LostInTechnology

How To Set Up An External Drive Enclosure

Posted on 29. Jul, 2009 by Douglas Reynolds in How To, Windows

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An external drive is an excellent way to create on-site backups of your data.  External drives are quite small and can function perfectly for taking your data with you and sharing on other host computers.  Often times, organizing large files, such as video projects, images, audio, etc. are more conveniently stored on an external drive, especially when local disk space is a consideration.  Using an external drive is one of the easiest ways to transfer a disk image to a new drive in the effort of upgrading one’s primary drive.

For my personal situation, which was to create an image of my existing drive and transfer it onto an upgrade drive, I decided that an external drive was better, faster, cheaper.

What You Will Need

1. A hard drive
2. An external drive enclosure
3. A Phillips screwdriver (#1)
4. USB or FireWire cable, depending upon your setup (SATA to eSATA connections are an option as well)
5. A grounding strap to prevent static electricity from damaging electronic components.

Needed for This Project

My total cost for this project is $90.00.  I purchased a Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320 GB drive for $75.00 and the absolute cheapest external drive enclosure that I could find, which was an Azio ENC211S31 External HD Kit.  My considerations for the external drive were the following: It had to have an aluminum body for heat dissipation.  It had to be cheap.

I was not as concerned about how long it would take to transfer a disk image, therefore, it was not important to me whether I used USB or FireWire.  In my research, I’ve found that due to the architectural differences of USB and FireWire, USB is faster in short bursts on smaller file sizes.  However, FireWire performs better for larger file transfer operations than that of USB.

Either one is very dependable.  Given that information, I decided that cost was of higher priority than time.  Finally, the enclosure must securely mount the drive to the carrier tray (the sliding tray inside the interface) so that the drive cannot be jostled around inside the enclosure.

Installing Your Drive In The Enclosure

Unpackage your new drive enclosure, being sure that everything that is supposed to be in the box is indeed in the box.  Per the enclosure manufacturer’s instructions, remove the drive carrier from the body of the enclosure.  In the case of the enclosure I am using, there are two thumb latches on either edge of the bezel, this is nice as it requires no tools to slide the carrier from the body.

Removing Drive Carrier From Enclosure Body

Unpackage your new drive and install into the carrier of the external enclosure.  Do not force anything while installing the drive.  Be sure that you orient the drive so that the connectors of the drive are aligned with the connectors on the carrier.  Firmly push the drive toward the carrier interface until the drive is securely connected to the carrier.

Take care to not touch any electronic parts of the drive or the carrier.  I recommend also using a grounding strap to avoid any unwanted static electricity that could damage your new drive or the external enclosure’s electronics.

Installing Drive into Carrier

Securely connect your new drive to the carrier using the screws provided with the enclosure kit.  Be sure not to over-tighten, snug is good enough.

Securing Drive to Carrier

Double check that the drive is securely mounted and that it is seated fully in the carrier’s drive interface.  Place the carrier, with installed drive, back into the enclosure body and ensure that it is securely locked in place.

Your new drive and enclosure are now ready to be connected to your computer.

Next Steps

The next steps needed in order to use your new external drive are to connect the enclosure to your computer, via the USB, FireWire, or eSata connectors, using the appropriate cable.  Your computer should detect the new hardware and, in the case of Windows, present you with the appropriate “Add New Hardware Wizard”.

These steps will differ, based upon the version of Windows that you are running, this should be a good general process though.  In the wizard you will see “Found New hardware -> USB 2.0 Storage Adapter (when using USB connection).  Follow Window’s on-screen instructions to install your new drive.  If it is necessary to format your new drive, you can find the disk manager in My Computer by right clicking on the My Computer Icon and then selecting Manage.  Click on Disk Management to view a list of all drives on the system.

You may be presented with an Upgrade Disk wizard, if so, you can use this wizard to create your partitions and format the drive.  If the wizard does not launch then locate your drive in the list, right click on the new drive, create a new partition and format the drive.  Note, be sure to select the appropriate format type for your needs, here is a resource that will help determine which Windows disk format is correct for your needs: NTFS vs FAT.  Here is also a resource for Install or remove a hard disk drive.

In the case of connecting to a Mac, here is a resource which details the process of partitioning and formatting a drive using Disk Utility: Formatting & Partitioning a Hard Drive in OS X – Tiger and Leopard.

(By) Douglas Reynolds is an application developer, holds a degree in Software Engineering, and owns an independent Flex application development consulting company.  He maintains a personal and technology blog located at dougrdotnet.  Find him on Twitter @dougrdotnet and LinkedIn.

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Tags: Enclosure, External Drive, hard drive, Mac, Windows