What kind of external hard drive case?

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Level 1

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What kind of external hard drive case?

Hi there,
I've just upgraded the hard disc in my 2012 Macbook Pro to a SSD. There was nothing wrong with my old drive, I just wanted to give the ageing computer a bit of a boost. That's all worked out fine, but I obviously now have spare the hard disc that was in the computer originally.
Am I right in understanding that if I buy an appropriate case for this drive, I can then use it as an external drive?

I know it's a 2.5" case that I want and, looking online, a lot of the cases seem to be 'Sata to USB'. I have no idea what this means but is this what I need, or is it something else that I require? And if I buy a case, is there anything else I need? I imagine it should be very simple to sort out, though haven't done it before so any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks all. tim

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.5), 16GB Ram

Posted on Jun 25, 2016 2:42 AM

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Answer 1

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,329 points

Jun 25, 2016 2:54 AM in response to Tim Jeeves

Since you have a 2012 MBP, it has USB3 connections. That should be one of the features that you should consider when selecting an enclosure. The reason is simple, the data transfer speeds are much faster than USB2 (though USB2 would still be compatible).

Here is an example of some enclosures you might evaluate:

https://eshop.macsales.com/search/HDD+enclosures

There are other vendors as well. Do choose from the ones for 2.5" HDDs.

Ciao.

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