How to Choose Suitable Hard Drive Enclosure
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18 March 2020 Senior Program Developer
Summary
Want to choose an external hard drive enclosure but do not know which one is suitable? Now, you can get more information and recommendation about choosing external hard drive enclosure here.
External hard drive enclosure is an excellent tools for laptop and similar hardware lacks of disk interface to get more storage space. Besides, external hard drive enclosure can provide great flexibility at the same time. In 2020, how can we choose a suitable external hard drive enclosure for our SSD? Here we will listed the things we should take into consideration when choosing an external hard drive enclosure.
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Free TrialFree TrialNow 2000 people have downloaded!First and Most Important: Choose the Suitable Disk Interface
SATA >>
There is no doubt that SATA is the most usual SSD interface. As the result, the external hard drive enclosure provided in the market for SATA are various.
IDE >>
If the SSD is IDE interface, enclosure for IDE interface is required. However, it is hard to find IDE interface in modern SSD and the suitable enclosure. Besides, IDE limits the read/write speed of SSD. It is better to purchase a new SSD.
M.2 >>
Similar, you also need to find the M.2 enclosure if the SSD you are using is M.2 interface. Users need to pay more attention to the interface type of the external hard drive enclosure when choosing.
>> If you want to get more information and differences of different SSD interface, please click Knowledge of Different SSD Interfaces.
Connection Type
Most external hard drive enclosures connect to your computer through USB port. And USB port is the best and most convenience choice for enclosure connection.
External hard drive enclosures with USB 3.0 or USB 3.1 connector are recommended when purchasing.
Let us take the most usual SATA 3.0 interface as an example. SATA 3.0 can transfer data at 6Gbps. And USB 3.0 can handle up to 5Gbps while USB 3.1 can reach 10Gbps. In other words, using USB 3.0 can get the best performance of the SSD data transfer. Besides, USB is more useful and convenience connection way for users when using external hard drive enclosure.
There is no need to worry even if your computer does not provide USB 3.0 connector. USB 3.0 devices are backwards compatible with USB 2.0 ports. So if the enclosure you purchased is with USB 3.0, it will function normally even connected via USB 2.0.
Capacity
For most external hard drive enclosures, the controller inside will limit the maximum capacity of the connected hard disk. The limitation will be about 4T to 8T. But SSD over 1T is rare. So this limitation will not work. If you want to connect other HDD to computer with the same enclosure, you need to take this into consideration.
Case Material
External hard drive enclosure can not only beautify your disk but also protect the disk inside. And the material of the enclosure case has a great influence on the life span of the disk. These materials of external hard drive enclosure include metal, PC and plastic.
Metal >>
Metal is the most popular and protective material in hard drive enclosure. And metal case could be a good heatsink for drive inside. But the protection that metal brings could be depend on the different metal.
PC (Polycarbonate) >>
PC, short for Polycarbonate, is a strong and tough material. Enclosure makes of PC can be transparent, which can help uses enjoy the design of internal disk.
Plastic >>
Enclosures makes with plastic could be frosted or polished. Some even has patterns on the case. However, the plastic case is not protective. If you want to get better protection to disk, the other materials will be good choices.
Transmission Chip
For the duration of system migration, the more data inside the system disk, the more time will be required. Here, transmission chip inside the hard drive enclosure plays an important role. It is better to choose a external hard drive enclosure with UASP protocol for faster transfer. UASP will reduce the required processor resources, waiting time and data latency via USB-IF transfer protocol. All these features can improve the efficiency of transferring large files, which can fulfill the requirement of system migration.
Conclusion
When we choose the external hard drive enclosure, we should take the followings into consideration:
- The first and most important thing is whether it is compatible with the SSD you are using.
- Then choose the external hard drive enclosure on the basis of the SSD interface.
- The last is to choose other personalized features.
Here we take the usual 2.5 inch SATA SSD as an example. We recommend you to try the most economic external hard drive enclosure – 2.5 inch hard drive enclosure produced by UGREEN.
Specially designed for disk up to 10TB maximum.
Compatible with all 2.5 inch SSD and HDD.
Supports UASP accelerated transmission protocol, which is much faster than traditional USB 3.0.
Metal case and soften rubber strip can provide better protection to disk inside.
Reasonable price and good quality.
