Have you heard of Uniblue's Registry Booster 2009?
Clean, repair and optimize your system with this Free Stability Scan.
Learn more here »

How to Install a SATA Hard Drive in an External Enclosure

Article by Lamar Stonecypher (17,583 pts )
Published on Jun 12, 2009

Wanting technical help with your computer hardware? More specifically your Hard Drive? Here we discuss installing an external SATA hard drive in a NexStar 3 SATA to eSata and USB 2.0 enclosure. Then we test the performance of the external drive compared to the built-in C: drive in the PC.

Selecting an External Enclosure

I had a PC with a failed motherboard that had a working 250 GB hard drive in it. Although I had a good backup of my work (and most of my play) from that hard drive, I wanted to recover the use of the drive. This PC had a SATA (serial ATA) hard drive and optical drives. Local computer and “big box” stores all carried PATA (parallel ATA) to USB adapters, but not SATA adapters.

After researching external enclosures online, I selected the NexStar 3 model INST-360SU-BK adapter/enclosure by Vantec. Figure 1 below shows the assembled enclosure and the box it came in. Immediately apparent is that the unit has an attractive black (onyx) mirror finish with chrome accents and a large blue LED Vantec logo for drive activity. As things go, it’s not very subtle, but it matches the piano black finish of the front of my PC. It also would not be out of place humming along beside a Media Center PC in the living room.

Image

The NexStar 3 is black with chrome accents.

Description of the NexStar III Enclosure

This adapter comes with both a USB cable and a SATA to eSata cable with an adapter “card” for the PC. The theoretical advantage of SATA over USB is that throughput can be up to six times faster than USB 2.0. (That’s for a PC/motherboard with SATA II. Standard SATA will provide a smaller improvement over USB 2.0.)

The packaging consisted of a cardboard box within a sleeve. Some care was taken with the design of the packaging, with each component sealed individually in plastic bags. No components were damaged or missing. Included was a readable paper user’s manual in conventional English.

Figure 2 shows the rear of the assembled unit. Shown from the top are the connections for eSATA, USB 2.0, and power, and the on/off switch. Figure 3 shows the PC adapter card and the eSATA cable.

Images

2. The rear panel of the NexStar 3.3. The SATA to eSATA adapter for the PC.

This adapter, of course, only works with a SATA type drive. If you’re uncertain which type of drive you have, remove the side cover of your PC to expose the motherboard. Start at the back of the hard drive and follow the cable (it will be a regular cable, not a ribbon-cable) to the motherboard. You should see a group of rectangular sockets, as shown below. [See Figure 4]

Images

4. Finding an available SATA socket on the motherboard.

Figure 5 shows the eSATA adapter installed on the PC. I’ve been having some fun calling it a “card.” Actually, it’s not. It uses a card slot, but it does not plug into the motherboard below the slot. The box refers to it as a “bracket.” The rear of the PC after installing the card adapter is shown in Figure 6.

Images

5. The adapter installed and plugged into the motherboard.6. View of the SATA to eSATA adapter from the rear of the PC.

The “power brick” and plug-in are shown in Figure 7. Two nice features of the transformer are that it has an end-plug arrangement and a pilot light. The cord itself is only about 4-feet long and was too short to plug into my backup power supply AND sit atop my PC. This was a bit disappointing as desktop space is at a premium on my desk.

Image

7. The power adapter transformer and power cable.

Installing the Hard Drive

The first step involved in inserting the hard drive into the enclosure is removing two screws and carefully pulling the rear panel away. A white cable was plugged into the circuit board that needs to be temporarily removed in order to pull the carrier out.

Once the carrier is removed, the next step is to plug the hard drive into the adapter. The plug on the circuit board engages both the power and data parts of the hard drive, and it’s a very easy installation. Figure 8 shows the hard drive being plugged in.

Image

8. Plugging the SATA hard drive into the NexStar III.

Next: Finishing Up, Testing Performance, and Specifications

Search More About:

Lamar Stonecypher (17,583 pts )

Lamar is a contributing editor in the Windows, Linux, PC Hardware, Mechanical Engineering, GPS and Navigation, and Home Theater channels. He write mostly about open source and free software for Windows... read more

  Channel Sponsors  
Free Network Security Scanner
Network security & port scanning made easy with GFI LANguard. Download free today!
  Free PC Scan
Increase PC stability. Scan your PC for common registry errors.
Earn Your IT Degree Online
Earn your IT degree online from an accredited leader in distance education. Maximum transfer of previously earned credit. Finish sooner. Excelsior College.
  Advertise Here!
The Computing Hub at Bright Hub receives over 430,000 monthly page views.  Contact us to learn more about advertising opportunities.




Bright Hub - Science & Technology Articles, Buyer's Guides, How-To Tips and Software Reviews
About Bright Hub | Contact Us | Advertise with Us | Become a Writer | RSS | Site Map | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy
©2009 Bright Hub Inc. All rights reserved. Page copy protected against web site content infringement by Copyscape