Laptop drive almost full? Need to back up your photos? Desktop-size and portable platter storage has never been cheaper. Our deep-dive reviews help you track down the right external hard drive.

If your old PC or laptop hard drive still works properly ... You can do this by opening up a hard drive with ceramic platters and exposing its inner components. Then, wire up a speed controller ...

In the case of these and single-platter-drive products, you're not meant to swap out ... in wide use on hard drives is Thunderbolt 3, which is handy assuming you have a newer laptop or desktop ...