l have some invaluable media on my weeks old hitachi touro 1TB HD, unfortunately it just doesnt connect or light up or power up no more, Hitachi said they will not repair it but give me a new 1TB HD , not a good deal for me, as I want to at least access those invaluable media so can back up to other HD's for safety, I like to ask, is it possible to take out the storage HD in this new 1TB HD, and put it into another shell with USB attachment? This was done for my last pc laptop notebook, its HD was put into a identically sized shell with USB attachment, so it could be accessed with other pc's. Can this be done with my defunct Hitachi Touro HD?
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possible to put HD of a defunct externalUSB HD into another USB case to access media?
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Yes should work. If its a drive problem, you still may not be able to see the data.
Breaking open the Turo case will likely void the warranty unless you pre-coordinate with Hitachi.... if thats important to you at this time.
Before breaking it open, perhaps try another cable. If its a powered drive, try another power brick, any brick with the same output voltage and plug would work well enough for a test.
Breaking open the Turo case will likely void the warranty unless you pre-coordinate with Hitachi.... if thats important to you at this time.
Before breaking it open, perhaps try another cable. If its a powered drive, try another power brick, any brick with the same output voltage and plug would work well enough for a test.
Others have already said it should work as long as there drive itself isn't bad.
I just wanted to chime in that if it was actually invaluable data, it should have had a separate backup somewhere just for instances like these. It's a rough learning experience when you lose data by not having a backup. I've been there in the past.
If the data is small enough you can use an online cloud backup. If not, a spare drive kept in a fireproof/waterproof safe, or kept off site like at work or a family or trusted friends house is a great investment.
thanks for advise, the HD itself had np, it must of been the small metal connection socket part (definitely not the cable) l went to a local computer shop and the helpful guy fitted the HD to a UNITEK USB 3.0 TO SATA III (6G) CONVERTER + 2.5" PP Enclosure, Y-1039B (quite a mouthful) paid HKD 120 for it, and got all my data back 
which immediately transferred to another HD. l also purchased a 1TB Buffalo HD, as have a Buffalo HD already and it has been nothing but reliable for ~5 years now, is Buffalo HD a more reliable brand than Hitachi for HD's? (my Hitachi Touro lasted only ~few weeks and it needed a new case to salvage it)
which immediately transferred to another HD. l also purchased a 1TB Buffalo HD, as have a Buffalo HD already and it has been nothing but reliable for ~5 years now, is Buffalo HD a more reliable brand than Hitachi for HD's? (my Hitachi Touro lasted only ~few weeks and it needed a new case to salvage it)
OP:
If you still have the Hitachi "bare drive" in-hand, and you have all the old data off of it (you said that you do), I would do this with the bare drive:
1. Get either a new external enclosure or (better) a USB3/SATA docking station
2. Put the drive into the dock or enclosure and re-initialize it with Disk Utility.
3. Run DU's "repair disk" function on it. Do you get a good report?
4. If so, REPEAT the "repair disk" function 5 more times. Do you get the same good report each time?
5. If so, use the drive for non-critical storage (stuff that you wish to keep around, but won't tear your hear out if it is lost).
It may have some life in it yet!
If you still have the Hitachi "bare drive" in-hand, and you have all the old data off of it (you said that you do), I would do this with the bare drive:
1. Get either a new external enclosure or (better) a USB3/SATA docking station
2. Put the drive into the dock or enclosure and re-initialize it with Disk Utility.
3. Run DU's "repair disk" function on it. Do you get a good report?
4. If so, REPEAT the "repair disk" function 5 more times. Do you get the same good report each time?
5. If so, use the drive for non-critical storage (stuff that you wish to keep around, but won't tear your hear out if it is lost).
It may have some life in it yet!
never ever rely on a single device to store invaluable data.
a lot of people will set up a RAID, and think they're safe since they're covered in a single drive failure, but the enclosure can go bad, or multiple simultaneous drive failures can happen.