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Why do I need an external hard drive?

It’s always a great idea to have an external drive as a backup just in case your PC does ever fail. If you’ve ever
upgraded your computer or simply have old hard drives lying around it’s possible to convert the unit into an
external hard drive.
As you can imagine by looking at the Internal Hard Drive, it lacks connections and protection for use in the big
bad world. The SATA or IDE connections it comes with are only really useful if it’s installed inside a computer.
So, you need to add a way for it communicate with other bits of tech. You need a USB (the most common type
of connection for external hard drives and most computer peripherals) or a Firewire bridge.

For this you need an Enclosure or ‘Caddy’ as they are known. These cases are both converter, protector and
holder for the internal hard drive.
Basics

Enclosures are boxes that the internal drives sit in. They come compatible with two interfaces: IDE and SATA.
Of the two, SATA hard drives are much more common now than IDE and are likely to be the one you need.
Always check first, as the connections differ.

Size

Depending where your internal hard drive came from originally, the size of the drive will vary. 3.5” (3.5 inch)
hard drives are used in desktop computers, with 2.5” (2.5 inch) drives found usually in notebooks. 3.5” drives
are usually bigger, faster, and cheaper to buy – but because a 2.5 inch device is naturally smaller it’s more port-
able.