WD MyBook 500Go in MacPro?

[FreAk6767]

hello,

Just a quick question:

I have this external drive lying around, a WD MyBook Essential Edition, USB2, 500Go. It's vibrating on the desk, starting every now and then.

I wonder if its SATA; so I can tear the case apart of the plastic WD, and put it safely in the MacPro?

I tried to look online, but no mentions of its specs, if it's SATA, IDE, etc...

Any help appreciated.

 

[dubhe]

hello,

Just a quick question:

I have this external drive lying around, a WD MyBook Essential Edition, USB2, 500Go. It's vibrating on the desk, starting every now and then.

I wonder if its SATA; so I can tear the case apart of the plastic WD, and put it safely in the MacPro?

I tried to look online, but no mentions of its specs, if it's SATA, IDE, etc...

Any help appreciated.

You can tell by the serial number, if you post it I will try and decode

 

[dubhe]

This site has details, with the best info is at the end of the thread.

On my WD 2.5" drive the last letters of the S/N are BEVS which equals:

B = form factor (2.5")
E = Mobile Scorpio non-FFS
V = 5400 / 8MB cache
S = 22-Pin SATA

 

[DoFoT9]

yea go for it!

it looks pretty new so it should be SATA, if not just invest $10 in a SATA>IDE converter and your set.

 

[IroquoisPliskin]

Yes, tear it open and make it an internal drive.

 

[pwn247]

I've heard of LOTS of people who pry open their WD MyBook and remove the internal drive, and then throw it into their case. So you should be fine.

And, IIRC, the WD MyBook (still in it's external) has some sort of feature where it will spin down when not being used, and spin back up again when you read/write. I heard that the feature is annoying, but just wondering if that's why you want to extract the drive? I heard of someone who wrote a batch file to write + delete a txt file to the HD every minute or so to prevent it from spinning up and down.

 

[FreAk6767]

Hey, first of all, thank you for all the good advises!
I managed to get the HD out, and was SATA, and is now in the macpro!

Gotta say, the macpro boots faster with no external USB HD plugged in, (the WD fw800 doesnt seem to affect that).

And now, the HD is faaaaast! Access is way faster than it was with USB connection! And now it doesnt stop too, like it used to do when it was in the USB enclosure.

All in all, faster, quiet, and always on!
All good!

Thanx