Are external HDD enclosures as good as external HDDs?

[Art Vandelay]

I need an external USB and/or Firewire HDD and I already have
several extra internal HDDs. I have seen external enclosures for
these drives that are a lot less expensive than an external drive.
Would an external enclosure with my own HDD be as good as
an external HDD? Are there any functional differences?

Thanks,

Art V.

 

[Toshi1873]

I need an external USB and/or Firewire HDD and I already have
several extra internal HDDs. I have seen external enclosures for
these drives that are a lot less expensive than an external drive.
Would an external enclosure with my own HDD be as good as
an external HDD? Are there any functional differences?

For the most part a USB external drive is the same as a
USB enclosure + user-supplied hard drive.

If you have spare drives laying around, external
enclosures are a good way to make use of those spare
drives. (The only problems I've had is that if you
don't have an air conditioned office, stay away from
enclosures that don't have fans to cool the drives, or
stick with 5400rpm drives.)

 

[Rolf Blom]

For the most part a USB external drive is the same as a
USB enclosure + user-supplied hard drive.

If you have spare drives laying around, external
enclosures are a good way to make use of those spare
drives. (The only problems I've had is that if you
don't have an air conditioned office, stay away from
enclosures that don't have fans to cool the drives, or
stick with 5400rpm drives.)

I bought a couple of 2 1/2" external enclosures to try out with some
spare Travelstars I had laying around.

The USB2 enclosure has the effect of not allowing the drive to
spindown, as is recommended for its type of fluid bearing.
(Still, I don't run it long enough for this to be a problem)

The same drive in a 1394 enclosure will spin down, but doesn't wake up
again without a power cycle...so I guess there are some odd things going
on, and I don't know if it's normal behaviour with with either type of box.

my .2c
/Rolf

 

[David Chien]

several extra internal HDDs. I have seen external enclosures for

these drives that are a lot less expensive than an external drive.
Would an external enclosure with my own HDD be as good as
an external HDD? Are there any functional differences?

Yes. No.

Eg. any ME-320 series enclosure (see www.newegg.com for one vendor)
of 5 1/2" enclosures work fine with any 3.5" HD or 5.25" optical drive.
Recommended as a good general dual format case, but fan can be loud.

eg. any of these Hotway 3.5" aluminum enclosures
(http://www.pcmicrostore.com/CBC.aspx?q=pv:_;c:36232;bi:1499) are highly
recommended as they sufficiently cool the HD to keep it from overheating
and work fine for me here on 7200rpm hot HDs.

No problems, works the same as external HDs you buy, and they do the
same thing w/o a problem.

---

Some, very unique external HDs now available include such options as
flash card readers, one-touch buttons for initiating backups, etc., and
are not needed for most users, but are features not available on
external enclosures.

 

[David Chien]

Oh, and =AVOID= the entire ME-720 3.5" plastic enclosure series!!! far
too hot even with the small built-in fan, and it doesn't stay anywhere
as cool as the larger 5.25" ME-320 series. the ME-720 series will kill
your HD fast!

 

[CWatters]

I need an external USB and/or Firewire HDD and I already have
several extra internal HDDs. I have seen external enclosures for
these drives that are a lot less expensive than an external drive.

That's because the drive itself is the expensive part.

Would an external enclosure with my own HDD be as good as
an external HDD?

Yes. An external drive is just an internal drive in a different case.

For long life choose an enclosure designed to take a 5.25" drive (eg CD/DVD
drive). They also take 3.5" HD using adaptor brackets. The extra space helps
keep the HD drive cooler.

 

[Markeau]

I've been running 5 ADS DualLink USB2+1394 external enclosures with
200GB 7200rpm drives for over a year with no problems ... sweet