Convert desktop internal sata drive to external laptop drive

Hello all,
Been a lurker here for a while now, and decided to join in. I'm always finding good info here. I have a friend who has a spare 80G SATA internal drive from his desktop pc. He wants to use it for an external backup with his laptop. I figure he has to get an enclosure for the drive so as to have power to it..,and a SATA card for the laptop. But I don't use laptops and am not up on all the hardware -software for them. Does anyone know how to convert a drive over like this? Or do you know of any hardware we can use to do this.
Thnx in advance for any info on this. Much appreciated. Hawk

[1o0oBhP]

Not thought about extending the cables with electric cabling? If you extend the SATA cabling and the power wiring theoretically you could then have a internal drive OUTSIDE of the laptop case. Though you'd have to sort out covering the unit and making allowance for the wires to exit the case somehow! You could BUY an external HD but wheres the fun in that! :)

Thnx for the reply 1o0oBhP. I think I've got it figured out for him. He bought a 2 drive sata card for the laptop and I gave him a couple sites for HD enclosures. Appreciate the input.

[1o0oBhP]

smart move. Though i would be go custom for the enclosures as I like things to stand out! What storage does this laptop boast now?

I'm not sure what he's running in it now. He never did say. But, I assume that he wants more space because of his asking about adding the ext HD. I'ts one of our members at icrontic.com where I post news and am a mod. He hasn't posted back yet, to tell us if he's got it set up. I try to ask for feedback on things like this so I know if I've helped or hindered the proccess.