Caddy (hardware)

Caddy (hardware)

In computer hardware, a caddy refers to a sheath used to hold some media, such as a CD-ROM. If the medium is a hard disk drive, the caddy is also referred to as a disk enclosure.

The purpose of a disk caddy is to protect the disk from damage when handling; their use dates back to at least the Capacitance Electronic Disc in 1976, and they were used in initial versions of Blu-ray Discs, though newer versions use hard-coating technology to prevent scratches and do not need a caddy.

Caddies may be an integral part of the media as in some DVD-RAM discs, or separately attached.