Using Hard drive enclosure
For to use HDD portable and with a better protection choose a hard disk case. It includes power cable and a USB connector along with it or only USB connector.
So buy a hard-drive case/enclosure with the size of the hard disk you have, it may either 2.5” or 3.5” inch enclosure. Laptop hard disks are of 2.5”inch and PC hdd's are of 3.5”. Also, enclosures are available of plastic and aluminum. Plastic enclosures are cheaper than aluminum, but aluminum enclosures can offer more protection to your hard disk. In other means both have no difference.
2.5” inch hdd's are smaller and use less power than 3.5-inch internal hard drives.Thus, 2.5-inch enclosures can be powered by USB bus and no need of external power and thus it requires no power adapters and makes more comfortable for portable use.
For a 3.5-inch hard drives external power is required, due to that it includes AC power adapters along with it. Thus, it always requires an external supply for working. We need to carry the adapter & connectors all the time, and is not suitable as 2.5” inch hdd for a portable use due to its size. Also in order to use in laptops etc.. it requires an AC supply, thus portable use may not practical at all cases.
Next, you have to consider hard disk interface options of the enclosure, you have to choose suitable drives depending on the hard drive. Enclosures with PATA, or IDE hard drives, SATA hard drives are available in the market. Older systems are designed to work with PATA, or IDE hard drives, and newer enclosures with SATA drives. Determine which drive interface you need, it will label in the hard disk or you can find yourself. The SATA drive will have a pair of flat connectors, the wide one for power and the smaller one for data. The PATA drive consist of 4 pin connector on the right for power and the larger connector with two rows of pins for data.
For using as external enclosures offer SATA/IDE to USB or SATA/IDE to FIREWIRE interfaces. Most commonly hdd enclosures feature a USB version 2.0, some may have another interface or additional with USB.
Install your hard disk to the enclosure
For installation you only need to place and connect the hard disk to the case. The way of open mechanism of case and plugs may differ.
You may provided the exact screwdrivers with the enclosure pack. Remove the screws and take the tray out of the case and connect the internal drive into the exact plugs. Insert the hard disk into the enclosure and screw it.
connect power cable and USB to the enclosure, power on the enclosure and access the hard disk as external storage.
Using SATA/IDE to USB converter
SATA/IDE to USB converter can be used as similar to data cable, only difference is it don't have case. All the connectors and adapters will be same as enclosures. In USB converter cable it may have both SATA and IDE in the same,
For a SATA interface, connect the SATA drive onto the USB converter cable with the SATA data cable and connect power with the SATA power cable from the 4-pin power connector cord of AC Power adapter.
For a IDE interface, connect the driver directly onto the USB converter cable.
Connect the larger 40-pin IDE connector of the SATA/IDE-USB Adapter for a 3.5” hard drive and connect the 4 pin Power Cable from the AC Power Adapter.
Connect the smaller 44-pin IDE connector of the SATA/IDE-USB Adapter for a 2.5” hard drive.
For a 2.5” the power will be supplied by the USB.
Power the adapter and ON the external enclosure, connect the USB cable to the computer and use as an external storage.
