What size hard drive enclosure should I have?

I have a hard drive with a width of 4". I neither need a 3.5" enclosure or a 5.25" enclosure and I don't know which. I sort of feel stupid even asking this question just because it seems sort of obvious that I should pick the next size up, being 5.25", but the dimensions on a 3.5" enclosure I'm looking at says it's width is 4.24". So, very confused. Help? :D?
What size hard drive enclosure should I have?
You probably need a 3.5" enclosure. Most hard drives that come form a normal computer use this size.





If you had a laptop hard drive, it would be 2.5".
What size hard drive enclosure should I have?
I don't trust the enclosure width 4.24" is very weird; I would go for 5.25" and simply have brackets to mount it up.
Reply:ok i guess i'm a little confused with your measurements of your HD.


if you got the HD out of a desktop you probably will use a 3.5" enclosure


if you got it from a laptop, then you will be using a 2.5"


the 5.25" will typically have mounting holes for 3.5" built in


another question is would be what connectors do you use PATA or SATA? those will also help you find the right enclosure.
Reply:Get the 3.5" enclosure. The 3.5 doesn't refer to the external dimensions of the drive. They are really 4 inches wide.





I always THOUGHT that the disk inside (what I used to refer to as "the platter" years and many more inches ago) was 3.5 inches in diameter. It's not on current drives. (Though the early ones may well have been only 3.5 inches, inside a 4" box. The external dimensions had to stay the same but the platters would have grown as much as possible with that 4 inch box.) I just now checked inside an old 6GB drive that died recently. It's platter(s) are 9.5 cm or about 3.75 inches in diameter.





Anyway a "3.5 inch" enclosure is the correct choice. Get a SATA 2 one (or, if you have an older IDE 3.5" drive look for an enclosure that supports both). The last SATA 2 enclosure I bought had external connectors for both USB2 and eSATA.


Some machines now come standard with connectors that accept eSATA (External SATA) connections with external drives. The flexibility of dual USB2 and eSATA connection options means your external enclosure would continue to useful until the day it finally dies.





Have fun.
Reply:Most hard disk should have brand sticker on it. Find out whats the brand and model number. Do a yahoo or google search.





The model number should be able to tell you what is the size, capacity and type of connection (ie IDE or SATA).





Happy searching! cheers!

floral