Old tower for an external HD

kgveteran

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I have an old computer that is dead.Old HD old cd burner ect. Can I install a new HD in it and use it as an external HD.I bought a Dell with a 40 gig HD and I'm running out of space.I do a lot of video editting and it uses a ton of space temporarally.Not that it matters much but the power supply is new in the old unit.Thanx
 
buy an external hard drive case and put the old hard drive in it then format it and plug it in with usb 2.0
 
Or you could stick it in your Dell as a slave. Good luck, though. Plan on spending a good twenty or thirty minutes sorting through the mess that symbolizes Dell computers. Not to mention that you'll probably need to get a new IDE cable considering the one your current HD is on probably doesn't have a slave connection. The one your old HD is on should have two connections though, and you should be able to replace the Dell one with it.
 
I would remove it and install it inside the dell as a slave drive there are jumpers that will have to changed on the back of the drive and all but will not be that difficult to achieve. If you have doubts about it then you can take it to the local pc shop and they would do it for a small price....
The issues with this is that how old is the old computer and why did it crash to begin with..Could it have been the harddrive? Also is the size adequate enough for your purpose...

On purchasing an external case to mount a drive in and use it...my experience is that it just doesn't work that well....It is better to find a complete unit.
 
With the new hardrives getting so cheap I would consider going and buying a 300 gig hardrive. I have seen them as low as 100 dollars. I dont knwo if you have that money but if video editing is for money it might be a good investment.
 
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