recommendations for purchasing an external HDD enclosure

peter tron · 19 Jun 2013 at 23:24

evenin,

i'm going through the process of diagnosing a boot loop issue with my pc, but ultimately i just need to get the HDD out and plug it into the back of my mac to transfer files.

it is SATA
3.5inch

i've checked amazon/ebay and pc world

amazon and ebay generally come up with 'Startech'
pc world generally sell 'Dynamode'

is there any real need to shell out £50 instead of £15-£20?

i would appreciate any recommendations etc

baz

peter tron · 21 Jun 2013 at 12:44

any recommendations?
i'm a good listener

Ch3m1c4L · 23 Jun 2013 at 22:54

icy box are good. the only benefits of the more expensive ones are more connectivity options, and better/different build qualities.

FredFlint · 24 Jun 2013 at 02:13

Hi,
I had an ice box and it worked but the drive moved about so I had to put a bit of rubber in to stop it moving.

Ch3m1c4L · 24 Jun 2013 at 11:12

a lot of cadies will do that, due to drives all being slightly different sizes

Philtor · 25 Jun 2013 at 01:27

Have you considered a docking station? May not be suitable for your needs but I have one of these and it's excellent!

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-060-AK

peter tron · 26 Jun 2013 at 11:09

Ch3m1c4L said:
icy box are good. the only benefits of the more expensive ones are more connectivity options, and better/different build qualities.

icy box, you say? right, i'll look around for them, although i need one for 3.5".
you mentioned "more connectivity options"? what might these be?

peter tron · 26 Jun 2013 at 11:18

Philtor said:
Have you considered a docking station? May not be suitable for your needs but I have one of these and it's excellent!

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-060-AK

i have considered them, and i would get one if they were around the same price, which, upon looking, they seem to be.

they seem to do more-or-less the same thing, while the only difference is that docking stations are more accessible, and designed for people that need to access various HD's frequently.

i'll look for docking stations, if i find one for around £20 or under, then i'll probably do that.

durbs · 26 Jun 2013 at 11:48

Cut the cost a bit by sticking to USB2 rather than 3. For most tasks I need an enclosure for, the extra speed is just not particularly needed.

I just bought an Allcam one, works fine plus no screws so is easy to swap disks out, was around £17. Works with eSata too, which is nice.

quassimodem · 26 Jun 2013 at 12:37

I have a couple of docking stations and they are so easy.. Love em..

Ch3m1c4L · 26 Jun 2013 at 15:34

more connectivity = it might have usb and esata or fireware etc. cheaper ones tend ot only have one option, in which case USB has most flexibility, esata has more speed. Unless ofc you're going USB 3 in which case its probably just simpler to go for that.

But, if you are just backing up stuff, and not regularly transferring more than say, 20GB, USB 2 is fine.