Re-use external HDD enclosure?

WD External Drives External Drives
1

I have an old WD Essential external WD800B014 with 80GB Enhanced IDE HDD.

Can I upgrade the HDD? Is it worth it? Will I still be limited by the USB 2.0 speed? Will it even work with current technology? What else do I need to consider?

If this is possible, what would be a suitable hard drive? What do I need to do?

Thanks

2

Yes, it will still be USB 2.0 no matter how big or how fast the drive.

If the internal drive itself is IDE, then you would need an IDE drive. While IDE drives are still available, the interface is much slower than SATA (even with USB 2.0).

If the internal drive is SATA, it’s likely an old version of SATA and would still be restrained by USB 2.0

Personally, I would not spend the time or money “upgrading” it.

But, by all means, enjoy taking it apart and tinkering with it. Make sure you destructively erase the disk drive before dissecting and then recycling it.

3

Your drive can theoretically be upgraded, but it’s not practical. The USB 2.0 interface limits transfer speeds, and finding compatible IDE drives is challenging. The effort and potential cost outweigh the benefits, especially considering the limited speed and capacity improvements. A new external drive with USB 3.0 or higher, offering greater capacity and speed, is a more sensible option for current technology needs.

4

Ok. Thanks for the replies. I was hoping to re-use the hardware as I hate wasting perfectly fine equipment.

I suspected that the answer was going to be ‘no’ but I thought I’d try.

Thank you

PS I did take it apart anyway as I’m nosy! Anyway, it’s going into the rubbish now as we don’t have recycle.

5

Hopefully, you’ve done some kind of destructive erase before pitching it. There are various tools available to ensure no one can recover any data from it.

If you prefer “old school”, a hammer works real well. Watch out for shrapnel.