change network drive to external drive

Hi,
My network hard drive only has a network connection, no usb, and makes too much noise where it is located, so I want to change it into an external drive. If I cant do it with the current connection I will try to remove the drive from the caddy, which I presume I will be able to do using a screwdriver, and put it into an old caddy which already contains a much lower capacity drive. However I would have thought I would have been able to plug it into the network port on the back of my laptop and configure the computer to think the drive is on a network even though its not connected to the internet, but I cant. Any ideas please? I have various computers but the one I will be using it most on is windows 7.
Thanks
Steve

 

I may, and I will. Its a 2TB Barracuda Seagate sata drive, in an iomega NAS enclosure, with network cable connector and slave usb. Cant see ay other description.

 

No model number anywhere? Newegg shows dozens of different "iomega NAS" models.

 

it is 2TB Home Media Network Drive
SERIAL NUMBER: XNAL5201C3

 

I can take it out the enclosure and use it as a usb drive as I have a sata to usb converter. I am asking if a network cable can use a hard drive like a hard drive instead of going through a network first?

 

iomega 34571 2TB Home Media Network Hard Drive

 

I think all that is if its connected to a network (router) which I can already do. I want to connect directly to my computer, not a network.

 

You may be able to connect it directly to a Desktop computer like you would any other SATA hard drive, i.e., connect it to one of the SATA ports on the motherboard and to a a power lead from the power supply.

You could also connect it via a USB, eSATA or Firewire adapter (or enclosure) to a Desktop or Laptop.

 

Yes thanks I know that, I am sorry but having reread my first post it wasn't too clear. I know I can remove the drive from the caddy and use as a normal drive. Perhaps mine is a network question and not a hard drive question, but thanks for your time.

 

?

You can move the NAS to anywhere else on your network. As long as it's attached to your router you should be able to access it.

-- edit --

Ah ha, just now noticed this:

No.

 

No, that will not work. That would be like connecting an Ethernet cable between two computers to "network" them. That will not work without a special Ethernet cable (called a "crossover" cable), or the NIC's port must be autosensing to detect when a crossover cable is needed.

The advantage of a network drive is it can be connected anywhere on your network physically. That means if the drive is too noisy, you can move it to another room.

I don't see how changing the way the drive connects is going to change the amount of noise it produces.

You "should" be able to remove the drives from one enclosure and install it into another. However, it appears some drive enclosure makers do NOT use industry standard connectors, and that may present a problem only physical, visual inspections may reveal.

 

I did it, sort of, and this is how. I attached the hard drive again to my laptop by plugging it in by via network cable. Opening windows explorer in windows 7. There is an option on my toolbar to "map network drive ". Having clicked this i can browse for the folders in my networks, one of which came up as IOMEGA- 190C81, and assign a drive letter, for example "movies (\\IOMEGA-190C81) (Y" Having done that I restarted my laptop and the folder appeared but was red crossed through meaning, I thought, that it was unavailable. However on double clicking the drive, it opened and the red cross disappeared. I am now dragging and dropping files to the network drive as if its a hard drive, and have opened a video from it on my laptop which plays normally. Success, and my son wont be moaning about the noise from the networked hard drive connected to the router in his room. Update since typing the above is that it keeps dropping out whenever a task completes, such as copying a file. At the moment I don't understand why.

 

It appears the network device and your notebook have autosensing port and created a virtual crossover cable. So I am glad that worked.

As for dropping out, I don't know why either. Perhaps the drive is going into some sort of sleep/standby mode.