Reusing Spare HDDs and SSDs with USB Disk Enclosures

This article demonstrates how to give old, unused hard drives and solid-state drives new life by using USB external enclosures.

Abstract: We show how spare HDDs and SSDs from old laptops or upgrades can be reused as external storage through affordable USB enclosures.

1. Repurposing Spare HDDs and SSDs

After upgrading several laptops, I was left with a handful of spare HDDs and SSDs. Rather than letting them sit idle, I decided to repurpose them as external storage devices using USB enclosures.

1.1. Magnetic Media Degradation Over Time

It’s well known that all magnetic media—including tapes, HDDs, and SSDs—deteriorate over time. While this process can take years or even decades, SSDs are particularly vulnerable: if left unpowered, some can begin to lose data within just six months (\[1\]). This makes traditional HDDs a more reliable option for long-term storage, especially for important files like family photos.

1.2. Affordable USB Enclosures

I discovered very affordable disk enclosures on Temu.com and purchased several to use with my spare drives. The following sections detail the setup and performance of these drives in their new roles.

2. Disk 1: Old laptop 512GB HDD

Here are the specifications of this upgrade:

• Old laptop 512GB HDD
• Enclosure: USB C, 3.1 Gen2
• Brand: Temu.com, 6 Euros

Pictures below describe the upgrade and speed test.

3. Disk 2: Old laptop 2TB HDD

Here are the specifications of this upgrade

• Old laptop 2TB HDD
• Enclosure: USB C, 3.1 Gen2
• Brand: Temu.com, 4 Euros

Pictures below describe the upgrade and speed test.

4. Disk 3: Old laptop 512GB SSD

Here are specifications of this upgrade:

• Old laptop 512GB SSD (leftover after upgrade of laptop's SSD to a bigger one)
• Enclosure: USB C, 3.2
• Brand: Temu.com, 10 Euros

Pictures below describe the upgrade and speed test.

5. Speed comparison with Commercial External USB SSD

For speed comparison, here is a commercial product, Samsung PSSD T9 2TB, USB C 3.2 Gen 2x2.

6. Conclusion

The USB enclosures tested offer an inexpensive and practical way to reuse old HDDs and SSDs. They are especially useful for archiving valuable data such as family photos, where long-term reliability is important.

References

\[1\] Unpowered SSD endurance investigation finds severe data loss and performance issues: https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/storage/unpowered-ssd-endurance-investigation-finds-severe-data-loss-and-performance-issues-reminds-us-of-the-importance-of-refreshing-backups