Hard drive caddy query

[isnibs]

Re: USB 2.0 3.5 Inch Hard Drive Housing
Hello. My desktop pc has died on me and I think it could be the motherboard. It has Windows XP in it. Could I remove the hard drive and put it in the above housing and plug it into a USB port on my new pc which is running Windows Vista. Would I then be able to use it in the usual way.ie reading from it and saving data to it ? Also are all desktop pcs 3.5 inchs? I'm not too technically knowledgeable about computers but I have done bits and pieces.
If this housing isn't suitable can you recommend one that would do.
Thanks for your help
Steve

[ChuckFickens]

yes to most of your questions...

The only point to be aware of is older hard drives had IDE interfaces newer ones have a different interface (SATA)

as long as you get the correct caddy (IDE or SATA) then it will work as you describe fine.

couple of pics below so you can tell the difference

IDE
http://www.allcam.biz/catalog/images2/allcam/h ard_drive_interface_ide.jpg


SATA
http://www.hardwarezone.com/img/data/articles/ 2003/817/sata_connectors.jpg

[isnibs]

Hi again . Thanks for the advice. I think I'll go ahead and order one of those caddies. There's one on amazon which does both the IDE and SATA connections so that should do .Would this one be OK ?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000T V3TN0.
Steve