A Question About External Hard Drives

[ReddMcKnight]

Is it safe to take them out of they're cases and then use them while they're still outside of the case?

[CRTGAMER]

Sure. Just don't move them while powered up or static electric short out the exposed PCB.

[alexis524]

i do all the time. i have a 200Gb that has been out of it's enclosure for years and still going.

[Opa Opa]

Probably a stupid question but why would you take the casing off? Keep it from overheating?

[Ziggy]

There are no stupid questions, just stupid answers. But I'm wondering the same thing. Why take it out?

[ReddMcKnight]

There are no stupid questions, just stupid answers. But I'm wondering the same thing. Why take it out?

I took it out to check the USB Connector, and I ended up not being able to put it back together. Heh.

[Anapan]

Inside they're the same as internal ones (except really cheap ones with only usb soldered onto the motherboard), and can be used internally, externally with a dock or like I use - just an all-in-one usb cable (can be gotten cheaper at local computer stores here):
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.37953

[Opa Opa]

i do all the time. i have a 200Gb that has been out of it's enclosure for years and still going.

But why would you leave the casing off? I'd be concerned about dust/lint/et cetera entering in the hard drive.

[avrame]

i do all the time. i have a 200Gb that has been out of it's enclosure for years and still going.

But why would you leave the casing off? I'd be concerned about dust/lint/et cetera entering in the hard drive.

No need to worry about that, harddrives are practically vacuum sealed, and that seal is hard to break intentionally. What I'm reading is removing the plastic shell of an external harddrive, and leaving it bare, as in how you would buy a internal harddrive for a laptop upgrade.

There is no harm in it, I too have tons of harddisks laying beside my computer. I use them in a SATA dock for when I'm backing up my computers data, and leave it unplugged afterwards for safe keeping.

[Opa Opa]

No need to worry about that, harddrives are practically vacuum sealed, and that seal is hard to break intentionally. What I'm reading is removing the plastic shell of an external harddrive, and leaving it bare, as in how you would buy a internal harddrive for a laptop upgrade.

There is no harm in it, I too have tons of harddisks laying beside my computer. I use them in a SATA dock for when I'm backing up my computers data, and leave it unplugged afterwards for safe keeping.

Alrighty. Thanks. I don't know that much about the internal parts of computer hardware.