How to Open a Seagate External Hard Drive

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A step-by-step guide on how to open a Seagate external hard drive

Written by Darlene Antonelli, MA

Last Updated: June 22, 2024 Fact Checked

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This wikiHow will show you how to dismantle and open a Seagate Expansion desktop hard drive.

Steps

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1
Undo the clips between the plastic lid and body. You'll need something thin that will fit in the tiny gap between the plastic lip on the top of the unit and at the base. Start at one corner and move around the unit. You'll hear the clips click as they come undone. As you continue to undo each clip, you'll see the gap between the top and base of the unit widening.^{[1]
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- Some cases have a brushed aluminum or soft metal top instead of plastic.
You'll need to push the two parts apart on at least three edges in order to get inside the hard drive.

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You'll most likely need a Phillips-head screwdriver (cross-head) for this screw. If there isn't a screw holding the disk inside the case, you can use your screwdriver to pop the disk out as you tilt the unit.
The foil is most likely silver. Since the foil wraps around the drive, you can use it to pull up the drive in the next step.^{[2]
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Using the foil, you can lift the drive out of the case. If you ripped the foil, you can tilt the unit until the drive pops out.
You can do this by wiggling and pulling it out where it connects with the SATA disk. You can reuse this part later if you ever need a SATA-to-USB Bridge.^{[3]
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You'll want to turn the drive over to access the last of the foil.^{[4]
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There are four rubber pieces covering screws on each corner of the hard drive that you need to pull off.
Once the screws are removed, the drive will be disassembled.

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After removing it from its case, can you use the drive as an internal drive?

Joseph Greaney

Community Answer

Only in a laptop, as the voltages of a desktop PSU are too high for a 2.5" drive. Also, it wouldn't hurt to format the drive.

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Tips

You can use a small flat screwdriver to pry the case open. If you are worried about denting the plastic, you could also use a hard plastic guitar pick.

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