Putting a drive in an external enclosure

[996GT2]

I just got a WD6400AAKS today, but haven't gotten the enclosure to put it in yet (waiting until the MX-1 comes down in price again). Can I transfer my files to it now while it's attached to my computer through SATA and then just pop it into the enclosure without formatting it? Thanks!

 

[DarkRogue]

Assuming it's already been formatted into the appropriate file system to accept your files, yes all you need to do is pop it in the enclosure and plug it in. Windows XP should do the rest.

 

[ShadowFlareX]

Whether it's SATA or Paralell-ATA, you won't need to format it or anything if moved into an enclosure. If it's a brand new un-formatted drive, you can still slap it into the enclosure, plug it in, and initialize + format the disk from the Disk Management so Windows can see it.