# Hard Drive Enclosure--the function thereof?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-enclosure-the-function-thereof/599607
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 14, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-enclosure-the-function-thereof/599607 "2011-10-14T04:48:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-enclosure-the-function-thereof/599607/1 "2011-10-14T04:48:12Z")
[http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category\_slc.asp?CatId=2778&SRCCODE=WEBGOOHD&cm\_mmc\_o=mH4CjC7BBTkwCjCECjCE](http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=2778&SRCCODE=WEBGOOHD&cm_mmc_o=mH4CjC7BBTkwCjCECjCE)
If I buy the first item on the linked list (the one that’s thirty dollars and is called a “hard drive enclosure,”) will I be able to pull the hard drive out of my non-functioning laptop, put it in that enclosure, then plug the enclosure into my laptop via USB, and by this means be able to pull data off the hard drive?
(Both machines run Vista.)
Is that what this device is for? Or have I misunderstood?
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### Author:  [@goldmund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goldmund)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2011, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-enclosure-the-function-thereof/599607/2 "2011-10-14T04:53:21Z")
That’s a 3.5" enclosure. That will work if your laptop has a SATA drive. However, you wouldn’t be able to permanently mount the drive in the enclosure. You’d just have to leave it open and set the drive into the connector as you copy your data.
If it’s an IDE (PATA) disk, you won’t be able to put it in that enclosure. While laptops and desktops use the same connectors for SATA, the IDE connectors on 2.5" disks are smaller than on 3.5".
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### Author:  [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2011, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-enclosure-the-function-thereof/599607/3 "2011-10-14T04:59:44Z")
If your goal is just to get the data off, I would get something like [this](http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Adapter-Converter-Optical-External/dp/B001OORMVQ). It supports SATA and both 40-pin and 44-pin PATA connectors. A very similar unit has saved my butt multiple times–including situations just like yours.
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### Author:  [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2011, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-enclosure-the-function-thereof/599607/4 "2011-10-14T10:50:48Z")
> [@goldmund](#):
>
> That’s a 3.5" enclosure. That will work if your laptop has a SATA drive.
Note that I’m trying to get data off my _desktop_ hard drive, not my laptop. (ETA: Which I totally got wrong in the OP!) Is that relevant?
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### Author:  [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2011, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-enclosure-the-function-thereof/599607/5 "2011-10-14T12:54:57Z")
> [@Frylock](#):
>
> Note that I’m trying to get data off my _desktop_ hard drive, not my laptop. (ETA: Which I totally got wrong in the OP!) Is that relevant?
If the reason your desktop is not working is a bad drive, then you probably wouldn’t have any luck with the enclosure. Does your desktop drive have a wide flat ribbon cable going to it? If so you’d need an enclosure that supports PATA/IDE drives. Or just get a cable as Herr Dr. Merkwürdigliebe suggests.
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### Author:  [@Enilno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enilno)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2011, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-enclosure-the-function-thereof/599607/6 "2011-10-14T13:00:33Z")
The link on the OP says it supports both IDE and SATA so it should be fine for any desktop drive. It’ll do exactly what you want to do, but there are cheaper alternatives, like the one **Dr. Strangelove** linked if the only thing you want is to transfer data, and not care about having a convenient external drive to use after you’re done.
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2011, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-enclosure-the-function-thereof/599607/7 "2011-10-14T13:13:05Z")
a cable interface is good for very infrequent recovery of data from drives.
an enclosure is good for frequent recovery of data from drives.
once you have used an enclosure to recover data from a dying drive then buy a good new hard drive and start using it as an external backup at least for important data, which is a good policy.