The use of a hard drive enclosure allows a computer user to add additional hard drive space, using either a new or an existing spare hard drive. Installing a hard drive enclosure for your computer is simple and easy for both desktop and laptop systems. Hard drive enclosures are available for both Windows and Mac-based systems.

Insert the hard drive into the enclosure following the manufacturer's instructions. For many enclosures, this is accomplished by attaching the supplied adapter to the hard drive, sliding the drive into the enclosure and locking the end caps in place. Laptop desktop enclosure may have small screws that hold the end caps in place.

Place the included driver disk into your CD or DVD drive to install the drivers needed for the USB drive to recognize the hard drive enclosure. If you are using Windows 2000 or later, you can skip this step, as Windows will recognize the drive attached to the USB port. A Mac will also automatically configure the drive.

Connect the supplied USB cable to the hard desktop enclosure.

Connect the USB cable to the USB port on your computer. The computer should immediately recognize that the drive has been connected. For older Windows systems, you may need to shut down before you connect to the USB port and reboot after the drive is connected.

Format the drive, if necessary. You can do this on a Windows machine easily by clicking on "My Computer" and highlighting the external hard drive letter. Right-click and choose "Format" from the options. If the hard drive has been used previously, formatting will not be necessary unless you want to remove the files on the drive. If the drive has never been used, it will need to be formatted to match your operating system before use.