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We connect the PC hard drive to the laptop. How to connect a hard drive from a computer to a laptop (netbook). Step-by-step connection of HDD to computer


A hard drive is a computer's storage unit. Bytes of information are recorded in it and do not disappear even when the power is turned off, which cannot be said about RAM. Availability of HDD ( hard drive) is mandatory for using any PC, but the problem is that the laptop does not have obvious connectors for connecting it, so we will look into the hidden part of it.

First of all, you should find out what kind of HDD you have (if you want to connect an existing one), since they also differ in form factor and size. Desktop computers use 3.5 hard drives, which are 25mm high, while laptops use 2.5 hard drives with a height of 9.5mm or, in older models, 12.5mm.

Accordingly, to find out whether it is possible to connect HDD to laptop in a standard way, that is, when replacing the main HDD, you need to find out what kind of hard drive you have, and based on this, the necessary actions will be taken.

Initially, we will look at how to connect a disk to a laptop with its replacement, then another situation: how to connect second hard disk to a laptop with different interfaces.

Replacing HDD on a laptop

If in a stationary device, in order to remove the hard drive, you need to unscrew the cover, remove the connection cables and unscrew the screws at the fastening points, then here the situation is a little different. Next, consider a simple HDD replacement, provided that you have a 2.5 hard drive.

  • Turn the laptop over and you will see a large plastic cover with bolts, sometimes there are several of them, then remove each one until you find the disk, usually under the last part;
  • Unscrew the screws holding the device; sometimes special grooves are used instead;
  • Pull the disk back, grasping the side where the contacts connect;
  • Lifting up you can get the HDD;
  • Install another hard drive in the same way.

An elementary situation is considered, which involves replacing identical devices, how to connect a 3.5 SATA HDD to a laptop or install additional devices.

How to connect a SATA hard drive to a laptop?

Situations with different types devices. First, let's look at the connection option hard drives SATA using an adapter. This method will allow you to connect the hard drive to the laptop via USB connector, which is very convenient, but slightly slows down the system’s response speed when working in it.

Be sure to make sure that you have a SATA interface, as older models used IDE.

To perform this procedure, you need to purchase an adapter from SATA to USB; it can be found everywhere in affordable price. As well as in SATA connection 2 connectors are used: one is data transfer or control, the other is power supply, which is shorter in length - this information flow, exactly the same with the adapter. See photo.

There are 2 wires from the adapter, one is responsible for power, you need to connect it to the network, the other has a USB output, it should be connected to a laptop, preferably to USB 3.0. Thus, regardless of the size, you will have a makeshift external HDD.

There is another connection method, which involves using a box. This box has a built-in SATA adapter or IDE to USB, completely turning the internal drive into an external one. The advantage of using this method will be protection from external damage to the device. This box can also be used (if SATA 2.5) to connect a second internal disk.

To connect a second internal drive, you will have to sacrifice the drive and replace it with a pocket for an SSD or HDD. Still, in 2016, using a CD-ROM is not relevant for most cases. Such a pocket does not require much effort to connect: you just need to remove the drive and insert the pocket directly into its place. Connecting a CD-ROM and HDD is no different, so adapters are not needed. Of course, you will have to disassemble the laptop a little. Such a pocket costs from 200-300 UAH.

What should I do if my hard drive is not showing up?

An unpleasant situation happens and after connecting, even if it is correct, the HDD still does not appear or does not work. Manipulations to solve the problem are carried out in the system. It takes a little effort to fix the glitch, since Windows must install the hard drive itself.

If the box, adapter or hard drive is not standard, then you may need to manually install the drivers. First you need to find out if this is true:

  • Click Start and right-click “Computer”, then “Properties”;
  • Now click on the “Device Manager” link;
  • In chapter " Disk devices“There should be an item with the name of your disk and there should not be a yellow exclamation mark icon on it.

If everything is in order, then proceed further, but if there is no such item or it is marked as problematic, then the problem is in the driver. You can click right click and select “Update drivers...”, if that doesn’t help, then you can find them on the manufacturer’s website. There should be no problems with installation.

Another case is when the drive letter is not determined, then you should:

  • Go to “Control Panel” from Start;
  • Click on the “Administration” tile;

  • Now select "Computer Management";

  • In the left menu, find “Disk Management”;

  • You should be able to see second HDD, to display it, it must initially change the letter. This is done via right click;
  • If it doesn’t help, format it by right-clicking and the corresponding item. File system must match, usually NTFS or FAT32.

That's all, we were able to connect the hard drive to different conditions and configure it for further use.

If you still have questions on the topic “How to connect a hard drive to a laptop?”, You can ask them in the comments


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There are two types of hard drives - internal and external (like a USB flash drive). Connecting hard disks through IDE interface, which is used on all older hard drive models. Or – SATA, which has a much narrower connector and cable width.

When connecting a hard drive to a laptop, remember that not all modern laptops have external connectors for of this connection. Then the connection can be made using USB interface. But for these purposes you need a specialized SATA/IDE to USB input adapter. This adapter can be found complete with a hard drive power supply. The unit is required due to lack of power from the USB interface. When connecting a hard drive through an adapter, you need to be extremely careful not to inadvertently damage the hard drive when it is lying next to the laptop. Manufacturers computer office equipment They produce special pockets for hard drives with the necessary built-in adapters. This pocket serves as a kind of protective cover for HDD. The container connectors should be connected to hard drive, installing the HDD in the container pocket. Then to USB input laptop connects connection cable and if necessary



external power supply to the container. The hard drive is usually connected when the laptop is turned off. After switching on



laptop hard The disk will automatically begin to appear in the explorer of the laptop operating system. Otherwise, you need to install drivers from the included disk or downloaded from the container manufacturer’s website. drive is no different from connecting any other USB storage device. However, there is strict rule wherein. To avoid irreversible HDD damage, you cannot turn off the power while the disk is running. Also need to use safe removal devices after working with hard drive, before disconnecting it from the laptop.



If you often have to transfer information from your computer’s hard drive to a laptop, or vice versa, then you should purchase a special portable HDD. This kind hard drive It has USB cable for connection, is protected from external damage by a durable case and is used specifically as a portable storage device.

The need to connect a hard drive to a laptop may arise if you need to increase the amount of space for storing personal data when it fails old hard drive, and you need to install a new one in its place, or when you need to copy a large amount of information to a laptop computer. There are several ways to connect.

The procedure for replacing an old hard drive with a new one

If the old HDD on the laptop is irretrievably damaged, then the only way out of this situation is to install a new drive. It can be purchased at any computer store. When buying a hard drive, you need to know that it regular size is not 3.5”, as for desktop PCs, but 2.5”.

Before connecting the hard drive to the laptop, you should also pay attention to the HDD interface available on the PC. Almost all modern laptop computers are equipped with hard drives with SATA connector. Older models may have an IDE (PATA) interface. In the first case, the information transfer speed reaches 600 Mb/s (SATA 3.0), although a new standard (SATA 4.0) with a connection speed of 12 Gb/s is planned to be released soon. The IDE connector allows data transfer at a speed of no more than 133 Mb/s. To find out which interface your laptop supports, you need to take out the old hard drive and look at its connector.

The procedure for replacing the old HDD with a new one will be as follows:


Connecting a second hard drive

There are several ways to install a second hard drive on a laptop:

  • via DVD connector;
  • using special adapters (external hard drive).

If you rarely use the DVD drive on your laptop, you can install a second hard drive instead. To do this you need:


If everything is done correctly, then after turning on the laptop in the “My Computer” window will appear new disk. It may need to be formatted before use.

If you don't want to get rid of DVD drive, then you can connect an external HDD via USB port using a set of adapters. They may look different, but they perform the same functions.

There are three types of adapters:

  • from IDE to USB;
  • from SATA to USB;
  • combined.

The choice of one option or another depends on the interface that has external drive. A typical adapter kit also includes a power supply, since USB output may not always produce the required voltage.

The procedure for connecting an external hard drive to a laptop is shown in the image.

There are also special adapters that can greatly simplify the process of connecting the HDD to a laptop. As an example, consider an adapter between USB and SATA/IDE from Sabrent, which is equipped with all the necessary connectors and does not require additional source nutrition. Its cost is about $15.

Practice shows that the likelihood of needing to connect the hard drive of one of computer devices to a laptop or the implementation of the opposite reconnection scenario is prohibitively large. A precedent for this could be a “digital disaster” that suddenly or naturally appears... The methods described in the article are intended to help the “puzzled user” in solving the common problem of how to connect a laptop’s hard drive to a laptop. Of course, valuable material, consisting of extremely effective recommendations, will affect all options for interface interaction of various types of information storage devices in order to obtain full access to the data on them.

Discord in the single purpose of the hard drive: a threat to a healthy psyche

Wow, how confusing everything is! are equipped with one type of storage device, laptops and a separate type of computing device with a NET prefix are equipped with another. However, all these devices have a single universal ability - storing and processing information. This means that “interface differences” when deciding how to connect a hard drive from a computer to a laptop can be circumvented. And also to avoid the state of slight confusion that often arises (for a “victim of technological circumstances”), when the hard drive of a failed PC contains extremely necessary data that is needed “right now.” Relax, dear reader, there is a way out! Take a breath... and not even in a single version!

to the laptop: instructions for SATA devices

Let's take a closer look at this situation: there is a working laptop to which you need to connect the HDD from the PC.

  1. First of all, you need to purchase a special SATA-eSATA adapter, when choosing which you must be guided technical characteristics receiver device. In our case, this is the presence of a “favorable” eSATA connector on the laptop.
  2. Most modern portable configurations have this interface. Which ultimately will become a kind of answer to the question of how to connect a hard drive to a computer or laptop.

If your laptop has this type of interface, then further process initialization takes place almost instantly. operating system It will literally immediately identify the connected device as an external drive. Moreover, the operating speed when organizing this kind of synchronization process is incredibly high, up to 6 Gbit/sec. Agree, with such parameters you can quite comfortably interact with data of any (within reasonable limits) volume.

Guide for IDE hard drives: universal USB port

How to connect a hard drive to a computer (laptop) if the drive has a somewhat outdated interface and the laptop only has a universal USB connector? Undoubtedly, it is a rather “complex symbiosis”. However, as mentioned earlier, there is a way out!

  1. Everything is resolved using a special adapter that connects to the laptop using a USB cable.
  2. The device's IDE input connector allows you to connect a PC hard drive, and a separately routed cable is used as a power supply.

As a rule, such devices are often universally used gadgets. Since they often provide two types of connections - SATA-USB and IDE-USB - using one controller adapter.

“Brotherly understanding”: two cords decide everything!

You will not have a question about how to connect a laptop hard drive to a laptop if your laptop has the previously mentioned serial interface, and your “reconnect” arsenal has an eSATA to SATA adapter (7+15 pin). Otherwise, you should pay a visit to your nearest electronics store and buy an inexpensive “pocket” for an external HDD.

This option is most suitable for optimal solution voiced difficulty. Since the owner of such an HDD container may well use the purchased device (in the future) for its intended purpose - as an additional external storage information.

By the way, the “HDD pocket” can be connected not only via eSATA interface, but also via a universally used USB port. Which will make the situation incredibly easier when you need to connect a 2.5 ̎ drive laptop computer to a desktop PC. Do you see benefits from such an acquisition?

Climactic finale: extreme ascent of information at random

When deciding how to connect a laptop hard drive to a laptop, if the situation requires operational access to data on external hard drive and provided that there is no necessary adapter, but there is a flash drive and access to the Internet:

  1. Download Live USB distribution.
  2. After you create a bootable Flash drive, turn off and unplug your laptop.
  3. Remove the device's battery.
  4. On the back of the laptop, find text designation HDD, which is a kind of landmark that indicates the location installed hard laptop disk.
  5. Unscrew the protective cover and carefully remove the HDD.
  6. In the freed space, install a hard drive on which the information you need (urgently!) is stored.
  7. After you boot from the flash drive, you can view the “secret data”.

This is how you can get a practical answer on how to connect a laptop hard drive to a laptop. Basic techniques for gaining access to stored information external HDD information has been reviewed in full. Good luck to you and all the best!

The computer stopped working, and there was a whole bunch of important data left on the disk that you don’t want to lose. What to do in this case? The answer is simple: connect the hard drive to the laptop and transfer everything to it. It sounds complicated, but it's actually quite simple. Anyone can cope with this task. This article will talk about how to connect a hard drive to a laptop. Let's figure it out.

To copy important files use external drives

The most common are two interfaces for connecting hard drives. The first is IDE, the second is SATA. Everyone has long forgotten about IDEs, since this is the last century. However, if you have an old PC and the data needs to be moved, then do not worry, because the principle IDE connections and SATA is no different except for the type of connector. SATA is used on all modern computers and laptops. SATA represents serial interface to exchange data directly with the drive. Connects to the motherboard using a SATA cable.

To remove the hard drive from your laptop, first turn off the power, then turn the laptop upside down and unscrew the cover hiding the hard drive. As a rule, it is located on the left under the battery. Once the cover is removed, disconnect the cables and remove the hard drive. In some (rather rare) cases, it will not be possible to get the hard drive this way and you will have to completely disassemble the computer.

Now let’s move on to the most interesting part: how to connect a hard drive to a laptop. For this you need a special SATA-USB adapter. The principle is quite simple and straightforward: the hard drive itself is inserted into the appropriate connector of the adapter, and the USB cable must be inserted into the laptop. The most convenient among the adapters are the so-called boxes. The device looks like a small case with a USB cable. Power is connected to the device, the HDD is inserted into the “box” itself, and the USB is connected to the PC. Very simple and convenient. Please note that hard drives may vary in thickness. This factor should be taken into account when purchasing an adapter. The type of USB port is also important. The newer the better. If your laptop has USB 3.0, then it is better to buy a “box” that supports it, because in this case data can be moved much faster. When you go to “My Computer”, you will see that another disk has appeared. Now, as usual, you can freely move all information between disks. If the connected drive is not displayed, then the reason may be in the drivers. Make sure the driver for this device has been installed correctly. To do this, go to the “Device Manager” of your computer, find “HID (Human Interface Devices)” in the list. There, also in the form of a list, all similar devices. If the driver is not installed or was installed incorrectly, try reinstalling it or updating it by going to the “Properties” of the device.

Of course, you can do without adapters, but in this case you will need to disassemble the laptop to gain access to the motherboard. If you have a regular desktop computer, then this is not difficult. Unscrewing the side cover system unit, find motherboard and use a SATA cable to connect the hard drive. If you decide to leave the hard drive connected, do not just leave it dangling. It should be secured with screws in special “runners”.

As you can see, such an operation only looks complicated and requires special skills. Of course, if you are a complete beginner and have no idea about the structure of a PC, then it’s probably not worth going to disassemble it and it’s better to turn to a specialist. Now that you know how to connect a hard drive to a computer, you will always be calm about the safety of your information on Laptop HDD. Write in the comments about how useful this article was and whether you encountered any difficulties connecting the hard drive to your computer.