as well
Man, you having to flip *both* Usbs to get them in the socket is the biggest mood.
Lol
Great video, Much love!
Same to you!
thank you Daniel. Appreciate your help :)
No worries!
The blue color USB indicates USB 3.0. USB 3.0 sockets are connected to the PC's power supply to provide additional voltage for a faster data transfer. Cheaper USB adapter connectors will use a second USB plug to get the additional power needed to spin up the drive to its proper RPM rather than having an external wall power plug.
excellent information, thank you
Thanks mate! Very helpful!
No problem 👍
cheers Daniel got a a crate of computer parts out of the local school and i have about a dozen creepy hard drives from the 90s so i am about to discover the secrets they contain.
NEVER touch a naked HDD circuit board. It is electrostatic-sensitive. Store in a holder/box, or place inside an enclosure.
wrapping it with a cardboard box and tape is a good alternative if you need it on the move.
Not a huge concern in humid areas, like it's 100% humidity in spring from where I live.
Very usefull in 2023 thanks
I just ordered my cable, I ordered the wrong one previously. Hope it works, thanks for the help.
I hope so too!
Yes u did help me alot...thank you
Happy to help
Thanks Answered My Question
No problem
Thanks! 💙
No problem!
Thank you for this video. Why do they sell connections with only one USB wire (and, therefore, no power lead)? Do they expect the penitent to activate the disk with his own will power?
Hello, I recently bought one similar but it only has 1 string for my Toshiba 500 GB USB and it has 2 dots, power is blue and Access is red, i cant see it in my laptop, any help or fix?
Excellent Thanks
You are welcome
Thank you
I bought this for normal use. Unfortunately I couldn't find HDD with 1 USB for power and 2nd for DATA. There are such micro B cables but I am not sure if I could believe them.
Anyway, this way I could also use it for DVD mechanics with slimSATA to SATA adapter.
Are there hard drives with different socket types which USB to SATA wouldn't fit into? If so, what cord(s) would they be?
If I have an external drive connected to my laptop, I can install an OS in it and use it? I have a laptop with no "port" for drives, the motherboard has the pins but the thing itself to connect the drive isn't.
Will this thing work for a 3.5" one?
My old SATA is 3.5" but the specs say 5V 360mA . 12V 670 mA so it kind of looks like it will work with both voltages (the USB power from the computer should give at least 5V 360mA). Has anyone tried it with a 3.5" SATA hard drive with similar specs? (Yes, some of the huge GB jobs may require the 12V but mine is only an old 160GB.) [Note: it's also rated at 7200PRM like in the write-up about the cord.]
what about when i have to connect a 3.5" hdd? is it possible with a cable like that or do i have to buy this thing called docking station?
Where can I find the link to the adapter you bought?
I'm trying to connect to my 500 gb desktop hard drive that kept crashing to gain access to the pictures and videos on it.
www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=usb+sata+adapter&sprefix=usb+sata%2Caps%2C71&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_2_8
I have a question! My laptop doesn't have sata in it, so it would be difficult for me to upgrade... so I'm wondering if i buy a sata cable connector and connect a new hard disk, would my laptop reboot from the external hard disk?
I accidentally only bought the powering end of the connector lol we also have the same drives
Hey buddy, I'm trying to connect a recently bought WD internal SATA 3.5' HDD to my laptop via a Sabrent SATA to USB adapter to copy a large amount of data. The reason to buy an internal 3.5' HDD is that after transferring the same data to my older HDD attached as a primary to my desktop, I can format it and replace the older HDD(which I will then use as a secondary). Unfortunately, the drive refuses to get initialized - fatal device hardware error. Tried replacing the drive from the retailer (bought it at Amazon), but to no avail. Please help!
what if the hdd have partition and windows 10 installed, can i connect it to laptop usb and access the files ??
Hi
I have a mac book pro 13'' mid 2015 and I bought the lowest storage because I thought I didn't need. I made two mistakes of buying a mac and one with 120 gb as its primary storage, but my main issue is that most of the programs I need for engineering school requires windows to work. My TA said I can install Virtual Machine or BootCamp, but they will eat up the rest of the storage that I have left.
I was thinking of buying a 850 sony 250 gb ssd and using the adapter you shown here but have windows pre intalled in the external SSD. Do you think that will work?
Thanks!
hello, why do you need power????
yes I know it works but I'm asking this question because one of my external HDD fail while I'm using a usb3 to sata???
My computer doesn't read my HDD via SATA 3-USB cable. Why does it happen? It says:
"The device is not ready" when I try to start it with MBR.
will there be any problems connecting a HDD that was on a computer with Windows 7, and connecting it to a computer with Windows 10?
I've got a Hitachi laptop SATA hard drive. My question is can I use this for my dell optiplex 755 pc tower using that USB adapter?
Yes, you can but you gonna get much slower transfer speed without usb 3.0(that computer doesnt have one). Also, better way would be to connect that HDD with sata cable directly onto motherboard of the pc. But, its all up to you.
appreciate
My external SATA/IDE HDD has win 10 OS in it. if i plug it to another newer win10 laptop how do you boot new laptop from externally connected SATA HDD?
When I plug in my hard drive,windows makes the sound that it's recognised it but I can't find it anywhere. Also the hard drive isn't turning on. Any fix for this?
It's a bad adapter that can't draw enough power to power the drive. Just avoid these adapters imo. it's a gamble whether they work or not.
PointBlank00 good advice you can buy better socks which are powered
@@pointblank0020 any reccomended adaptors?
@@pointblank0020 I have the same problem but the adapter I'm using came from Seagate for an external drive. However, im using it for an internal drive. what could the problem be?
Mine does the same thing. It shows up in printers and devices but not in my computer where the drives are suppose to show up. But mine is a single usb not double like this video so I'm assuming its a powering issue
hi, my problem is once i swapped the hdd with ssd, the hdd only can be detected if i connect it to SATA and it's not detected if i use the adapter to usb which is weird considering I have already formatted the hdd and double check if the adapter is working with other hard drive. anyone knows the solution?
What if this drive already has a windows partition and everything on it. Can you boot into it? Can you access it without having to boot into it?
Thank you so much.
My old laptop, the Motherboard went. I had the internal hard drive taken out, and got another laptop. I'm going to get the adapter you have shown in your video.
Would I be able retrieve my data off there ?
Thank you for the video
Regards
Frances
I am sure you can
I bought a sata to USB cable but it only has one USB plug on it. When I plug it into my laptop the hard drive isn't recognised. Help? 😕
My hard drive doesnt come up anymore. It used to, the cable is working fine, the blue light comes on, Imm so confused why its not showing the folder on "my Computer" folder...
My sata cord only has one USB I see yours has 2 USB. What do I need to get now to get my internal drive to run externally?
i have sata old hard disk which need s power connector how should i conenct??
The adapter I have is only one blue usb. My acer won't pick it up when I instert it... does it need a separate power source or something?
Most likely, try using better adapter.
Hi.i don't have a pc or laptop.how can i connect with android box my hard disc.
Hi, what is the made/model of the adapter you used in this video? Thanks
it's some cheap thing off amazon, if you did a asearch for ssd usb adapter that would work thanks. I recently bought a Sabrent one, pretty good.
how about doing a video showing how to go through the steps on viewing the hard drives for dummies like me.Please.
If you have a new drive and you don't see it when you connect it try typing "disk management" in your (windows 10 I suppose) search bar, open up the tool and right click - initialize on the drive and just follow the steps
Look for the drive in the lower part of the screen, where you should see your main drive first
Is this could be problem for motherboard of the laptop?
I mean the power source for HDD is good enough. I thing is dangerous for the laptop, it can burn the motherboard or the battery.
Thanks, really helpful video. I've tried this but the drive isn't picked up by my laptop. I've tried plugging in one cable at a time, both cables, swapped them around but the HDD is still not seen by the PC. The HDD spins up, I can hear it and feel the vibrations. Perhaps the HDD is shot, but I wondered if you had any thoughts or suggestions, any software I should try? Thanks,
is it a large 3.5" hdd or small 2.5" hdd?
@@DanielJohnHowTo 2.5" from a Dell laptop
@@sally12394 the disk spinning up is a good sign, find disk management on your PC and see if it shows up there.
@@DanielJohnHowTo yes that worked, many thanks!!
@@sally12394 awesome, you know for the future as well now.
Will this work with USB 2? Also, can that SSD (even though it's external) serve as a boot drive?
1. Yes but it will be slower for the data side 2. yes but you need to configure that in the bios or hit x button for the boot manager and select the drive. Performance won't be brilliant though.
@@DanielJohnHowTo Thank You!
thanks for this. I bought the SATA cable with a single USB adaptor and now I'm trying to figure out how to get power to the old external drive. Any ideas? Or should I have bought the two-ended USB adaptor? thanks much. From Colorado.
Yeah see that's the issue, it might be worth investing some money into something like amzn.to/2yTBohN because otherwise it's a pain. I'll probably get one of those myself at some point.
thank you! Spent some time looking for the right thing. will probably do the enclosure option just to make sure I'v got enough power. Is there a reason I shouldn't do that? It's all a little confusing. If all else fails, I'll pay someone to retrieve the data I'm looking for. :(
u
Hi, I don't have a laptop or anything but I can access an internet cafe that has xp. I've got an old ide hard drive that belonged to my old laptop running xp, my laptop has now died and I need to access the hard drive. I bought what you are using in the video along with a ide 44pin converter to sata.
On your video you connect the connector to the hard drive and then the two cables to the pc and it picks it up straight away. I'm not getting anything when I plug it in, it is picking up the hard drive but nothing in the my computer.
Did you have to anything else before it would read the hard drive.
To add I do have a spare sata hard drive which i have used with the connector and I get the same result. Just thought you may have come across the issue yourself and may know what to do. Thanks.
Hi Chris, thanks for your comment. I have also tried a bigger 3.5" hard drive myself and it doesn't work, it only seems to work with an SSD and small 2.5" hard drive, hope that helps a little?
okay thanks for that, if I can't get access to my ide, there isn't a lot on it I might just have to call it quits if I can't find a way to get into it. Thanks for your help
well you can buy a better external hard driver connector which supports ide/sata and is powered, consider that or put the drive in another machine and access data via that?
Leave the drive connected for a long time and you have to locate the drive and open it. I went through the same thing as I had loaded all of my CDs into iTunes back in 2006 and wanted to transfer them instead of reloading them. I had to go through the files to find my documents, my music and iTunes music and transfer the file into iTunes. It took a long time to do it.
4:36 i bought the top one, but it only detects SATA no ide drives. tried about 10
What’s the cable call?
in my pc it says i/o device error , can i still fix this?
Quick question!! If the hard drive is from a computer with system Windows Xp and you connect with an adapter to a windows 7 will it still work?!
Should do. Both file systems should be NTFS.
How can i use it back as sata ???
hi when i connect my SSD/HDD or even and SSHD my pc shows device needs more power and i needa reset the USB port again. how to solve this? do i need to use the motherboard USB ports instead? for desktop
you should buy a powered dock instead.
Can someone tell me what is the advantage of connecting a sata hdd/ssd(which is meant for internal use) externally as an extension instead of connecting an external hdd(meant for being connected externally)as an extension?
I want to buy a hard disk to run a bootcamp on it (I have a macbookair)...I was wondering whether to buy the external hdd usually used for backing up data or to buy the SATA hdd.
Connecting a drive externally via USB is useful if you want to get data off an old drive or switch over from a normal hard drive to an SSD as you would need to copy your entire system to the new SSD before inserting that into your machine. Having a drive plugged into your machine and using that for your operating system isn't the best idea due to slower speeds.
My SSD works but my spinning drive shows up as a USB Drive and I click it and i says enter drive. Any help?
What is the advantage and when do you require a power cable connection with one of these adaptor cables?
usually when the drive is much larger e.g. 3.5" and not 2.5" like the one featured in the video it needs more power, so you need a dock/cable which can provide that.
I did this with my old hard drive but it's not showing up....any idea as to what could be wrong?....
bro my hard drive spins but it isnt showing up on my pc
i have to pcs and it is not showing on both also not showing on friends laptop
have you checked if anything is showing up in disk management?
Hi my wd elements hard drive wont take that sata connector as it still has the plug for the normal cable on it, what one do i get?
you need one with molex for power.
Okay so when I plug this in, it's picking it up as a CD drive when it's not. I can't figure out how to change that.
Same, and only have one USB; 3.0 (no 2.0).
I need further assistance. Ive updated my drivers and finally got my laptop to recognize the Sata. However its not doing what this video is showing. I have to go into my device manager manually. Its not coming up in my section of external devices.
is it a HDD or SDD and if it's a HDD is it big or a small one?
If I connect the blue usb 3.0 to the laptop and the usb 2.0 (power) to another laptop will it work? Because my laptop has the usb ports on opposite edges of the laptop and the cables of the adapter are too short.
Yes as it's still +5v power no matter where it comes from, thanks.
@@DanielJohnHowTo Thanks for the answer ! Unfortunately the new SSD (which I connected through sata to usb cable) does not show up. I have checked in my computer, disk manager, system information, bios...
what about olderd HDDs? Like mine are the larger version. I have an adapter with 2 USB ports (one for data and one for power) but the laptops (tried on 2) do not detect the HDD.
you need powered caddy for that really, one you can slot it into say from amazon?
@@DanielJohnHowTo i have no idea what to search for
:/
I took the hard drive from my old laptop. I want to connect it with that cable to my new one to take the information. Will I be able to take it no problem? I remember trying to connect an old hard drive to my desktop PC directly and windows didn't allow it, because it was another PC. I know its not the same but I won't have that problem right?
Some drives need external power so that's probably why you had issues the first time around, smaller drives should work with this method. I would recommend buying something better to do the job.
@@DanielJohnHowTo Hello, my old driver is a "1TB 7200RPM SATA HDD
" internal drive. It doesn't work when I use a normal external adapter, could it be a power issue?
@@NLamki2002 I would say so, try buying a powered adapter instead Amazon sell them,
The question here is if it is able to write in the boot sector, so you can format the drive and assign boot sector to MS DOS or something like that. Remove GRUB bootloader, etc.
In the case of Floppy USB Disk Drives, you CAN'T access diskettes boot sector. So you can't use them to create bootdisks.
Any ideas if this is the case with IDE HDD via USB?
Should not a distinction be made between a Sata to USB that is 2.5" vs. 3.5"?
The I/O is the same on both sizes? e.g. spacing and connector size...
@@DanielJohnHowTo I understand, thanks! Appreciate it. I asked because I kept seeing a distinction between 2.5" and 3.5" when trying to shop for a Sata adapter on Amazon. So I made sure I bought one that says it can do both 2.5" and 3.5".
I have an old Western Digital 740GD 3.5" internal drive that is at least 10 years old and I'm doing this for the first time.
I'm using Windows 10 now and I don't even remember what version I was using but it probably won't make a difference.
I have an adapter with two usb plugs too. My Windows 10 pc does not recognise it. Could it be a driver issue or just a rubbish cable?
Thanks for your help :)
is it a large hard drive e.g. 3.5" not a small 2.5" laptop?
@@DanielJohnHowTo hi
Thanks so much for your reply.
It says 160GB 7200 RPM SATA. It is from my old PC that went bang :(
Not from a laptop.
I got it working!!!
It just needed 12volts from an external source :)
@@simoncorser8083 nice one, some drives do need external power.
@@simoncorser8083 Did you use 12V=1A or 12V=500mA? I have the latter and can't seem to get it detected by Windows 10.
My little cable doesn't work, it lights up showing it has power when I plug it into my laptop, but doesn't even make the HDD Spin.
mine have 1 usb plug, & the PC recognizes something's plugged in, but nothing shows up in the Windows Explorer App where they have all the drives showing ...what is the purpose of the one that i have?
mines the same, i just bought it, did you get it working?
@@hoverparagliding u require power to the cable u have is for a ssd only
Ok, but this is how to connect SATA not IDE. I need a method for IDE HDD, any help?
buy the ide adpater
I plugged mine and there are two indicators on the SATA socket plugged to the external SATA SSD.
One is red (presumably for power) witch is always illuminated and the other is blue which I believe is for data and it only illuminates for a split second the moment I plug the data USB to the laptop while Windows engages the USB identification sound and then the blue indicator immediately turn off and then there is absolutely nothing in My Computer.
- None of the USB connectors of mine had a blue marked connector (presumably USB 3.0)?
Is this related to my issue?
Please help.
What about when you go to Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management does the drive show up there?
@@DanielJohnHowTo I think yes it is there although I'm not sure, It is displayed as a dynamic disk 1 with the word invalid right under it.
I want to connect my HDD to my laptop to get a specific file from it before formatting but my hdd already has windows on it. Won't that crash the whole process?
it shouldn't crash anything but you may have issues trying to access files on a drive with windows already installed due to permissions etc, but worth a try.
I have one of these and connected to my laptop with windows. The drive seemed to be working and the Laptop seemed to recognise it by opening a window saying installing. However, the drive does not show in my files and drive folder. Any idea why? thanks Andy
Is the drive from a previous windows system?
Hi, yes it is, not sure exactly but may be Windows 95
Andy UK - SY Corrival - Rival 32 ok in this case you might want to look at data recovery software as it’s probably some file system issue
I bought one of these to get Data off of my old laptops hdd, I know nothing about computers and mine only has the one USB... when I plug it in my laptop recognises it but I can't find any files, should it still work or do I need a sata with a power supply also? Thanks 😊
go to disk management and see if it shows up there, if so apply a drive letter
@@DanielJohnHowTo thanks for your reply I really appreciate it, you have to assume I'm totally stupid (which I am) I bang nails in wood for a living!! I no nothing about pc's laptops, I simply have it as I'm I to photography and for storing files hence my old hdd.. I found out for 2.5 satta I don't require power but as for where to find disk management and applying a drive letter you totally lost me 🤔 my bad 😵💫🤦♂️ 😆 any more slightly broken down advice would be greatly appreciated 👍
I have that same wd scorpio blue but my harddrive has a smaller storage
they are quite slow, consider an SSD upgrade.
@@DanielJohnHowTo I do have a ssd stick on my pc and my laptop so it’s fast!
@@DanielJohnHowTo although my toshiba laptop stil uses a hdd so I’m getting and adapter to transfer the files to the ssd
@@VOLTRONDEFENDER4440 ok sounds good, you'll notice a big improvement in load times etc
@@DanielJohnHowTo yes but my toshiba harddrive is slow as heck
I have one 2.5 inch, 1 TB HDD and I tried to connect it using a similar adapter (USB 3.0+2.0). The power lights turn on on the adapter, however the disk won't start.
was it working previously?
@@DanielJohnHowTo Yes
What is the cable name. Were can I buy it .....
I have got a corrupted internal SATA hard drive. PC was not stating because of it. So I removed it and connected it through SATA-USB converter. It is appearing as a blurred USB icon in windows explorer. Ran some data recovery tools like Disk Drill, RecoverIt, but with no luck.
Could you plz suggest some more data recovery tools for my corrupted hd? I don't feel any vibrations upon connecting. I think probably it's dead. But I got lucky with my other external HD which was showing the same problem earlier. What am I missing here? Could you plz help?
If you can't feel the drive vibrating as the motor should be spinning it's most likely dead or the power supply to it isn't correct.
@@DanielJohnHowTo thnx. most probably it's dead.
@@DanielJohnHowTo Does a 3.5 inch drive requires a separate 12V cable? Do I need to buy a separate SATA-USB cable for it- one with port to insert 12V cable? Some of the products I visited said they do not need separate cable for 2.5" hd, but they do need one for 3.5" ones.
This video showed me that my problem probably is the fact that I'm using a single USB 3 adapter to spin a 3.5" 4TB HDD and the power just isn't enough. Gonna have to try it in my desktop before declaring it officially dead.
Yes you're correct it won't power a full sized HDD, that need +12v power whereas the smaller 2.5 hdd/ssd is +5V. You can buy HDD caddy's that will give you USB connectivity but allow you to just pop a larger drive in, might be worth getting one? You want one that has external power though.
@@DanielJohnHowTo Nah, not worth getting a dock, I was trying it on my laptop because I wanted to test it as soon as I could, but it wasn't destined for that use! And thanks for the clarification mate, cheers
@@DimIsHigh fair enough
@@DimIsHigh hello! Maybe give this a try Mediatech Adapter USB 3.0 - SATAIDE, it has a cable that connects to wall power.
I have one of these SATA cables but with just one USB
the single usb may supply power and data
Can we boot from externally connected drive if OS is pre installed?
yes but usb is slower than sata etc just bear that in mind.
I connected the hdd with double sata USB cable but it can only detect local disc E but not local disc F which Contain the media files.. I try to search it on disk management but none showed up.. The MY PC folder keeps loading but does not allow me to access the F folder.. Should I wait for it to load until the F folder is accessible? I'm using 2TB cable..
is it a hard driver e.g. spinning or ssd not spinning that you connected?
@@DanielJohnHowTo idk if its spinning, but it sure have vibration and the lights are blinking when I connect the shorter cable.. The longer cable seems to not functioning.. My hdd is like 500gb.. Its my almost 10years laptop hardisc.. Is it because it was too old already? But when I first connect it, it can detect the local disc F folder but then when I take it out and put it back, it won't even detect anymore..