External Hard Drive Enclosure

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An external hard drive enclosure is a mystery to most computer users. You may have heard of them being called a hard disk case or caddy. These are simple devices that are used to use a regular internal hard drive, outside of your computer as a storage device. They can be connected by USB, eSATA, or Firewire.

You can find them in many different styles, colors, and designs. Some companies like Maxtor, Freecom, and Lacie sell the enclosure and the drive together. This makes it simple to hook up to your computer because you only need to worry about the power button and a single cable. Otherwise you would have to open the enclosure and fit the hard drive yourself. But if you have some extra hard drives lying around doing nothing, you might want to pick up an external hard drive enclosure and make use of the space.

But don't let the technical terms confuse you, because this setup is actually quite easy to put together. But before you dive in to buying one, let's look at a few more things.

The first thing you need to figure out is the physical size of the hard drive. And I'm not talking about how many files you can save, I'm talking about the real life dimensions that you can touch. There are two main sizes of hard disk drives, 2.5" for laptop or notebook computers and 3.5" for desktop computers. There are external hard drive enclosures for 2.5" hard drives as well as 3.5". The difference between the two sizes is huge, so you cannot just substitute one for the other.

You also need to think about the interface of the enclosure, the method in which it will connect to your computer. Many desktop computer hard drives use SATA, also known as serial ATA. Older hard drives mostly consisted of IDE and ATA/PATA. You can tell what type of connection you need by looking on the hard drive itself. There are other ways to tell the difference, such as SATA usually consists of a connector that is about 1 inch long where IDE/ATA are 3 inches long with many pin holes.

You can find an external hard drive enclosure for less than $20 at almost any computer store. The advantage of reusing an old hard drive is really important because they can be used for storing or transferring files from one computer or another. Sometimes the resale value on a hard drive is peanuts, but the usage value to someone who needs extra space is invaluable.