Can you use your old PC as an external hard drive?

Answer 1

Generally, that would be what a server is used for. If you have an old computer laying around, you can probably reformat it and add hard drives, then install either Linux or Windows Home server.

Answer 2

The best solution I have so far is to use synergy or synergy+ (a project in Google code) to control two computers with one keyboard and mouse.

You can cut and paste text between the two computers but you can't open an application on one and drag it to the other.

Synergy is still useful you can use it with VNC or remote desktop to switch what computer you are working on in the second display and you can cut and paste so you can use one computer for reference and work on the other.

Answer 3

Yes you can use an external hard drive on a laptop.

The only issue i can see arising is if you have an external hard drive which draws power from the USB system. Many of the smaller external hard drives either draw power solely from the USB connection, or can use an AC adapter plugged into a wall socket. When using external drives with your laptop, you should always use the AC adapter. Laptop power supplies are designed to power the laptop and very little else, the external hard disk, if its drawing power only from USB, may over-tax the laptops power supply which could lead to system instability.

So, long story short, as long as your external hard disk plugs into the wall for power, it should be fine. If not, it might work & it might not.

Answer 4

Using software such as FreeNAS you can turn an old PC into a networkable hard disk by exporting storage across the network. There is also low level storage export technology such as iSATA and iSCSI which can provide a low level disk across the network. Without specialized hardware though directly interfacing with a hard disk inside a computer is not normally possible. More often then not using a solution such as FreeNAS or a bare bones Linux install on a flash drive to act as a iSATA or iSCSI initiator are the only practical options.

Answer 5

Absolutely. You can attach it to one computer and then setup a network share which will allow all other computers on your network to access that drive.

Also, many new routers will allow you to connect the external drive directly to the router which will do the same as the network share for all computers on your network.

Answer 6

Yes, usually you can unless the hard drive inside the external enclosure uses unusual interface type. If you can physically mount it and you have the required type of interface for the actual drive, you can remove the hard drive from the enclosure and put it in the computer.

Answer 7

Yes you can, unless you set security settings blocking anyone other then your account on the computer you set the security on.

-Nick

Answer 8

Yes. You can typically buy an adapter at your local Best Buy or other electronics store to use to connect the drive to your computer via USB.

Answer 9

no and yes it has an hard drive in the computer but also using a usb