It wasn't actually manufactured to be an external hard drive but I used the components of a broken seagate shell to make it for external use. My problem is that I have trouble letting go of things that I don't need and I have way to much memory space as it is so I could use the credits. I would be willing to do a trade if necessary. My son spilled water on his ds lite and the motherboard is not salvageable. It sucks that is cheaper to buy a new system than it is to buy a motherboard. But yeah......... the hard drive can be used either way you choose.