hard drive enclosures

Hello everyone. I would like to know if anyone on this board could point me to a good hard drive enclosure for an internal 3.5 hard drive for really cheap. I need something to use for backup so I won't be using it very much, but would also like something capable enough that I can just put it off to the side for later use if need be. The cheaper the better in this case. thanks alot for any help.

 

You can check out this page on ebay for enclosures starting at $2.99. I've gotten all of my enclosures (4 of them) from ebay.

 

thank you for the advice mdonah. these look pretty good if they are on the up and up.

 

One I bought was $3.99 — Aluminum enclosure, SATA to USB interface. The cable was decent but dual lead on the computer end. I bought a "heavy duty" single lead at the computer end cable and it's still working fine.

 

If you get a HD enclosure for a 3.5 HD you might need a power supply with it because the USB connection by itself may not provide enough power. The units with power supplies are around $17 or so from Newegg. Make sure you get the correct enclosure for the type of drive you wish to use (SATA or IDE or both).

 

thanks guys, it is definilety a SATA connection and this will be my first time using a external enclosure as such.

 

you tell me I might need certain cords. Could you point me in the right direction on the cords to get for this enclosure?

 

Some of the enclosures come with a short cord that has a single USB mini "B" male connector at the enclosure end and dual standard USB "A" male connectors at the computer end. The dual connections will take up two USB ports on the computer. One connector will be for powering the drive in the enclosure and the other for data aquisition.

As I stated earlier, I purchased "heavy duty" USB cables that had a single connector at both ends so I wouldn't be using an additional USB port for the drives — I can plug in more than one hard drive and/or more than one optical drive at once and copy files, back up my drives or burn CDs/DVDs however I need.

The "heavy duty" cables come in one meter lengths (don't exceed that length) and cost around $5 each on ebay.

 

you tell me I might need certain cords. Could you point me in the right direction on the cords to get for this enclosure?they were saying i might need a power supply with it though. what does that mean?

 

Some enclosures come with a 5volt DC adapter that plugs into an AC outlet and the power port on the enclosure (something like a powered USB hub). You would also need a USB cable to connect between the computer and the enclosure (it should already be supplied with the enlosure).

As I stated, some enclosures come with a short cord with 2 plugs on one end that both go into the USB ports on your computer and the other end plugs into the enclosure.

This page has USB cables with a single connection at both ends — the type I use. Avoid the lowest priced ones as they are really cheaply made. Also keep the length to 3 feet as any longer cables tend to drop data.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-5-2-5-inc...t=LH_DefaultDomain_2&var=&hash=item4861a9586b
I look at items such as this because they all seem to say about the same thing. I have a 1.5 TB hard drive ATM, may try up to 2 or 3 later. Would the 3.5 SATA case be good for this?

 

Cheap enclosures are not always the best route, they are fine for short duration use. If you do put them to work for several hours the drives get pretty hot, how many of you have Passports that have died I have seen quite a few. Many enclosures contain files you cherish and wish to save, get the dive hot and you risk losing them or spending boko $$$ giving them to a data recovery company. I would not own one with out a fan for proper cooling, pound wise penny foolish!

 

For anything over 320GB, you definitely want an enclosure with a separate power supply like one Puppywunder58 alludes to. Otherwise, you may overstress/burn out the USB port(s) and possibly the hub. One such as Oldphil suggests (with a built-in cooling fan) would obviously be best. Even at $45, it's still less expensive than a hard drive and isn't your data worth it?

 

yeah, it is. I'm just trying to find the cheapest route to doing this. I appreciate all the help guys.