Please help! (hard drive enclosure)

[Clueless]

First and foremost, I'd like to apologize for my lack of knowledge regarding hard drives as well as anything off the wall I might say (it's late at night here, and I'm dead tired). Please overlook my lack of detail in describing my plight.

So, my Dell Inspiron 1420 laptop (2007) died recently, and I bought a Vantec 2.5" external hard drive enclosure (SATA). The problem is, after removing my hard drive, it won't fit into the hard drive enclosure case. Side by side, the enclosure and the hard drive from the dead laptop look like they are the same size, but apparently they are not.

I'm wondering, after I've got my hard drive out of the laptop, is there anything I need to do? Do I need to unscrew anything on my hard drive, because there is a [protective] case surrounding it which is deadlocked onto the hard drive by screws. Do I need to unscrew the said screws, then insert the hard drive? Or do I need to buy a 3.5" hard drive enclosure?

Please help. Again, I apologize for my lack of knowledge on hard drives, but I've never had to transfer my data before.

Thanks.

I will include pics of what I'm talking about if need be.

[mr_spokk]

Hi, you need to unscrew the casing and take it off before you put it into the enclosure.

Bosse

[Clueless]

Thank you so much, mr_spokk. I appreciate it!