It is differentiated from a disk enclosure, in that an array has cache memory and advanced functionality, like RAID and virtualization.

The most familiar Fibre Channel connectors are cable connectors, used for interconnects between initiators and targets (usually disk enclosures).

If the medium is a hard disk drive, the caddy is also referred to as a disk enclosure.

Vantec has carried external hard disk enclosures since 2004.

Backplanes are commonly found in disk enclosures, disk arrays, and servers.

Hard disk enclosures can also help reduce drive noise.

These features may not work when hard drives are encapsulated in some disk enclosure supporting the USB mass storage interface.

Key benefits to using external disk enclosures include:

The HDD's spindle system relies on air pressure inside the disk enclosure to support the heads at their proper flying height while the disk rotates.

Superdome does not contain any internal hard disks, it relies exclusively on external disk enclosures.