How do I connect this so that I can access data on my desktop's hard drive from a laptop? Also, is there a way to do it without removing the hard drive (I'm having some trouble with that)? I'd rather get directions from someone who's done this before than mess around with it on my own and risk losing all my data. My computer currently powers up, but my VGA card stopped isn't working (so I can't access the data directly).I found the HP manual online showing the SATA connections to my hard drive - http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c02961221&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&product=4065858 How do I connect this so that I can access data on my desktop's hard drive from a laptop? Also, is there a way to do it without removing the hard drive (I'm having some trouble with that)?... » Read More How do I connect this so that I can access data on my desktop's hard drive from a laptop? Also, is there a way to do it without removing the hard drive (I'm having some trouble with that)? I'd rather get directions from someone who's done this before than mess around with it on my own and risk losing all my data. My computer currently powers up, but my VGA card stopped isn't working (so I can't access the data directly).I found the HP manual online showing the SATA connections to my hard drive - http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c02961221&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&product=4065858 « Show Less
189863
It will be easier if you remove the desk top's hard drive. Connect the data cable connector and power supply to the hard drive. Connect USB plug to laptop. Power up both the drive and the laptop. Look for the hard drive as a removable drive in My Computer.
189864
On this system, you must remove the hard drive from the computer to operate, or at least remove the cables and have enough room to hook up the kit.
189865
Follow Kent's directions. A second option is to remove the hard drive and install it in a friends computer and it will see it as a second drive and download from there.
293840
It is an internal hard drive. There are products that will allow you to connect a sata drive to a computer via usb, but you'd probably just be better off buying an external drive.
490823
Well the easiest way to find out is to open up the HDD bay under the laptop and unplug it to see the type of connection. Make sure the laptop is turned off, power cord & battery removed first. Try to touch yourself to ground the static electricity from your body before touching the components. The HDD will probably say "SATA" on it. Sata connection has two long black "L" one longer than the other. A Parallel connection will have lots of little connector holes or posts. If your laptop is only a few yrs old it is probably SATA. I bought a 500GB WD blue drive and it failed after a yr. It was pretty slow too. If you are going to replace the drive I would recommend going bigger and 7200rpm or faster.
761378
On the end with the USB connection AND the ESATA connection, you need to connect the ESATA end to an ESATA port AND the USB end to a USB port. The USB port is just to provide power to the drive--it doesn't carry any data. Your laptop needs to have an ESATA port on it. Hope that answers your question
1220987
you can also connect a desktop 3.5 inch hard drive to read/write on your laptop. remember a desktop hard drive uses 12 volts dc. so the adapter comes with a mains transformer to power up your 3.5 inch hard drive. it's really helpful if you have a desktop hard drive that you want to read on your laptop without using a second computer/network.
490824
Well the easiest way to find out is to open up the HDD bay under the laptop and unplug it to see the type of connection. Make sure the laptop is turned off, power cord & battery removed first. Try to touch yourself to ground the static electricity from your body before touching the components. The HDD will probably say "SATA" on it. Sata connection has two long black "L" one longer than the other. A Parallel connection will have lots of little connector holes or posts. If your laptop is only a few yrs old it is probably SATA. I bought a 500GB WD blue drive and it failed after a yr. It was pretty slow too. If you are going to replace the drive I would recommend going bigger and 7200rpm or faster. Well the easiest way to find out is to open up the HDD bay under the laptop and unplug it to see the type of connection. Make sure the laptop is turned off, power cord & battery removed first. Try to touch yourself to ground the static electricity from your body before touching the components. The HDD will probably say "SATA" on it. Sata connection has two long black "L" one longer than the other. A Parallel connection will have lots of little connector holes or posts. If your laptop is only a few yrs old it is probably SATA. I bought a 500GB WD blue drive and it failed... » Read More Well the easiest way to find out is to open up the HDD bay under the laptop and unplug it to see the type of connection. Make sure the laptop is turned off, power cord & battery removed first. Try to touch yourself to ground the static electricity from your body before touching the components. The HDD will probably say "SATA" on it. Sata connection has two long black "L" one longer than the other. A Parallel connection will have lots of little connector holes or posts. If your laptop is only a few yrs old it is probably SATA. I bought a 500GB WD blue drive and it failed after a yr. It was pretty slow too. If you are going to replace the drive I would recommend going bigger and 7200rpm or faster. « Show Less
455816
Not that familiar with lap-tops or 2.5 drives. My experience with this adapter, is that it works great across a common platform; but you can't use it across platforms IDE to SATA best I could manage. There are a variety of cloning software utilities out there you might use, for cloning; but I have not looked too deep into them. You might try looking for cloning software on your favorite software sight like download.com for exact cloning. For example; a newer SATA machine; will not read an IDE hard drive, with this device alone. I see no reason why you could not use this to transfer data from one SATA drive to another, or IDE to IDE; as long as you have the right physical connection on the drive you are drying to get data from. I used this to look at an external 3.5 drive on a desktop. I plugged the USB into computer, and the adapter end into the external 1 gig drive I wanted to see. Plug and play recognized it, and I was able to read the external drive. As long as you have a the same platform of drives, I think this physical device will work. Great for getting files off an old, or partial working drive; but this will not clone anything. Also good if you want to store stuff on seldom used hard drives; then access them once in a while for data. It has no software, and is just a physical utility device. For complete exact clone of the drive; I would seek appropriate software, and someone who has had more experience than I. You will also need a power supply for the external drive, this device does not have. If you are dealing with a drive that has its own power, from another computer or source, this will work by itself; otherwise you need one of these with a power supply included. They sell them with power supplies, that will work with both platforms as well, for about ten bucks more. Has a molex and adapter fro SATA drives. This way you can power, and access the drive data, both. Depends on what you need. This is a data harness nothing more.
2186462
Yes, as long as (obviously) your hard drive can physically connect to it.One thing I have found about this device is that if you USB-connect it to a machine, and then connect a hard drive to it, sometimes that machine won't see the drive. But then you plug the USB end in to a different machine, and that machine *will* see the drive. I haven't done this enough to know the pattern to it, but I', just advising to not give-up if the drive can't be seen by a machine...go try another machine.
367052
Very easy. In my case, since I use 3 of them, I use external power supplies (Took them from old computers). As for the Hard drives, just get some SATA or IDE cables (depending on your HDs) and connect them to the computer. If the computer doesn't have more SATA or IDE connectors, you will need to get a card. Hope this helps
1705181
some pc has a vga slot. but, almost pc not has a vga slot.your computer is not has a vga slotyou should buy a vga slot gender.then, you will connect to a laptop
382265
This doesnt connect directly to your computer, you access it over the network through its own interface, or a mapped network drive. It shouldnt matter what OS you are using. We use everything from XP, Vista, 7, 8 & Macs to access this without any issues.
1444638
this hard drive allows you to do it. i have daisy chained it to a lacie external drive. it is easy to do. the wd comes with 2 firewire cords and 2 ports. the first cord goes into one of the wd's ports and then into your laptop's firewire port. the second one goes from the second firewire port in the wd into the firewire port of your other drive. then they both will show up on your desktop. to eject them, just drag both icons to the trash and unplug. i always remove them before i start my powerbook. soometimes the powerbook gets confused and doesn't know which hard drive to recognize for start up. easier to plug them in after i have booted up my mac. hope this helps.
2144525
I had the same issue. I even attempted to connect this to a "powered" USB port and still had nothing happen. I recently had the opportunity to test a Seagate Backup Plus Portable 1TB drive, which has a removable USB3.0 to SATA adapter. The Seagate adapter worked perfectly on all the drive I tested (i.e., 2.5" and 3.5" 1TB, 2TB, and 3TB). I'm now looking for a quality USB3.0-to-SATA adapter with a single cable, like the Seagate one.
2109126
I read your question over many times and am a bit confused as to what your asking but I will never the less attempt to give you information that may answer your question. The 2TB is listed as a USB device so it works with laptops or desktop computers. Desktop means a tower or possibly a bit smaller computer not designed to be portable and has to be plugged in as it has no built in keyboard or monitor or battery, for most desktops although some desktops may include one or more of these things, they are not meant to be self powered and portable like a laptop. In short you could call a laptop a portable self powered computer and a desktop a computer that requires power from the wall and is meant to stay on a desk top, that's why its called a desktop computer. I believe if you bought a 128 SSD for a desktop it was designed to be placed in one of those desktop computers and not for external use with a USB plug. They do sell adaptors to make hard drives and SSD drives work with a USB plug. You would need to buy a case and power supply for the drive. The Fantom drive is nothing more than a desktop drive that was placed in such a case for use with a USB without having to install it internally in a computer. I think your problem may have started by not understanding what Desktop computer meant.
2261999
You CAN power it up via the USB Port OR the external Power Adapter. Using the external Power Adapter allows the plugged in( tested or augmenting) hard drive to operate more efficiently, It's another step but worth the small effort. Product support recommend connecting it that way... so that's what I did. If you do likewise you should connect the Power Adapter BEFORE connecting the USB Cable.
1054714
Like the person answering before me: If your external harddrive is a standard one, most likely with a little work.yes..But Its designed to connect most standard hard drives to a computer. So strictly speaking, you can't connect an external harddrive. But most external harddrives consist of a normal hard drive in a housing. Once you remove that housing you can connect this harddrive to this item. This of course voids your warranty on that external harddrive and you should know what you are doing as you can break the hard drive if you open these enclosures improperly. Also, make sure your enclosure has a standard harddrive in it (with a standard ata or sataConnector). Like the person answering before me: If your external harddrive is a standard one, most likely with a little work.yes..But Its designed to connect most standard hard drives to a computer. So strictly speaking, you can't connect an external harddrive. But most external harddrives consist of a normal hard drive in a housing. Once you remove that housing you can connect this harddrive to this item. This of course voids your warranty on that external harddrive and you should know what you are doing as you can break the hard drive if you open these enclosures improperly. Also, make sure your... » Read More Like the person answering before me: If your external harddrive is a standard one, most likely with a little work.yes..But Its designed to connect most standard hard drives to a computer. So strictly speaking, you can't connect an external harddrive. But most external harddrives consist of a normal hard drive in a housing. Once you remove that housing you can connect this harddrive to this item. This of course voids your warranty on that external harddrive and you should know what you are doing as you can break the hard drive if you open these enclosures improperly. Also, make sure your enclosure has a standard harddrive in it (with a standard ata or sataConnector). « Show Less
914718
Western Digital recommends plugging the external hard drive directly into an outlet (don't use any line filters or power strips). Once computer is at the desktop, plug into the outlet - wait several seconds and then plug in the Firewire cable from the HD to the computer - it should power up then. You may need to shut down your computer, and then re-do the above when the computer is at the desktop.