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Use old HDD from old laptop as an external drive?

Anonymous
2023-03-02T13:06:02+00:00

Hey there, this is my first time writing/asking here, so any response would be appreciated :)

So I have an old laptop of mine, an Asus A42J with 4GB of ram and 150GB of HDD. My plan is upgrading the HDD to an SSD, but I don't really want to backup anything from my HDD because nothing too important there. My question is can I just install the SSD and use the HDD as an external drive (using drive enclosure/external case) or do I still have to backup some files to the new SSD so that it could run?

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Devices and drivers

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  1. DaveM121 871.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2023-03-02T13:39:03+00:00

    Hi ali adeen,

    I am Dave, I will help you with this.

    Yes, you can use that drive in a HDD enclosure as a data drive.

    After you install Windows on the SSD, connect that HDD using a USB enclosure, then copy off any files you need from that drive to the SSD temporarily

    Then in Disk Management, delete all partitions on the HDD and create one new large partition, that HDD will then be ready to use as an external data drive.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-03-02T13:26:21+00:00

    You can use the HDD in a case, you should format if you done need anything on it

    An ssd is not going to show any real time performance increase on your system. You have a basic system OK for basic use, not heavy gaming

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