# HD Enclosures and the HD sizes they support

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hd-enclosures-and-the-hd-sizes-they-support/372538>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 13, 2006, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hd-enclosures-and-the-hd-sizes-they-support/372538 "2006-09-13T13:44:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![arseNal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@arseNal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arseNal)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hd-enclosures-and-the-hd-sizes-they-support/372538/1 "2006-09-13T13:44:38Z")

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Stupid question, but I can’t seem to find the answer anywhere else: do USB/Firewire hard drive enclosures still have maximum sized hard drives that they support? I remember when I bought my first one, it could only take drives up to a certain size, maybe 100 GB or so. Looking at a list of them, for example at newegg

[http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?bop=AND&Description=17-155&Submit=SUGGESTED&DEPA=0&InnerCata=92](http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?bop=AND&Description=17%2D155&Submit=SUGGESTED&DEPA=0&InnerCata=92)

none of descriptions say anything about what size drives they support. I have a 300GB PATA IDE drive, how do I know if the enclosure will recognize its full size?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hd-enclosures-and-the-hd-sizes-they-support/372538/2 "2006-09-13T14:32:26Z")

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[QUOTE=arseNal]  
Stupid question, but I can’t seem to find the answer anywhere else: do USB/Firewire hard drive enclosures still have maximum sized hard drives that they support? I remember when I bought my first one, it could only take drives up to a certain size, maybe 100 GB or so. Looking at a list of them, for example at newegg

[http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?bop=AND&Description=17-155&Submit=SUGGESTED&DEPA=0&InnerCata=92](http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?bop=AND&Description=17%2D155&Submit=SUGGESTED&DEPA=0&InnerCata=92)

none of descriptions say anything about what size drives they support. I have a 300GB PATA IDE drive, how do I know if the enclosure will recognize its full size?  
[/QUOTE]

Almost all modern enclosures (i.e., manufactured after 2004) will handle all current drives.  
In a pinch you might want to see if you can find a manufacturer website or search the web for reviews on a particular model number.