How to Use a Laptop Hard Drive Enclosure

Gone are the days when external hard drive enclosures are so expensive that it was cheaper to simply buy a larger hard drive. Today, a USB connected hard drive enclosure can be purchased for less than ten dollars. These are perfect when you purchase a new laptop and do not want the hassle of transferring the data from the old computer to the new one.

#
Step 1

Remove the hard drive from the old laptop if necessary. Since laptop sized hard drive enclosures are generally very thin, it may be necessary to remove any caddy holding the hard drive.
#
Step 2

Connect the adapter on the top lid of the enclosure to the hard drive. Make sure it seats well, but don’t use excessive force.
#
Step 3

Slide the hard drive into the enclosure until the lid is seated in place. If provided, screw the small screws in the proper holes to hold everything in place.
#
Step 4

Attach one end of the USB cord to the enclosure and the other end to your laptop.
#
Step 5

Boot your computer normally. You should be able to find the extra hard drive in "My Computer."


Tips & Warnings

*
Most newer computers and operating systems allow you to add or remove the USB drive without shutting the system off or rebooting.
*
Adding an external drive to your laptop gives you extra security for back-ups or for sensitive data. If traveling keep the enclosure packed separate from the laptop.
*
There are few size limitations on what size hard drive can be used in an enclosure.
*
They also make enclosures for full size, desk top computers for around the same amount of money.
*
Check eBay for the best deals on laptop hard drive enclosures.

How do I choose an external hard drive enclosure?

Question:

How do I choose an external hard drive enclosure?

I currently have an old PC which has some information on it I need, but the computer won't boot. I know the hard drive still works and so I'm going with an external hard drive enclosure, but I'm not sure what I need.

The hard drive is a Quantum Fireball AS Plus, Quantum part number looks like QMP40000AS-A, serial # is 194141631577

Any help is greatly appreciated


Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Since the pc is old, this is going to be an IDE drive. You want an enclosure that supports IDE (or ATA) 3.5" drives. Additionally, you're looking for an external connection that is supported by the computer you're going to attach it to, like usb or firewire. Most common is usb.

You might also consider using the enclosure in the future with another drive (or drives) as a backup location, so maybe you want to get one that supports both ATA and SATA (since SATA is becoming the most common).

I have lots of enclosures and drives... more drives than enclosures. Good for backups and clones. That's why I suggest considering one that supports both ATA (for your current need) and SATA (for possible future stuff).

Other Answers:

1. What you need to look for depends on the size of the hard drive most anymore cover almost any size.Get one with a fan,some even have two.You will read that because they're aluminum they don't get hot,don't you believe it.If you run one for 4 or 5 hours,they get so hot you can barely touch the case.
2. The hard drive is an IDE aka ATA U100 hard drive. Its not SATA, so don't get a SATA enclosure. I shop generally at newegg.com the bytecc is decent... N82E16817145385
3. Just read some of the review on the cases. I would stay away from the sub $20 cases.. They tend to lock up on the usb port and cause errors. (crappy chipset in the case)
4. any external enclosure works fine on your hdd. just make sure that u get the IDE(PATA) enclosure, as it doesnt support SATA/SATA 2.try to get a quality (mostly expensive) enclosure as they usually offer better quality for prolong used.

Deluxe External HD (Hard Drive) Storage & Travel Case - for Compact Medium Size HardDrive - w/ Internal Divider, Adjustable Shoulder Strap & Carrying

This case is a perfect size to keep my External hardrive. It is highly protective and perfect for traveling or just to store away :)

Product Description
Hard Drive Case is well constructed to provide protection during hard drive transfer from location to location. w/ Bendable Divider & Detachable, Adjustable Shoulder Strap and Carrying Handle for Easy Portability (Internal case dimentions:8.5" x 6.5" x 3.25"). Fits hard drives up to: 8.5" x 6.5" x 3.25". Compatible with ACOMDATA E5 Hybrid Drive, E5 Series Drivers, Minipal, Combo Drives, USB 2.0 - BUSLINK 3 Way Interface, USB HD, Sata - G-TECHNOLOGY G-Mini - HITACHI External USB Storage - HP Personal Media Drive - IOGEAR Combo 3.5" Ion, Silver Series USB / FW, Minimax - LACIE Golden Disk, Porsche HD, Brick Desktop, d2 Quadra HD, Mini HD & Hub, d2 Esata II - MAXTOR One Touch 4 / 4 Plus / 3 Turbo ED / 3, Personal Storage 3200, Shared Storage II, Fusion We Server - SEAGATE Free Agent Pro / Desktop, PushButton BackUp, 3.5" External Storage, eSata - SIMPLE TECH Simple Drive, Pro Drive, Duo Pro Drive, Signature External Desktop - SMARTDISK CrossFire Soho Nas - WD (Western Digital) MB Studio Edition / Pro Edition / Premium ES ED / Home Edition / Office Editon / Premium ED / Essential Edition 2.0, Element Desktop, MB World ED 1.

InWin Ammo 2.5" SATA HDD Enclosure

July 2009
Review by: Steve
Edited by: Ji4m
Provided by: InWin
Price: $39.99US MSRP

Introduction:
With the prices of portable hard drives and USB flash drives continually dropping, the abundance of these devices in the hands of consumers is ever growing. There's no doubt that the portability of these devices is excellent, but what do you do when you forget where you left that portable storage device full of your personal, and sometimes confidential data? If you look hard enough, it's not hard to find several models of USB drives and hard drive enclosures that go the extra mile for your safety by encrypting the data they contain. The Ammo is the latest 2.5" drive enclosure to come from InWin. This high quality drive enclosure encrypts all the data contained on the drive, decrypting it only when the appropriate RFID tag is swiped over the sensor on the case. To keep the drive physically protected, it is internally encapsulated in a thick, drop-proof and waterproof rubber skin.

In-Win Ammo 2.5″ External SATA Enclosure

I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing a lot of external enclosures, a product that not too long ago was considered a luxury in owning for the average consumer. Nowadays, with advancing technology and lowering prices, its almost odd to see a user without. Naturally, there is an enormous selection of models out there, all (for the most part) sporting the same data transfer rate. So what is it that causes model A to sell more than model B? In-Win knows, and has sent us an example known as the Ammo, to find out for ourselves.

Packaging
The Ammo comes packaged in a cardboard material box, dual toned with a black background and brown font. Not quite the flashy, colorful, catch-consumer’s-attention facade you usually see, but it still stands out if for nothing more than its simplicity. The entire Ammo product is designed with a military theme, and the package truly is something you’d expect to see on the shelves of an equipment locker. The actual containing box slides out of the external cardboard sleeve, with the enclosure immediately open to view in a blue sealed bag as you open the fold. Beside it lies a piece of cardboard with a thumb hole, under which cords and other accessories are stored. Among these accessories you’ll find two RFID sensors keys (we’ll hit their application later), one of which is an actual dog tag with Ammo information on one side and a cross-hair on the other, as well as a more simple red key ring.

Features
- Supports 2.5″ SATA HDD
- Unique Ammunition Cartridge Design
- Ultra strong protection with metal material
- Advanced Anti-vibration structure
- RFID Data Encryption (Radio-frequency identification)
- Plug & Play and Hot Swap

In-Win’s creativity hasn’t spared the manual, either. The packet folds out several times to create a life-size gunfire target, complete with actual record lines (date, calibur, weapon used, location, and so on…), and one the reverse side the instructions in six languages (English, German, Russian, Turkish, Japanese, and Chinese). This is an extremely cool idea, but actually using the manual can be somewhat of a pain. Unfolding it is very similar to one of those pocket atlas’ that you pick up at visitor stations, and trying to handle it to read can be awkward, especially since the English version takes up a fraction of the total sheet. In the middle of the text instructions, however, you will find detailed images demonstrating how to install the hard drive, but when it comes to figuring out how to encrypt the hard drive, you’re going to have to track down the 10pt text walk through.

Installation
The backside of the enclosure, with the AC plug in and USB-mini, also has two screws on either side. They’re simply Philips-head, but you won’t even need to track down a screwdriver; In-Win has provided a nice little one. Removing the screws will allow for the metal faceplate to be removed, leaving the head of the rubber anti-vibration material, which simply pulls out of the metal enclosure. The board which the hard drive plugs into is set in this rubber, so you’ll acutally be positining the drive into this material as well. This can be a little awkward as well, the easiest way is to twist back the rubber sides so the every corner of the board is open to pull the hard drive clean against to. Once the drive is attached, the rubbed can be folded back and lifted on to the drive, snugly securing it. It takes a little more effort than other models, but the security and vibration reduction are far, far worth it.

Hard drive assembled, the rubber holster simply slides right back in, and is once again secured with the metal face-plate and screws. From here, its only a matter of connecting the mini-USB to two open USB slots and the OS will take it from there.

Performance
The data transfer is the standard 480Mbps with high speed 2.0 ports. I had a few games on my 2.5″ that I needed transfered, so it was a great opportunity to put the rates to a test. With a combined memory of just over 25Gb, the transfer took a little over 24 minutes. One of the only major issues I have with this enclosure is the absence of eSATA, not only because of the obvious increase in transfer speed but also because there is plenty of space to include it. Its all the more odd considering In-Win has opted to included an AC input port, though no wall outlet is supplied. One does have to consider, however, that at least half of the customer base will be used by laptop/Mac book owners which don’t traditionally sport an eSATA port, but when its obvious In-Win is trying to please every consumer with the additional power supply option, eSATA doesn’t seem at all unreasonable.

As far as the straightforward data transfer goes, the Ammo excels. The enclosure also sports RFID encryption, requiring one of two included sensor keys to access the files. To use this feature, however, the hard drive must be formatted and partitioned for the encryption: in other words, if you’re going to use a drive that has data stored on it, you’d better back it up. There is a little procedure to go with setting up RFID to register the keys to the device, but as long as you follow the included instructions everything runs smooth. Without taking advantage of RFID, however, the Ammo will pick right up on your drive the moment you plug it in with all your files available.

The actual enclosure itself is made of a sturdy metal material that resembles an ammunition clip, hence the name. The external is fairly light-weight, even with the drive installed. In-Win has also put a lot of effort into reducing vibration from disk read, and its paid off as well.

Overall
The Ammo looks great, from the moment you open the box to the LAN party you get to show it off at. Everything you need for installation is included, and the process itself takes minute effort at most. The enclosure connects via USB, both for power supply and data transfer, though as mentioned the option for a wall power supply is there. The feature that has made itself scarce, however, is eSATA, so you’re going to be stuck at around 480Mbps. However, with a USB2 exclusive connection and lightweight material, the Ammo is extremely portable. And with In-Win’s investment in anti-vibration, you can’t even tell the external is on. The RFID encryption is a great option, providing the ultimate lock for those looking to keep files secure, though you’ll probably want to start with a fresh drive. Otherwise, the Ammo does a great job picking up on the hard drive with plug and play and sports exceptional read and write speeds for USB.

Review: Antec Veris MX-1 Actively Cooled Hard Drive Enclosure

If there is one thing that every computer user could need more of it’s more storage space. Luckily these days hard drives are almost cheaper than gas (per gigabyte, that is) so it seems like a good time to fill up! However, if your like many people I know you might run into one of a few scenarios. First, you may not have space in your case for a new hard drive. Second, what if you want to carry a large amount of data around in a portable fashion? One of the better options to solve this conundrum these days is a external hard drive enclosure.

There have been a lot of different external hard drive enclosures made recently and many brands have already marketed several enclosures by this point in time. Well, many have, but not Antec. This is their first design and it looks like Antec is upping the ante by on the first go-around with their Antec Veris MX-1 Actively Cooled Hard Drive Enclosure.

Features

First off, let’s get the features out of the way, so we can know what to test and expect:

• Dual output interface – USB2.0 and eSATA (external Serial ATA) allows you to transfer data up to 480Mbps or 3Gbps respectively
• Supports up to 750G SATA hard disk drive
• Unique HDD cooler brings fresh air in and around HDD for maximum cooling to protect your valuable data
• Two layer (plastic with aluminum) upper and lower panels to absorb HDD and fan noise
• Carbon-glass filled frame to reinforce the strength of the whole enclosure
• Built-in silicone pad to absorb HDD noise
• Included USB cable, eSATA cable, and eSATA bracket to convert your PC’s internal SATA and eSATA
• Stand included
• Very quiet fan operation – under 22dBA
• Supports Windows 2000 / XP / ME / VISTA
• Blower fan keeps your hard drive cool and improves performance
• Silicone grommets to isolate drive vibrations
• Dual layer top and bottom panels absorb vibration and deaden fan noise
• Keeps hard drives up to 15°C cooler, improving the hard drives stability and lifespan

This is a very impressive feature list for a first generation enclosure. The major things to note here are the active cooling, silicone noise-reducing pad, the carbon-glass construction and hard drive cap of 750GB. The cooling is said to keep the drive “up to 15 degrees” cooler. Heat is the enemy. This is good. Noise reduction measures also bring the case in at a quiet 22 dBA. Sound is the enemy. This is also good. The carbon-glass and aluminum frame makes the case light, strong and heat conductive.

Finally, the last item on the list if the 750 GB drive limit. If you have a 1 TB hard drive, sorry sir, that’s not supported hardware. Or rather, I don’t have a terabyte drive here to try out so who knows. I can’t really see a reason for it to not work unless it’s an operating system limitation. Not to fret though as 750 GB is still a lot of space to work with. It’s not the size of the drive, it’s what you do with it! Now that we’re intimately familiar with the feature set, let’s move on to the real thing and see how it shapes up!

What’s In The Pretty Box?

The inside of the box is well packaged and upon further inspection yields everything you need to move forward with using your new enclosure:

• Power Adapter
• Line Cord
• eSATA PCI-slot cover
• eSATA cable
• USB 2.0 Cable
• Stand
• MX-1 Enclosure
• Manual

After taking a look at all the items, it’s apparent Antec didn’t cheap out on the accessories, which is what one would expect with the price tag on this enclosure. So far so good, so let’s take a look at the enclosure itself!

Real-Time Price and Stock Check – Shop Like a PRO!

How to Build an External Hard Drive

One of the simplest ways to give your laptop more hard drive space, or backup all of your important files without burning them to CD or DVD, is to build your own external hard drive. This hard drive would be able to connect to any computer with a spare USB port. You can easily and quickly transfer large files between computers, and also have a form of backup in the event something ever happens to your computer. This external hard drive will work on computers running Windows 2000/XP, OS X, or Linux.

Tips

• This wiki can also easily be applied to adding a Zip Drive, CD ROM/Burner, or DVD ROM/Burner. CD/DVD ROM's/Burners will only be supported by the 5.25" enclosure size. This enclosure size is special because it also supports HDD's. A Zip drive is 3.5" so you will need a bezel (sometimes supplied with your enclosure, but otherwise only a few dollars) to fill the void around the smaller drive and secure it to the enclosure. The drives mentioned here all can use a variety of ribbon cables and power connector sizes, so make sure your enclosure is compatible with the hardware you will insert.
• If your new drive has both USB and FireWire, only use one (the fastest one compatible with your computer(s)). If you are using USB, plug your cord in to your computer's USB High Speed (2.0) connector. If you do not have a High Speed connector, or use the wrong one, it will only mean that you will be transferring data more slowly between the drive and your computer.

Things You'll Need

• Harddrive
• Drive Enclosure
• USB/Firewire cable
• Computer with available USB/Firewire port
• Screwdriver (most likely philips)
• (optional) Surge Protector

Steps

1. You must obtain an internal hard drive (from now on referred to as an HDD). The first step is to decide on one of the standard physical sizes for any HDD. If you already have a spare HDD laying around for this project, skip to step 3. There are basically 3 HDD sizes: 1.8", 2.5", and 3.5". 1.8" and 2.5" are the standard sizes for laptop HDD's. Laptop HDD's can be powered by the USB cable, so there is no AC adapter needed. Laptop HDD's are however more expensive than internal PC HDD's, so if you are not worried about size or another power cord, a desktop PC HDD may be the way to go.
2. Choose and purchase a compatible enclosure. Take into consideration the physical size of your HDD, as well as its interface (ATA100, ATA133, Serial ATA150, Serial ATA II, etc.). Decide on a connection type that suits the needs of all computers that will be connected. USB2.0 is currently a good standard, and it will work on any computer or laptop with a free USB connection. FireWire (IEEE1394) is even faster, however it is not as common in all computers yet. Be sure to also compare fan noise levels (if it has a fan, and if the noise level is displayed). For a HDD that will be running whenever your computer is turned on, a fan will be most likely a good thing to have, while HDD's used primarily for backup usually won't need one. Also check to see if there is a power switch on 3.5" enclosures. Without one, you will need to unplug the adapter to power down the drive. For backup this isn't a big deal, but some people using their drive for secondary storage might find it annoying to plug and unplug every time they start and shut down their computers.
3. Unwrap both your enclosure and HDD.
4. Follow your instructions on how to correctly open your enclosure.
5. Set your HDD to the Master setting (or Master/No Slave if one exists). This jumper setting is located between the Molex power connector (4 large round pins) and the ATA/SATA connector. You will see 2 rows of four or five small pins, and a small clip (jumper) connected to 2 of them. Pull out the jumper with a tool such as tweezers or a pencil, and place it in the Master position if it is not already there. A diagram of the different jumper settings can usually be found right on the top label of the HDD.
6. Connect your enclosure's Molex power connector and ATA/SATA ribbon cable to your HDD. Although it would be very hard to accidentally plug these in upside-down, take a moment to make sure that the ribbon cable and power connector are properly aligned before inserting them.
7. Screw the HDD into the enclosure. 4 or more screws were supplied with the enclosure. There will be 4 holes, 2 on each side of the HDD, and corresponding holes inside the enclosure.
8. Take one last look at the inside before you close it. Make sure you did not forget to connect anything. Read your instructions (you HAVE been reading them too, havent you? :) and make sure you covered all of the steps. It will be a pain to open it all over again because you forgot to change the jumper to Master or something.
9. Close the enclosure.
10. Connect the power cord (if one is necessary) and the USB or FireWire cord to your drive.
11. USB and FireWire are Plug-and-Play, meaning that you do not need to turn off the computer before connecting your drive. Connect the other ends of these cords to your computer and surge protector (you ARE using a surge protector, right? :).
12. Turn your computer on if it is not already. Go to My Computer (or Computer for Windows Vista). It is most likely on your desktop, but can also be found in the Start menu.
13. You should see a new device in the 'Devices with Removable Storage' section.
14. Right click on it and select Format (about half way down the list).
15. Format the drive using NTFS for use in Windows (ext3 is good for Linux) as the File System. To read and write from both Linux and Windows, use fat32. You can give it a Volume Label if you wish. Example: External, Secondary, Backup, etc. Be sure Quick Format is not selected. This will allow any bad sectors to be recognized and to be roped off from any data being stored later on.
16. Wait for formatting to complete. This may take longer for large drives.
17. Good Job! You have successfully built your own external hard drive.

Warnings

• Make sure your enclosure has no HDD capacity limit (no larger than a certain number of Gigabytes (GB)), or that this limit does not conflict with your drive's capacity. Unfortunately, some older enclosures may have a somewhat low limit (say 132GB) and not advertise this. Be careful! And if you attempt to use a larger HDD, format it to this limit or lower, or you will most likely encounter sector read errors or something :(
• Never force the ribbon cable! There should be some resistance when connecting it, but if it won't go in, the pins may not be lined up correctly. If you do manage to bend the pins (hopefully not too many of them), take time to straighten them using a pair of needlenose pliers.
• You should always use all 4 screws when adding a HDD to any computer or enclosure, and make them tight. HDD's spin at a high RPM, and vibrations may occur if the drive is not properly secured. These vibrations can cause an annoying humming noise, and even damage to the drive over time.
• Keep movement of the drive to a minimum while it is turned on. This once again causes unnecessary vibrations.
• HDD's are very easy to damage when dropped onto a hard surface. The read/write heads can crash onto the platter/s and leave physical damage on the platter, rendering that space on the disk useless as well as making the unit as a whole too damaged for use.
• Be sure to use the "Remove Hardware" icon on the task bar before removing the drive from the USB port, Failure to do so may cause the drive to not work properly.
• Remember that when the hard drive is outside of the enclosure, it is un-protected from static discharge. So do try to keep it from static and the causes thereof.
• Formatting the drive as ext3 will make it unreadable on a Windows system and formatting as ntfs will make it read-only (you can't copy files onto it) on linux systems without the correct software. Fat32 (called vfat in linux) will be read-write on both operating systems.
• Drivers are needed if connecting an external Hard Drive (By USB) on Windows 98 (And 98 SE)

eSATA and USB Thermaltake VI-ON 3.5" SATA Hard Drive Enclosure

About one week ago I took a look at the Thermaltake Max 4 USB and eSATA external hard drive, and I found it was a decent product. Today for review I’ve got another Thermaltake External Hard Drive Enclosure called the Vi-on. This one is very different from the Max 4 in style, and looks, it’s very sleek and sort of artsy looking, it does feature both USB and eSATA connections and a separate, removable base. The Vi-on is also partially tool-less for the installation, and the hard drive rests on springs to help dampen vibrations while the entire enclosure is cooled by a small, silent fan. I’ve put compared it to several others I’ve got on hand, read on to find out the results…

The packaging for the Vi-on is nicely done, and the enclosure is packaged well inside.

Getting everything unpacked we find the enclosure, cleaning cloth, USB cable, eSATA cable, power supply, stand, and user manual. The stand is a wedge shape and has a cut out in it where the fan is located on the enclosure itself.

The reason there’s a cleaning cloth included is that the Vi-on has a glossy casing that attracts dust and fingerprints, it looks nice but it isn’t very practical. the two sides of the case are the glossy plastic, while the top, front and back are a metal mesh to help keep the dive inside cool.

On the back we find the power switch power connection, USB and eSATA ports:

On the bottom you’ll find four screws that attach a metal plate to the bottom of the unit, this plate serves as a way to secure the side of the Vi-on in place, you must remove the plate to access the inside. The plate also features a cut-out for the fan and cut-outs for the bolts on the base to secure it to the stand.

Once the base is off the side just slides off, inside we find the circuit board with HDD connection. There’s also a bag inside with four rubber feet that attach to the bottom of the enclosure so you can use it without the base, the legs provide space for the air to flow under the enclosure. The hard drive just sits inside, no screws required for installation. The HDD sits on four posts that have silicone rubber tops which have springs under them, this is to help keep vibrations down. The panel that was removed also has a padding on it.

What is a Hard Drive Enclosure?

A hard drive enclosure is used to house a hard disk externally, adding storage and flexibility to any system. The enclosure connects to the computer through a universal serial bus (USB) or Firewire port, making it a plug-and-play device. This means it can be turned off and on while the system is up and running. A hard drive enclosure can be used for many purposes and provides portability between desktop and laptop, or home and office.

Security: One of the main advantages to using an external hard drive enclosure is security. Many people are concerned about online threats including viruses, Trojan horses, spyware, hacking, poorly written software and malicious scripts. Some threats can expose data to outside sources, while others corrupt it.

Installing financial data or sensitive programs on an external hard drive is one way to help ensure they stay safe. The hard drive enclosure can be left off when the user isn’t accessing the programs or data, and when online. If several family members share the computer, an external drive is one way to keep key information or software private. Simply remove the hard drive enclosure and lock it in a drawer or safe when not in use.

Back Up: An external hard drive is perfect for storing system back ups or “ghost” images of the main hard disk. If the main drives fails, the ghost image on the external drive can re-create the main disk in mere minutes. Alternately, popular software like Acronis True Image will make a bootable carbon copy of the main disk on the external disk. In this case, the external disk can be removed from the enclosure and installed into the system for an instant fix. It is also possible to boot directly from the hard drive enclosure by using settings in the motherboard’s Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) menu.

Archiving and Libraries: People today are rapidly amassing memory-intensive libraries of music, movie, and graphic files. Storage of these libraries using an external hard drive enclosure frees up on-board system resources for ripping, burning and downloading, while protecting libraries from online threats. Moving these libraries to an external drive also greatly reduces maintenance time for system tasks like file defragmentation, spyware sweeping and virus-checking.

A hard drive enclosure also allows people to reuse “smaller” hard disks that have been replaced by newer, larger capacity drives. For example, as prices have dropped many people have replaced 30, 40 and 60-gigabyte (GB) drives with 250 GB drives or better. Installed in an external hard drive enclosure, older drives become quite useful for archiving.

Portability: It’s simple to transport huge amounts of data between computers using an external hard drive enclosure. Any system equipped with a USB port or Firewire will be able to instantly read the drive and transfer files quickly and easily. An external drive is the next best thing to a massive memory stick.

Alternate Operating Systems (OSs): True geeks might like to use an external hard disk to load a bootable, alternate OS, such as an upcoming Windows OS or Linux. Having a fully functional secondary operating system allows for experimentation without unduly risking the main system, its setup or configuration. One can also try out critical programs for compatibility issues. Installing the OS on an external drive avoids the hassle of creating a dual boot system as is necessary when loading two operating systems on internal disks. Motherboard BIOS settings allow one to easily boot from the external storage device or the internal hard disk.

In considering which hard drive enclosure to purchase, keep in mind that the enclosure must be made for the type of hard drive it will contain. Older drives are IDE, which stands for Integrated Drive Electronics. Newer drives are Serial-ATA or SATA drives. The relevant difference is in the imbedded connector and controller. Noise is also a consideration. Some enclosures have a built-in power supply and fan. Fan design determines whether the fan will be quiet or noisy. If you plan to leave the hard drive enclosure on most of the time, you may want to consider a quieter model. Vendors like NewEgg.com provide customer reviews that can be a great asset in making the right decision.

An external hard drive enclosure is so handy you might want more than one. Once you use it, you’ll likely wonder how you ever got along without its many benefits.