External hdd vs. [Internal +Enclosure]

[nweissma]

Might there be an advantage to constructing an external hdd by placing an internal into an enclosure, rather than buying the external hdd?

[oz]

I usually buy the enclosures so that I can pick the drive that I want to go in it, and if the drive should fail, it's easy to slip another one into the enclosure.

Doing it that way doesn't seem to have saved me much money, but I just prefer to build my own external drives, so to speak. I have 7 or 8 of them around here and they were all done that way, and working perfectly.

[nweissma]

i'm not sure if i'm seeing this right: it looks like external hdd's are becoming extinct, being replaced by enclosures of various types:

newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153071

newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH &Description=external+enclosure+3.5+sata

am i confused?

[oz]

I actually have one of the enclosure models in your first link and got it from NewEgg, but I've not put a drive in it yet, so can't say anything about the quality. I've been seeing more externals and enclosures in the marketplace, so I'm not sure either is becoming extinct. I think people are starting to realize the benefits of having a large portable drive outside of the computer case and with big drives being so inexpensive these days, they are going for them.

[Rubberman]

External HDDs are basically enclosures with an OEM disc preinstalled, often with some sort of useless backup software and/or other cruft that is mostly a waste of time and $$, suitable only for marketing purposes. Like Ozar, I purchase external enclosures and bare drives at the best prices I can find for the quality I want. With quick-install enclosures, I can use bare drives just like tape for cheap/fast/reliable backup. I use 1.5TB Seagate drives in esata enclosures. Each drive is about $130 USD delivered, and the enclosure is about $40 USD (dual esata/USB connections).

[oz]

I use 1.5TB Seagate drives in esata enclosures.

It's hard to beat esata connections when they work properly. Unfortunately, some of my enclosures don't have it, so it's USB2 only on those particular models. I've never tried firewire but have read that the speeds aren't all that great on enclosures. Looking forward to USB3, though.

[Rubberman]

It's hard to beat esata connections when they work properly. Unfortunately, some of my enclosures don't have it, so it's USB2 only on those particular models. I've never tried firewire but have read that the speeds aren't all that great on enclosures. Looking forward to USB3, though.

eSata enclosures are getting more common these days, and a 4port Addonics eSata RAID controller that works well with Linux is less than $75 USD from Buy.com. That's what I got (plus 1 eSata port on my 6 sata port motherboard) for my external drives. It supports sata-2 (3gbps) connections. Worked out-of-the-box with my 64bit CentOS system. Here are buy.com links to the stuff I use:

Addonics 4-Port External Serial ATA II RAID Controller - ADS3GX4R5-E - Buy.com
Startech.com InfoSafe SAT3510BU2E 3.5'' Hard Drive Enclosure - SAT3510BU2E - Buy.com
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS Hard Drive - ST31500341AS - Buy.com