Internal HD + enclosure?

[Alpina]

Sup guys..

So i need an extra hard drive to store my music and videos/movies. After doing some research i come to conclusion that best bet is to buy internal HDD with enclosure. It will be more like a backup drive, which i'll transport from time to time.

So came to: WD Green 3.5'' 1TB SATA3 IntelliPower 64MB AFT.

It's 5400 rpm AFAIK, but at the same time won't run that hot aka more reliable, right? Is it better to get a 7200 rpm WD blue maybe? Or maybe seagate baracuda?

Also on enclosure, which should i take, with fan (more expensive) or not? Here are all available enclosure for me: http://www.skytech.lt/isorines-duom...-c-86_780_781.html?pagesize=500&grp=1&sort=5a

Thanks in advance

 

[Eureka]

If it's just a backup drive, I wouldn't worry about hard drive speed. Instead, focus on long term reliability; get a drive that's known to last a while. I believe the WD Greens may have long term issues, I'm not too familiar with them. Any enclosure will do, as long as it protects your hard drive relatively well.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

I used to do this, but no longer. The companies that make the enclosures seem to compete with each other in a race to the bottom when it comes to quality, and they're usually fiddly and annoying to use.

It made sense back when external drives were expensive and cumbersome to use. But for under $100 you can get a small, compact 1 TB external portable powered by USB. It's just a smarter choice, IMO.

 

[Alpina]

If it's just a backup drive, I wouldn't worry about hard drive speed. Instead, focus on long term reliability; get a drive that's known to last a while. I believe the WD Greens may have long term issues, I'm not too familiar with them. Any enclosure will do, as long as it protects your hard drive relatively well.

Well from a lot of searching for reliable drive i came to conclusion that there is no such thing as most reliable HDD. Some people say Seagate lasts for 5 years NP, others say WD. I personally got some cheap WD HDD which already 4 years working everyday. I would go with Samsungs tbh, but they are quite limited in availability here.

I used to do this, but no longer. The companies that make the enclosures seem to compete with each other in a race to the bottom when it comes to quality, and they're usually fiddly and annoying to use.

It made sense back when external drives were expensive and cumbersome to use. But for under $100 you can get a small, compact 1 TB external portable powered by USB. It's just a smarter choice, IMO.

I just read external HDDs are less reliable and tend to fail more often. Maybe because of low quality drive inside, dunno. But either way internal HDD is supposed to run non-stop, and if i use it rarely just for backup purposes it should last.. And if i buy enclosure i won't get the cheapest one, something more decent.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

External drives use internal drives inside them. There are no special drives made by the HDD companies for external use, to my knowledge. They are just doing the same thing you would.

The difference is that since they are selling all of it, the pieces are designed to go together, and the whole thing is tested and warranted as a unit.

If it's just a backup drive, you're not likely to have reliability issues one way or the other.

I've used the USB 2.0 version of this for years, and it's hard to see how you'll do better rolling your own.

 

[Alpina]

External drives use internal drives inside them. There are no special drives made by the HDD companies for external use, to my knowledge. They are just doing the same thing you would.

The difference is that since they are selling all of it, the pieces are designed to go together, and the whole thing is tested and warranted as a unit.

If it's just a backup drive, you're not likely to have reliability issues one way or the other.

I've used the USB 2.0 version of this for years, and it's hard to see how you'll do better rolling your own.

I know that it's just internal drive inside, what i meant is that they are prolly using the cheaper one inside, while with internal popular drive i know what i am buying.

Also i read a countless of feedback from users whose external drivers failed after a year or so. That said, looking at your WD elements SE 1TB, it got very positive reviews so i'll take a look into it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

External drives use internal drives inside them. There are no special drives made by the HDD companies for external use, to my knowledge.

Most WD portable externals have the USB signals coming straight off the drive. You cannot crack them open and use them as an internal SATA HD. (Nor do data-recovery that way either, sadly.)

Interestingly, when you crack them open, even though they have a USB rather than a SATA interface, they have the SATA logo emblazoned on the drive. Isn't that false advertising or some sort of interface trademark violation? Like having HDMI cables with an end that's not HDMI (DP for example), being advertised with the HDMI logo?

 

[Alpina]

So if i buy internal HDD + enclosure, what are good enclosure brands or some specifics i should know when buying?

 

[tracerbullet]

Something I like about an internal drive + enclosure is that it's a drive, no more, no less. It acts how I expect and I can just hook it up and do what I want with it - format it, assign a drive letter, and start using it. The externals I've been around seem to try a lot of shenanigans with backup programs, funny interfaces, and so on. I just helped my sister out with one and to get it to do anything I had to either install their software, or at a minimum log into it through an ip address, sort of like you would with a router, to set it up. It looked like it was trying to partition itself, as 3 new drive letters popped up when it was first plugged in. I'm sure it depends on what external you buy, but this one ( a WD of some sort) was thoroughly annoying.

As for the enclosure, agreed anything will do. Hit up Newegg, Amazon, Tiger Direct, etc. and just browse around. if you land on an enclosure that will fit your drive and seems to be decently rated, go for it.

Depending on what you want to do, maybe look at a NAS?

 

[Alpina]

Something I like about an internal drive + enclosure is that it's a drive, no more, no less. It acts how I expect and I can just hook it up and do what I want with it - format it, assign a drive letter, and start using it. The externals I've been around seem to try a lot of shenanigans with backup programs, funny interfaces, and so on. I just helped my sister out with one and to get it to do anything I had to either install their software, or at a minimum log into it through an ip address, sort of like you would with a router, to set it up. It looked like it was trying to partition itself, as 3 new drive letters popped up when it was first plugged in. I'm sure it depends on what external you buy, but this one ( a WD of some sort) was thoroughly annoying.

As for the enclosure, agreed anything will do. Hit up Newegg, Amazon, Tiger Direct, etc. and just browse around. if you land on an enclosure that will fit your drive and seems to be decently rated, go for it.

Depending on what you want to do, maybe look at a NAS?

Thanks.

I'll buy from local store here, not gonna bother with shipping and all that stuff. There are lot's of enclosures, here are brands:

4WORLD, CANYON, CHIEFTEC, DELOCK, DIGITUS, GEMBIRD, HAMA, INTER-TECH, ITEC, JOU, JYE, LOGILINK, MANHATTAN, NATEC, PATRIOT, RAIDSONIC, REVOLTEC, SANDBERG, SCYTHE, SPIRE, SWEEX, THERMALTAKE, TRACER, TRENDNET, ZALMAN.

I guess i'll just ask for recommendation from guy at the store 😀