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.

External hard drives aren't just for laptops and desktops. Several other devices you probably already own can read or write ...

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 ...