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Ext HD enclosure: Manuf says "supports up to 1TB drive"

MichaelD

Lifer
ThermalTake A2396

Thermaltake's page says "Support up to 1TB HD". What are the odds it'll take a 1.5TB drive? 1.5TB drives are about $10 more than 1TB drives these days...makes no sense to get the smaller drive.
 
probably will- those specs are probably based on power consumption and heat production by the drive. If you got an efficient drive, it would probably fit into what they've spec'd it for
 
It's a slight risk, but it'll probably work. The firmware could be designed to support no larger than 1tb. Which TT could do to make you have to buy another enclosure for a larger drive later on down the road.

How old is the drive? Could have just been a sign of the times. Perhaps nothing higher than 1TB had been announced at the time.
 
That's what I'm thinking too, Comdrpopnfresh. The enclosure just provides the interface b/t the drive and the machine...

I downloaded the user manual and (surprise) it didn't tell me anything new.
 
Thermaltakeusa support site.

"We welcome everyone to contact us via email or phone with any questions or comments they may have. Before submitting a request, please check out our FAQ section first. You may find that the answer you are looking for is just a click away. To expedite responding turn-around time by our Customer Service Team, please ensure that you are using the appropriate form."

Here's there actual "Tech Support Request" form:
Thermaltakeusa Tech Support Request Form

"Thermaltake Customer Service Center will answer technical and troubleshooting questions regards your Thermaltake product during normal business hours.

By Phone:
Thermaltake Customer Service
Monday ? Friday 09:00AM ? 05:30PM PST (Exclude holidays)
(800) 988-1088 *Option 1""
 
Do you already have the drive, or the enclosure? Like you said, it is a 10 dollar difference to gain 500gb. If you bought another 500gb drive on top of a 1tb drive, it would be a bit more than 10 dollars; I'm thinking this is a situation where the drive should dictate what enclosure you get- if you like that one, get it. If it doesn't work, return it, and get something that will- saving the money and smartly purchasing a larger drive while skipping a price premium seems to take priority. Though I see no reason why a 1.5tb drive shouldn't work- esp. one of those 3 platter ones that have come out, they most likely use less power and make less heat than the 1st gen 1tb drives.
 
Originally posted by: Comdrpopnfresh
Do you already have the drive, or the enclosure? Like you said, it is a 10 dollar difference to gain 500gb. If you bought another 500gb drive on top of a 1tb drive, it would be a bit more than 10 dollars; I'm thinking this is a situation where the drive should dictate what enclosure you get- if you like that one, get it. If it doesn't work, return it, and get something that will- saving the money and smartly purchasing a larger drive while skipping a price premium seems to take priority. Though I see no reason why a 1.5tb drive shouldn't work- esp. one of those 3 platter ones that have come out, they most likely use less power and make less heat than the 1st gen 1tb drives.

I have neither the drive nor the enclosure; this is a totally new purchase for me. I guess I should look at one of the enclosures that says "Supports all SATA drives."

I'm guessing there's better than a 90% chance that the drive would work fine in that enclosure...but I want to be sure. I hate returning stuff...costs too much money (shipping, restocking fee, blah blah).
 
Originally posted by: techmanc
Check my rig for external devices I am using with 4 1.5tb drives.

:thumbsup: Thanks very much! How have those Seagate 1.5TB drives been for you? I"ve read a lot of bad things about them.

Know what's funny? The specs on them say "Support up to 750GB SATA drive." 😕
 
Well to get the 4 I have now I had 3 doa when buying them spread out. Replacements work fine except one drives in my Antec MX-1 box needs to be turned on/off sometimes to spin up right. The drives were bought from Newegg in Nov-Dec timeframe from there NJ outlet I was pretty displeased the way packing was almost nil just a little bubblewrap between drives so not sure how much problems that caused. Also 2 of my drives are being used as backup of the other 2 so I could cover my ass if one drive fails 😉

As far as support being low on size they don't want to guarantee anything bigger then the drives were at the time the enclosure were made but a lot of them can work with bigger drives np.
 
Sounds like I need to stay away from the Seagate 1.5TB drives. Ironically, I've bought nothing BUT Seagate for years now. They used to be the only manuf with a 5-year warranty; now they are one of the few WITHOUT a 5-year warranty. Back to WD, I guess. Thanks, techmanc.
 
Seagate's been nothing special to me over the past several years. I've had several 7200.7 drives fail. But these have been running 24/7 for several years now.The 7200.10 drives have been reliable so far. I've got quite a few of those running at offices as removable backup drives.

I just bought a 7200.11 1.5 TB drive (couldn't resist the $85 price at Dell last month), but I wouldn't trust it as a primary storage drive. I only use mine for backups right now, where it comes in handy.
 
@RM: That's what I'll be using this purchase for; removable backup. Wish I'd have known about that $85 Dell deal! 🙁 I just checked Hot Deals and didn't see anything special for me. Unfortunately, I don't qualify for those Free Shipping hot deals, so I have to factor in shipping in any purchase I make.
 
I think a lot of hard drive cases simply put the claim on their packaging based on the largest capacity hard drive they have actually tested, which would be the largest one available at the time it was designed. So back when that external case was designed, they couldn't get HDs larger than 1 TB so they tested a 1 TB drive and said it works for 1 TB drives.

That's just my GUESS though. It's always possible that larger drives will cause problems. I don't think it's likely, though, and I think the claims are just to cover their ass.
 
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