Drive Enclosures

The world's first computer was ENIAC--a monster with 17,000 vacuum tubes. Want to add more computer memory to that monster? It's simple--build another monster! In the last six decades, electronics have changed, especially computers. Laptop computers and desktop computers now have hard drives measured in gigabytes (1GB=8,000,000,000 bits!). Fortunately, at Overstock.com, their price isn't measured in giga-bucks!

When you decide you need additional computer memory--and you will, sooner or later--you must choose between internal hard drives and external hard drives. If you choose a new internal hard drive, you'll have to do something with your old hard drive. How about turning it into an external hard drive?

It isn't hard (pun intended). All you need is a hard drive enclosure--that's a computer case just big enough to fit your old hard drive with some computer cables. A hard drive enclosure can be designed to turn an internal hard drive into a removable hard drive, if you have space in your computer case for another drive. Some hard drive enclosures also feature a USB hub, a digital camera memory card reader and other cool stuff.

Just remember two keys: Size--desktop computers have 3.5-inch drives while laptop computers have 2.5-inch drives. Disk model--hard drives come in two flavors, IDE and SATA. Get a hard drive enclosure that fits the hard drive.

External hard drives, by the way, can be unplugged from the computer when not in use. Imagine this: Download all the files you don't need every day to the external hard drive, then unplug the hard drive until your next download. As long as the hard drive is unplugged, your data is safe--no hacker or virus can get at it! At Overstock.com, saving money is not the only thing we worry about.