Install 2.5 inch notebook SSD in 3.5 inch desktop computer

Solid State Drives are becoming increasingly popular among power users due to significant performance gain over traditional hard drives and decreasing prices per gigabyte. Today you can easily find 64 GB flash drive with Indilinx Barebone controller under $150 which is really a good deal. However all Solid State Drives are designed specifically for notebooks and come in 2.5 inch chasis which seems a bad news for desktop computer owners who would like to have one of those fast SSDs as well.

The good news is there is actually an easy way of installing 2.5 inch SSD into desktop computer. There is no need for any special accessories or HDD kits. All you need is SATA capable desktop computer.

At first sight it seems you would need some sort of special cables and 3.5 chassis but because Solid-State Drives do not have rotational mechanical parts they do not need to be firmly attached to computer case. That's why you do not need 3.5 chassis to make them compatible with desktop computers. Even better laptop Solid-State drives are equipped with exactly the same SATA 2 and power interface like those found in desktop computers.

All this make notebook SSDs dead-easy to install in desktop computers with 3.5 inch hard drive chassis. All you need to do is to open desktop computer box, unplug your 3.5 inch hard drive from power cable and SATA interface connector and replace HDD with your new 2.5 inch Solid State flash drive using the same cables. Than lay gently new drive somewhere inside the computer box, where it will not interfere with other hardware. Now start up computer and install operating system in the usual way with formatting your new drive first.



Note that SSD is going perform best with SATA II cable although it can work on previous version as well.

Install 2.5 inch notebook SSD in 3.5 inch desktop computer