Page 10 - January_Newsletter_2022

Connection

Most external hard drives connect to your computer through USB (3.0, 2.0 and 1.1) or FireWire. Choose your
connection type based on what your priority use will be. Mac users focusing on video may consider Firewire as
the computer is more suited to this connection. Your standard office or home user will find USB more useful.

Price

The enclosures tend to vary in price depending on what you need it for. A simple hard drive enclosure at ap-
proximately £10 will have one simple connection and will ideally be suited to those wanting to use it as a
straight back up.

The £10 – 40 range is where you will see a larger array of connection types, material qualities and speeds. These
enclosures are aimed at those with more information to move: photographers, video editors and gamers.

£40+ enclosures tend to be the top speed specification. These are best used with high speed Hard Drives. Many
also have networking capabilities, meaning your hard drive is turned into a basic NAS drive – files shared via
Wi-Fi direct to a TV or tablet.

How do you do it?

The process of housing the hard drive is very simple.

Open the enclosure along the designated line. Some unscrew, others clip. Try and do it on a clean static free sur-
face, to avoid contaminating the drive.

Place the internal hard drive inside, if you have the right size it should be obvious how it lines up.

Connect all the necessary cables. Usually, you’ll have a power source, SATA connection and holding clips…
If it’s a 3.5” holder it’s likely you will need external power (included). A 2.5” will run off the USB connection.

Then plug it into your PC and register it to your computer.

That’s it! Now you can use your old hard drive like any new external device!