HD USB External enclosure: what (not) to buy??


  1. Posts : 34
    Vista Home Premium 32bit
       #1

    HD USB External enclosure: what (not) to buy??


    What the thread title says. :)
    I'm looking to buy ASAP a new HD enclosure (or two).

    Thing is I don't know much about what is available, even less about what to avoid or look for in a modern external enclosure.

    Just as a sort of pointer for your upcoming kind advices , here's the list of features I'm currently checking while browsing online catalogs -- in no specific order (those between brackets are not mandatory, ie. all the others ARE! ):

    * 3,5" case (thus supporting both 2,5" and 3,5" drives)

    * Power status LED indicator (just hate not having a clue when I look directly at it whether it's ON or not!)

    * Activity (Read/Write) LED indicator (same thing here: not being able to tell whether a drive is currently working, resting, or stuck -- which happens! -- should always be a _NO GO_! It is for me anyways...
    NB: these 2 LED indicators can perfectly be replaced by just one: lighted=ON, blinking=Working)

    (* ON/OFF Physical Power switch)

    (*Automatic standby/restart (Not contradictory to the above feature, this only allows the enclosure WHEN the switch is ON tu be able to manage itself according to the state of the computer it's plugged to: automatically putting itself in standby mode whenever the computer itself is being turned OFF or into standby mode, and restarting itself automatically along with the comp...))

    (* Cooling fan (Not mandatory but damn near necessary for me since a few of my -- admittedly older -- drives can overheat past 55°C sometimes. If the enclosure doesn't come with its own fan, I'll have to use a third party one anyway...))

    (* Easy HD-swapping (Just the overall ease of use of the enclosure and how fast it is to remove an HD and plug another one into it -- which I tend to do a LOT, as I have 8 big storage drives, each dedicated to its own type of content))

    * Support: - USB3.0 (rather than eSATA)
    - SATA III
    - UASP (USB Attached SCSI Protocol)
    - >2 TB (NB: I could well assume that most if not all recent enclosures must now support above 2 TB capacity, but assuming being the shortest path to getting all wrong, I'd rather have it confirmed. Plus what about even greater capacities? 6 TB drives are available nowadays -- is there even bigger?, so are these well supported in general by recent enclosures too?)
    - SMART technology (same comment as above -- it most prolly IS standard to all enclosures nowadays, but what do I know? Only that at least 3 of the enclosures I bought in the past just DIDN'T support it, which tended to infuriate me to no end BTW: how can you be supposed to be ok with being left blind concerning the health of your drive, therefore your data?)


    All kinds of advices are welcome here:
    - Does my prerequisite feature-list above lacks something important, useful (or just geeky-cool) in your opinion?
    - Do you know of an enclosure matching my requirements you'd like to recommend?
    - On the contrary, do you know of an enclosure, a series or even a manufacturer that should be avoided at all cost?

    Thank you so much to anyone pointing me in the right direction(s) for my purchase!!
    Last edited by Angar; 20 Sep 2015 at 07:16.
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  3. Posts : 34
    Vista Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Thanks ThrashZone, gonna check that! :)
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  4. Posts : 20,583
    Win-7-Pro64bit 7-H-Prem-64bit
       #4

    Hi,
    No problem with all of your prerequisites it difficult to post a suggestion other than a good brand
    Cull through them and keep in mind fans can be changed out to a non blue led one :)
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  5. Posts : 34
    Vista Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #5

    ThrashZone said:
    Hi,
    No problem with all of your prerequisites it difficult to post a suggestion other than a good brand
    Cull through them and keep in mind fans can be changed out to a non blue led one :)
    Hehe, sorry, I'm not sure I'm following you on that last line (put up with a poor dumb french guy whose english may sometimes be at fault despite his best efforts! ). What do you mean by "fans can be changed out to a non blue led one"?
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  6. Posts : 20,583
    Win-7-Pro64bit 7-H-Prem-64bit
       #6

    Hi,
    Most of the cooling fans are colored with led blue fans which gives it the glow wow effect :)
    The fans can be changed to one with no color.
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  7. Posts : 34
    Vista Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #7

    Ow, right! That's what I thought you meant then...
    Didn't realise you were talking about an alternative option when purchasing from that manufacturer though.

    But I don't care about blue LEDs on fans one way or the other. My config already has so many of them -- on the comp itself+USB retrolighted keyboard+USB Hub+2,5" external HD enclosure, etc. -- that it wouldn't make much difference to have more now! (^__^)

    Anyway, thanks again! There are indeed some interesting enclosures from that brand!
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  8. Posts : 20,583
    Win-7-Pro64bit 7-H-Prem-64bit
       #8

    Hi,
    Yep just look up that brand from where ever you normally shop at and see what's available there
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