The single best damn accessory you can buy for a PC is an internal SATA hard drive dock. No, not the crappy external USB kind, the internal built-in SATA kind.
Why? Because:
0. ZERO compatibility issues with anything. It's SATA, works with USB boot stick, Hiren's Boot CD, UBCD, all other boot media, all third-party utilities, etc.
1. It lets you plug in another hard drive and make hot backups daily.
2. It lets you remove said drive and replace it with another in about 5 seconds. Meaning now you have both hot (online) and cold (offline) backups, and are proof against nearly every virus out there (including ransomware). Good for weekly, monthly and quarterly backups.
3. It lets you take your backups offsite; now you are proof against disaster. (Hey, a 10 months old backup is better than nada.)
4. It lets you migrate your current HDD/SSD to a newer, replacement, and/or larger HDD/SDD very easily. Which is what I'm about to do.
5. It lets you expand your nearline storage endlessly. Just take a HDD off the shelf and plug it in. Great for storing unlimited movies, TV, games, etc. where you don't need it online all the time.
6. You don't pay monthly fees for cloud storage, and there are no tiers or storage limits.
7. Newer models accept both 2.5" drives and 3.5" drives directly. No adapters.
8. Newer models accept 3.5" drives without a supplementary screw-on tray or caddy (i.e. trayless).
9. If your HDD crashes, you can boot from CD/USB and plug in a new HDD/SSD to recover as much as you can. No worries about USB support not working on your recovery CD or stick.
10. Direct SATA connection much faster than USB connection (yes, even USB 3.0).
Do yourself a favor and the next time you buy a PC, spend the $50. It's worth it.
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