# External hard drives vs. internal w/enclosure **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 9, 2005, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/external-hard-drives-vs-internal-w-enclosure/298510 "2005-04-09T02:09:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/external-hard-drives-vs-internal-w-enclosure/298510/1 "2005-04-09T02:09:44Z")
I searched Tom’s Hardware but couldn’t find anything that pointed me in the right direction. Background: My computer has 2 USB ports and a 4-pin Firewire port. What I’m looking to buy is an _internal_ hard drive, put it in an enclosure, and hook it up via either USB or my ghetto 4-pin Firewire port. The problem with this relatively simple design is that I don’t understand the difference in all of the crazy ATA, SATA, IDE, etc. stuff. I therefore come to you, the Dopers. What I’d like is a 200 GB+ storage solution on the cheap. Expandability would be nice, like maybe do they make enclosures that I can later stick a 2nd drive in? I’m clueless when it comes to this. I found [this](http://www.officemax.com/max/solutions/product/prodBlock.jsp?prodBlockOID=537395644&cm_ven=Affiliate&cm_cat=Tier1&cm_pla=www%2Etechbargains%2Ecom&cm_ite=Site&BV_UseBVCookie=no&affCode=PRF&siteID=k3736&mid=) at OfficeMax, and it seems to be a decent deal for that much storage, although I’m sure I could eBay it for cheaper. Speed isn’t a huge issue here, but price is. 🙂 Like [this](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=64459&item=5184312526&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW) auction has less than a day left, but it’s cheap, after all. I just wouldn’t know what to do with it. So, finally, I need what I said that I need. With education about it, I could probably do it myself, but I don’t know if it’d be easier to just point out an enclosure and HD, or to teach me what I need to look for. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/external-hard-drives-vs-internal-w-enclosure/298510/2 "2005-04-09T02:15:43Z")
Do you know if your USB is 1.1 or 2.0? ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/external-hard-drives-vs-internal-w-enclosure/298510/3 "2005-04-09T02:18:03Z")
P.S., that auction is cheap right now, but I guarantee you that won’t be the selling price. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/external-hard-drives-vs-internal-w-enclosure/298510/4 "2005-04-09T02:28:41Z")
Looks like 2.0, at least from what I could figure out from the device manager. ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/external-hard-drives-vs-internal-w-enclosure/298510/5 "2005-04-09T02:33:29Z")
Out of curiosity, is there a reason you want to use an internal drive externally as opposed to buying an external drive? ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/external-hard-drives-vs-internal-w-enclosure/298510/6 "2005-04-09T02:42:37Z")
> [@audiobottle](#): > > Out of curiosity, is there a reason you want to use an internal drive externally as opposed to buying an external drive? You can “roll your own” cheaper usually. That said, [this](http://shop2.outpost.com/product/4279704) looks like the best solution right now, if you have USB 2.0. [Everest](http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.php?pid=1&lang=en&pageid=1) or [Belarc](http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html) should tell you for sure. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/external-hard-drives-vs-internal-w-enclosure/298510/7 "2005-04-09T03:15:21Z")
**audiobottle** : price, mainly. And also, I’m using a laptop right now, and it _might_ be more convenient to stick the internal into my computer at a later point if I buy a desktop in like 2023. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/external-hard-drives-vs-internal-w-enclosure/298510/8 "2005-04-09T03:59:04Z")
**yoyodyne** : Holy poop that is cheap! Thanks.