What Is an External Hard Drive Enclosure?

An external hard drive enclosure is a shell that allows you to insert the internal hard drive of a desktop or laptop for use externally. How it is used after installation depends on the user. Enclosure kits provide protection to a bare hard drive so it can be used again.

Types

Two types of enclosures exist, depending on the computer the internal drive is installed in. Laptop drives are 2 1/2 inches and desktops are 3 1/2 inches in size.

Uses

A common use of an external hard drive enclosure is to use a replaced hard drive as external storage to recover data from a hard drive that has crashed because of the operating system.

Connections

Two main connections hook up the internal drives to the enclosure kits. PATA/EIDE are older style connections, while SATA is the newer connect with faster transfer rates. Make sure you get the hard drive enclosure that matches the connection.

Tips

Before putting the internal drives in the enclosure, clean the contacts of the old hard drive to help with a cleaner connection.

Warnings

You might notice a low transfer rate when you first plug the enclosure hard drive into the computer. This is normal and should fix itself when you format the hard drive unless the drive is corrupted.

References

• Enclosure Kit Information and Setup