Old laptop HDD in a new PC build

joe92

New Member
Hi there, I have built 5 computers over the past year or so but I have a new problem now. Recently a laptop belonging to my father passed away :( From the wreckage I managed to salvage the Hard Disk Drive which has nothing on it that wasn't backed up. The reason it was salvaged was because it is a fast, quiet HDD and I was aware that I was to be building a new computer soon.

What I would like to know is this, will it be safe placing this HDD into the new computer build? I am a bit weary that it is fairly old (I'm not sure of exactly how old but it must be more than 5 years now), and am worried that it might possibly damage the motherboard, or another component from unstable voltage peaks or something that I am unaware of? I just want to be sure before placing this golden relic into a new build. Will using this older HDD hold back the full potential of the build which is using a 60GB SSD as it's primary drive?

This is the HDD in question:
http://m.samsung.com/au/consumer/storage/harddiskdrive/hdd/HM080JI

A PDF relating to its use:
http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/c...419200445968_2.5_Install_Gudie_ENG_200704.pdf

And here is the entire build should anybody be interested:
Case: Antec Solo Quiet Mini Tower
PSU: Enermax Modu87+ 600W
CPU: i5-2500k
CPU Cooler: Prolimatech Megahalems
Thermal Paste: Artic Silver 5
Motherboard: Gigabyte-SKT-1155-Z68XP-UD3
RAM: Corsair 8GB
Primary Drive: SSD: OCZ Vertex 2 60GB
Graphics Card: Asus ATI Radeon HD 5450 Silent
Disc Drive: LG GH22NS 22x SATA DVDRW

The build is almost the same as my previous build (last one had a 500GB SATA3 HDD as the primary drive) and it is silent. Silence is the most important factor when building a computer for me.

Thanks for any help,
Joe
 
Samsung drives are usually quiet and I still have one running thats about 6 years old now. However, the drive in question is only an 80gb. If you don't plan on storing a lot of files or programs then the drive will work fine. However, if you plan on storing pictures and a decent amount of games/music then that 80 gb drive will fill up fast and you will have to get a bigger drive anyway.
 
It is to be used in coalition with a 60GB SSD, so will have an overall storage of 140GB. The person I am building it for stores all of their personal data (pictures etc.) on an external HDD anyway so storage space isn't an issue.

I was just wondering whether plugging this drive, which was used previously in a laptop, into a full sized PC motherboard will cause any sort of electronics failure? I know a lot about computers, but unfortunately I don't know enough about electronics (yet), so I don't know if a problem will occur. I am probably worrying too much, but after seeing how easy computer parts can break I just want to be sure. :)
 
You will not cause any electronic issues no. However, you will need to get a 2.5 to 3.5 inch mounting bracket so that you can put the 2.5 inch drive into a 3.5 drive bay.
 
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