The new enclosure would contain installation instructions.

As to a choice I would read the reviews at Newegg.

As to the existing IO is this the case?

http://www.iomagic.com/Products/show...SBENP#Contents

All they say is: "Easy installation of hard drive: hard drive simply mounts onto metal base that slides into the four-sided metal outer enclosure."

Often there will be one or two screws to open the case that you cannot see.

These are "hidden" behind a label or Warranty sticker.

Let us know if you have any problems getting it open.

Yes, that is the model IOMagic I have.

Thank you.

I will let you know the results.

There is nothing that I needs to access of any urgency, so I will take my time and shop around.

When I do have my enclosure, if I run into any problems taking my IOMagic apart or putting it in the new enclosure, I will report back.

Thank you so much for leading me in the right direction.

I recommend this site to anybody I know that needs computer related advice.

Thanks!

Let us know if we can help further.

http://cgi.ebay.com/3-5-EXTERNAL-IDE...1%7C240%3A1318

http://cgi.ebay.com/ULTRA-ULT31009-3...1%7C240%3A1318

I am deciding between these.

I have also seen enclosures that hold two or more drives.

I assume that there are hard drives available without enclosures ?

Thanks again.

I will look at the details this evening.

There is no difference in external hard drives and internal hard drives.

Of course there are different types etc. but the hard drive(s) in an external case are just typical hard drives.

So, if I understand correctly, if my desktop were to "die" and it wasn't a drive related issue, I could actually remove the hard drive and put it in an enclosure and use it on another computer.

Wow, I am learning a lot of new info here.

Thank you.

Use it as a hard drive yes.

You could not use the Operating System.

Operating Systems need to be installed on the motherboard that runs them.

External encloses have internal drives inside. Outside of distinctions such as ATA or SATA or SSD and outside of differing speeds and volume size all drives are created equal as it were.

Hi PeoriaPokerPro...Just to add onto jephree's great info...

I have the Ultra ULT33052 and am very happy with this unit. Very easy to install a new or used HDD into. It also has a fan which helps to keep the HDD cool...fan's not really required but it's a nice feature. The real nice thing about the Ultra's is that they are stackable.
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...4&Sku=ULT33052

My latest enclosure is a Vantec NexStar 3 which I bought for a 1.0TB Sata drive that I had.
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...406&CatId=2780

I understand.

On the new computer, it would need XP or Vista (or such and such) on the installed hard drive.

I could get any other programs I have on my current computer in an enclosure
hooked up to another computer. I guess the best method would be to transfer any programs I would like to keep and then re-format, so as not to cause any issues with the windows XP and registry and such on my current installed disk.

I should clarify another difference is physical size as we are talking about 3.5" standard desktop drives. Laptop drives are 2.5" and would require a corresponding type enclosure. As to SSD being so new I am not sure if there are any external enclosures per se.

Just for info another approach to external drives are such as WDD Passports which I like a lot:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/index...=9&language=en

As to your last question I am a bit confused.

No operating system will run off an external drive.

And you programs would need to be reinstalled through the OS drive.

You could "wipe" your old hard drive to use externally for data storage and back up.