Computer Hardware - Attaching a SATA drive

[scionluna]

Hello,
So this past Sunday my 2 TB hard drive started to fail. Unfortunately my main OS Solid State Drive only has 400 GB available.
I have a 1 TB solid state drive on its way but I wanted to know if I can attach it while the computer is up.
Windows is prompting to restart my computer to repair the hard drive but I'm concerned about losing all that data that remains.
Should I get a SATA to USB cable for the 1 TB solid state drive and transfer that way or is it safe to hook it directly to the motherboard via SATA?
Thanks.

 

[charlatan1978]

Unless it is hot-swappable then you can't just install it when the pc is up.
Connecting it via USB would be an option, although data transfer will depend on what is wrong with the 2 TB hard drive and how much data you intend to copy.
If you are concerned about shutting you computer down go with the SATA to USB cable option.

 

[scionluna]

I woke up on Sunday missing about 100 GB of data. I had about 1.1 TB used. I spoke with a friend yesterday and he says one of disks may have gotten misaligned which is an indicator that the drive is failing.