Reader Fred wants to know if a laptop hard drive can be plugged into a desktop PC. “The pin out appears to be the same,” he notes, “but there is no separate power-supply connector.” Short answer: yes.

Modern hard disk drives use a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment or SATA interface to attach to a computer motherboard. SATA drives come in speeds of 1.5 gigabits per second, 3.0 Gbps and 6.0 Gbps.

It's easy to install a new hard drive in your desktop computer, but laptops can be a whole other ball of wax, because the drive is usually wedged deep into the notebook's innards and it takes a lot ...

Seagate GoFlex Desk External desktop hard drives buying guide Mac’s hard drive near capacity? Time to add more storage The hard drive in your Mac is often referred to as an internal hard drive. An ...

External hard drives can be moved between systems, reformatted at will, and repurposed without risking the data or stability of a primary computer.