Is it okay to use an internal hard drive externally?

[TheDevilWearsPrimark]

My uber geek friend has built me a pc as I was getting sick of my mac not being compatible with my laptop.

He's added connectors on the back so you can connect a hard drive without the need to open the box and mess around.

So now 've connected two ancient hard drives from my pc I had years ago and they have loads of great things on them, but I don't have space to copy them over.

Is there any harm in keeping them attached? They both have fans on top, but I'm worried about dust, or maybe fire risk? (clueless emoticon)

Can't think of any problem with that. Plenty of dust inside my case anyway. I don't think there's any real fire risk though I wouldn't pile papers on them or lay them directly on anything metal as some kinds have exposed contacts.

I often run drives like that as a temporary thing when sorting out problems.

You can get cases to keep internal drives safe when used externally (connects with USB) - Maplin, Dabs or Amazon should have them.