Safe to read HD drive if out of its mounting?

[Wap Chimney]

I've took the HD drive out of my PowerBook and connected it to the board of external USB case in an attempt to retrieve data (the PowerBook's died).

I've not yet managed to fit the drive into the external case as it won't quite fit (cheap case!).

Am I safe to try and read from the drive as it is, just sitting on my worktop, not encased in anything? The bottom of the drive only seems to have a thin plastic sheet to protect it?

Any advice??? It's kinda urgent! ;-)

 

[simbalala]

It's OK, I've done the same with a drive too tall to fit into the case.

 

[eric2006]

Make sure that you're not using a portable drive with a 3.5 drive or something, but, otherwise, there's no harm in not having a case. Just keep it away from static, and don't drop it..

 

[Wap Chimney]

OK, cool. I gave it a go and all was fine - thanks.