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9 months agoLaptops use a 2.5 inch HDD, most desktop cases are designed to hold a 3.5 inch HDD. You may need a special bracket to hold the drive if the case you plan to use only has 3.5 inch bays.
Some modern cases do also include a 2.5 inch mounting spot due to SSDs using a 2.5 inch form factor.
As the other comments stated, it can be as simple as turning the light on and off and we already do this with fiber optic network connections. The light particles themselves aren’t carrying the data, just the pattern of on and off.
It is also possible to send multiple streams of light using color filters. It’s called Wavelength Division Multiplexing.