I recently purchased a 20TB WD Elements HDD to replace a 4TB drive in my PC. After formatting it while it was connected externally, I removed the drive from its enclosure and installed it internally. However, my PC doesn't recognize it. When I put it back into the external enclosure, it works fine again. I've tested smaller drives in the same bay, and they are recognized without issues. Could the 20TB drive require more power than my PC can provide compared to the 4TB or 8TB drives?
2 Answers
I'm curious why you chose to go this route instead of just getting a dedicated internal drive. I've seen others do the same, and it's interesting because external drives can often be cheaper. A couple of years back, I stripped one down that had dual 8TB drives inside and installed them internally without a hitch. It saved me a good chunk of money!
It's quite common for external drives to be modified to not function properly when installed internally unless specific modifications are made to the power supply. You might want to check if your motherboard's SATA connectors can provide enough power, especially since 20TB drives might require more than you think. There are plenty of videos on YouTube that explain how to fix these issues, so it's worth a look.
Yeah, that’s exactly why I went for the external one! It was much cheaper per TB, so it felt like a great deal.