How to Remove the Hard Drive from a Western Digital Passport and Insert it into a Laptop

If you're looking to update the hard drive in your laptop, you've likely noticed a price discrepancy between external hard drives and internal hard drives. It seems that external hard drives are always on sale, and that internal hard drives are always at least $30 more expensive.

One of the best ways to get an new, higher-capacity for your laptop is to purchase a cheaper external hard drive and remove the hard drive from the shell. The best device for this project is the Western Digital Passport hard drive.

Western Digital Passport hard drives are merely normal laptop hard drives inside a durable, rugged-looking case. If you manage to open the case, you'll be able to swap the hard drive out for the one in your computer. I recommened Passport hard drives for two reasons - they are generally reliable, and they are so popular that you can almost always find a sale.

If you have a Western Digital Passport external hard drive and you'd like to remove the hard drive and insert it into your laptop, read on to find out how.

Items Needed:

Western Digital Passport

Laptop

Pocket knife or other thin object

Small screw driver

Step 1: You'll need something small, hard, and thin to pry the Passport case open. The best item for the job is your average pocket knife, but a flat screw driver, or even a fork will work.

Before starting, remember that this will void a warranty for the hard drive, so don't do this is you don't want to lose your warranty.

Step 2: The case of the Passport has one side that is rounded. It is at that location that you'll need to insert the pocket knife and gently pry the edge plastic away. The outside frame slides in and out of the case. Once you get it pried open a bit, it is easy to yank apart.

When you have the two pieces of plastic pried apart a bit, slowly pull the plastic from inside the external case. This is easiest to do by putting your finger inside the USB hole and pulling.

Step 3: Once you have the hard drive free from the case, you'll need to remove it from the metal case. This can be tricky, so be gently and work slowly. Life the back end of the hard drive up slightly, so that you can grasp it with your fingers. Hold the metal case near the top with your two fingers and slowly wiggle the hard drive slightly while pulling. It will resist at first, but simply apply even pressure, and it will pull free.

Step 4: There is an adapter connected to the hard drive, so that you can attach a USB cable. Simply pull the adapter off carefully. It should slide off easily.

Step 5: Now that the hard drive is completely free, power down your computer and remove the battery and cable. Using the small screwdriver, unscrew the hard drive cover and pull the hard drive from the machine.

Remove the two screws that holds the hard drive to the case and set the internal hard drive off the side. Replace that with the external hard drive and put the screws back in the same holes. Insert the hard drive into your computer and replace the screws.

Now insert your operating installation CD and reinstall the OS onto your new hard drive.

Step 6: Reversing your steps, you can put the other hard drive into the Passport case and reassemble it, using it as an external hard drive.