If you have recently replaced your hard disk drive (HDD) with a bigger capacity HDD, you do not have to toss your old drive to the trash. You can recycle and use it as an additional storage by converting it to a handy external drive. All you need to do is to put it inside a hard drive enclosure (otherwise known as hard drive cage). By simply buying a piece of hard drive enclosure, you would be able to save more on disk space and money.

A hard drive enclosure is designed as an external casing of the hard disk drive. Hard drive enclosures provide you a means to mount the spare hard drive on the drive bay of the host computer. The hard drive enclosure is also equipped to support other hardware components in the drive system, such as spindle motor, actuator, and PCB among others. A hard drive enclosure is composed of two parts: the top cover and the base plate.

The base plate of a hard drive enclosure is where all components are assembled. Hard drive enclosure is then covered using the other part, the top cover. To seal the contact between the base plate and top cover, you would often see gaskets being used as sealant. To really protect your HDD, the environment inside the hard drive enclosure must always be clean. Remember that the particles present on the head-disk interface have abrasive action on the disk; the constant abrasion causes data losses and more abrasive particles in circulation. For this reason, you must assemble the drive in a clean room to ensure particle-free hard drive enclosure.

There are countless benefits for a drive placed in a hard drive enclosure. With the help of a hard drive enclosure, you can conveniently back up your data and move bigger files from one computer to another. It would be easy for you to rescue files in case your other drive has become unbootable if you have a hard drive enclosure. With lesser load in your PC by transferring some of them to the external HDD in the hard drive enclosure, you can prevent the heat build-up in your operating computer case and that should save you from damaging your equipment.

Before you purchase a hard drive enclosure, know its right size. This is to ensure that you would be buying a hard drive enclosure that fits and converts internal HDD into external seamlessly. If your drive was used in a laptop or notebook, choose a 2.5-inch hard drive enclosure. In case it was previously used in PCs, a 3.5-inch hard drive enclosure is the right size for your needs.

In addition to the size of the hard drive enclosure, you should also take into account your interface options. Hard drive enclosures are generally intended for working with IDE drives; the connection to your PC is done through a USB or FireWire external port. However, some hard drive enclosures have been designed to engage the newer SATA drives and are fitted with an eSATA interface. Note that relatively few PCs and notebooks carry that type of port. When relocating a SATA drive, check the hard drive enclosure for the presence of a USB interface where you can hook up the SATA drive.

As you shop around for hard drive enclosures, you will find that some hard drive enclosures are more expensive than others. Prices, generally, are dependent on the features supported by hard drive enclosure. There are models of hard drive enclosures capable of direct connections to TV sets and can be controlled by wireless remotes. This may be an advanced hard drive enclosure feature, but you may not need it for your own personal use.