Usb 2.0 vs SATA but External case problem!

[benn600]

I bought 3 WD 500GB My Books with USB 2.0 only. One will be used onsite for day to day usage. The second will be kept onsite and updated every few days. The third will be updated every few weeks and kept offsite at a family members house.

The problem is that I purchased a SATA card so I can put the drive inside my server but I don't know if it's worth opening the drive up. My main question is whether someone knows how to open the case with minimal damage to it and without scratching it a lot from prying?

Second, would I be disappointed if I just used USB 2.0 and left it at that? It would be convenient to have it external but then I bought the SATA card for nothing.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[paparazi]

benn600
My thought is: leave the drive safely in it's housing, start messing around trying to remove it and you are creating a problem for yourself.
The differance in performance is not massive.
Besides!!!! how do you know the drive is a SATA? it could be a standard ATA?
Martin

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[Freestone]

I must be missing something. Exchange one My Books for a bare SATA drive, install card and drive in server.

 

[benn600]

That would be simplest but my source doesn't sell the drives separately. I am going to just use USB 2.0 because I love the idea of having the drive right there and easy to take away if I need to. WD said the drive was SATA--so I'm believing them and a huge drive like that with 16MB cache should definitely have SATA. Anyway, problem should be solved if I just use USB 2.0. I'll save my SATA card for the future sometime when I'll need it. Thanks!