Best external enclosure out there right now for internal SATA hard drive for reasonable price?

[evident]

title and summary asks it all, i've been looking on newegg the last few weeks and any time i'm about to pick up an enclosure i read a horror story review saying that "omg hd gets hot" or even worse, "died after xxx days" or even "screwed up my hd!!"


i need a 3.5" external enclosure for an internal sata drive, with an external esata AND usb 2.0.

i would like it to have decent build quality, not be tacky, and i would like it to be on the small side too. I don't care for LED's but i can just cover them up w/ marker or tape. whether it has a fan or not, i don't know if this is even necessary. aren't HD's designed to run hot?

FWIW, i am going to be using either my WD7500AAKS or my new WD black 1tb HD in the new enclosure. those are the more high performance drives and will probably generate more heat.

 

[corkyg]

I have two of these puppies - run them both on eSATA, and have also used the USB on occasion. They are excellent!

Vantec

 

[evident]

Originally posted by: corkyg
I have two of these puppies - run them both on eSATA, and have also used the USB on occasion. They are excellent!

Vantec

Supports Up to 750GB Hard Drives

🙁 unfortunately dont think this can be an option for me. bummer!!!!

 

[wjgollatz]

Whatever you buy, make sure the eSATA interface passes the hdd's SMART info. Western digital my book external drives do not.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: evident Supports Up to 750GB Hard Drives 🙁 unfortunately dont think this can be an option for me. bummer!!!!

OK - then look for the Nexstar CX - up to 2 TB, USB2 and eSATA.

CX

And, Wjgollatz, OP specifically stated an external case where the user can put in an internal SATA drive. Pre=packaged externals were not part of the question. 🙂

 

[boomhower]

I have an Antec MX-1 and I love it. Looks good and essentially silent. I got mine for ~$30 from amazon.