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Thinking about an external HDD; USB or SATA?

V

videobruce

Golden Member
This is one of those 'I always wanted to do, but never got around to it projects'. I'm not sure which route would be best.

Situation;
Three PC's; two towers (both w/ two HDD's) and one Laptop (not used often),
Not alot of data, but instead of using DVD's to back up, this seems easier,
One device for all three would be nice, though the Laptop I could live without,
It would be used mainly for my main box (tower).

Questions;
1. If I went with a USB interface, can I assume the PS is external?
2. Can I then assume most are those damn 'bricks' as opposed to internal PS's within the HDD enclosure?
3. Are there any models w/ internal PS's, or at least a PS that is on a cable so it isn't hanging from the power strip?
4. Between the all in one (HDD, enclosure & PS) vs buying the encloseure, PS and the HDD separately, what's the better route?
5. If I went with a SATA drive, are there any enclosures that are taylored to this setup?
6. The cableing from the PC to the unit. Make shift or use a premade PCI slot plate w/ connectors (assuming they are available)?

Sorry for all the questions, as I was just thinking of my known options and configurations.
 
Most enclosures have an external power supply, having it built in will increase temps, and you'd still have to plug it in.
AFAIK USB provides power but only enough for power 2.5" drives, cables that supposedly power 3.5" drives require you to plug it into 2 USB ports.
The power supply will be a "brick" but the plug will usually be the smaller 2-prong type.

I have this handy since I'm selling an enclosure:
http://www.darkscythe.com/photos/IMG_8888.jpg
The "brick" is on the left, and the power cord is on the right. It's basically like a laptop power supply.

Not sure about #4.

There are enclosures for SATA drives as well, though most of them have the same shortcomings.
The unit will supply you with cables for whatever interface it runs at. If USB, it will come with a USB cable.

You seem to really want to avoid as much cabling as possible, so I would look at getting an Icy Dock eSATA enclosure and buying the optional power bracket. It's basically an internal SATA -> eSATA PCI slot cover, but it also has a power connector where you plug it into a spare molex connector inside your PC's PSU. You still need to run the eSATA cable and the power cable from your PC to the unit though, but you won't have a "brick" or an occupied space on your power strip to worry about.
 
I have a thermaltake enclosure whcih uses esata or usb depending on which type of drive you have installed

If you install a sata drive you can use esata or usb
If you install a USB drive I am sure you can only use usb
 
Whenever possible, I use removable SATA drives for backups on Servers. eSATA is hardly universal yet, and neither is hotswapping with SATA/eSATA. So, for general use, a USB or a combo USB/SATA drive is most useful.

Most external 3.5 inch drives use an external power supply with two cords attached to it. In the early days of USB drives, it was more common to see housings with built-in power supplies, which are most convenient, but not common in the higher-end external housings.

This Apricorn duo housing is my favorite external housing, but I admit to only having used the earlier (SATA-only) version, and not the current USB/eSATA combo version.

 
eSATA often seems to have issues with O/S problems or things being flaky. I haven't delved into the substance
behind peoples' complaints enough to find one what the main causes are -- bad motherboards, bad O/S, etc.
When it works, I'm sure it's generally superior in performance to USB especially with a reasonably fast disc.

USB 2.0 usually "just works" and is definitely hot pluggable in a way that works in most O/S environments as long
as you manually unmount the drive from he O/S or tell the O/S to eject it / use the "safely remove hardware" option.

Firewire probably "just works" even better than USB in the sense of O/S compatibility for some older O/S versions,
but these days I'd assume USB is the most commonly supported and eSATA if your system has a port.

Here's some suppliers of a great variety of units. Personally I'd get one INCLUDING a fan to cool the hard disk
enclosure, though whether the enclosure has an external or internal PSU isn't seemingly as relevant to cooling
as the room in the enclosure and the presence/absence of a fan. Larger enclosures designed to accommodate a
CDROM/DVD are better IMHO because they allow more space for airflow around the drive.

Enclosures which are small (HDD only, not for CD/DVD) and which lack fans universally run HOT.

Here are a few places I usually shop around / look around to see what models and features of enclosures exist;
I haven't actually ordered from any of them (nor do I have other relationships with them), but it's useful to see the
variety of models at least.
http://www.atacom.com/program/...E=ATAC_USBE&ADV=BACKUP
http://www.byteccusa.com/product/enclosure/index.htm
http://www.byteccstore.com/
http://www.directron.com/dualenclosures.html
http://www.iocombo.com/main/se...=relevance&ispicture=1
IIRC http://www.svc.com/ may have some too.
 
eSATA is hardly universal yet, and neither is hotswapping with SATA/eSATA.
Click to expand...
I thought the "e" just meant 'externa'l? There is a difference between 'e' and non 'e'?

That Apricorn duo housing that you linked, I did see, but I also see the power supply and fan issues.

QuixoticOne; thanks for those links. Too many choices.
I would want one that had some 'breathing room'. I would think a fan isn't necessary if the case was designed correctly. After all, it is only a single HDD with nothing around it but a piece of plastic (or metal) with plenty of vent holes. That would be the proper way to design the case, isn't it??

How expessive are holes anyway??
 
Enclosures which are small (HDD only, not for CD/DVD) and which lack fans universally run HOT.
Click to expand...
I'll second that emotion. :thumbsup:

I've had @ six 3.5" and four 2.5" external enclosures.

The one 3.5" enclosure with passive cooling got the HD pretty toasty (upper 50s lower 60s) within an hour.

That was a coupla years ago and I'm sure they have improved since then, but it was enough for me to never buy one without a fan again......until I just had to have one of those new docking stations.

My docking station even has a cover, but I've found for better cooling you need to leave the cover in the open position. I accidently left a running drive in there for @ 8 hours and the black paint got tacky. To me, that's a little to toasty.

If you're just gonna use the external for an hour, I'd feel safe with passive cooling. But I use my external storage for back-ups and do everything I can to treat those drives with the best of care.
 
If you're just gonna use the external for an hour, I'd feel safe with passive cooling.
Click to expand...
It would be used for less than that. Enough to xfer a number of files for backup. It would be off 99% of the time.

it's only a backup. Just as a USB flash drive or a memory card would be used. In and out.
 
I won't use an external housing without a fan. I use USB and SATA housings mostly for backups, where they are running 24/7 and are making 8-hour-long file transfers.
 
I use USB and SATA housings mostly for backups, where they are running 24/7 and are making 8-hour-long file transfers.
Click to expand...
I completely understand and agree with that.

My backup timespan would be 5 to 30 minutes, tops. maybe once a month. I don't think I need a fan.
 
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