Good quality 2.5" USB external enclosure?

I've been looking around for a hard drive enclosure that I can put a 7200rpm drive in. There are mixed reviews on many of the known brands.

Anybody have any recommendations for a USB 3.0 enclosure?

Also, I was wondering if I should buy that has a power supply and not just USB powered. Would USB be enough to power a 7200 drive 500gb?

Some of the brands I've looked at:
Ineo.
Kingwin.
Mukii.
Siig.

 

I've been using all three 2.5" enclosures made by Mukii that i know of, that is USB2.0, e-sata+usb2.0 and USB3.0. All have been pretty solid. My only gripe with some of the Mukki enclosures i own is that some of them don't fir entirely seamlessly. The parts at the front and back are a tiny bit larger on than the aluminum body one of the enclosures i own. It is not something that you will notice unless you look very closely at it though, but if you're OCD about those kind of things, it's something to take into account. I also suggest you look at Vantec enclosures, those have been serving me quite well too.

I could give the 7200RPM in my USB3 mukii a good run for it's money to see what the temps look like if you'd like. I haven't really abused the drive since it's in the enclosure.

 

You could have a look at the Akasa Noir S USB 3.0 enclosure.

 

High rated enclosures are under 8 bucks: Amazon.com: Vantec NexStar TX 2.5-Inch SATA to USB 2.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure: Electronics

 

for any 2.5" they do not come with power supply! and frankly, the sata to usb cable are pretty reliable comparing to how it was in 2007 as a matter of fact!

 

One more question:

Would buying a USB 3.0 enclosure but using it through a 2.0 port give terrible speeds? Worse than a proper 2.0 to 2.0 connection is what I'm asking.
I have a USB 3.0 port. Just wanted to know. I've been led to believe a 3.0 to 2.0 significantly reduces speeds worse than a 2.0 to 2.0 connection

 

A USB 3.0 enclosure will "downclock" to USB 2.0 speed when connected to such a port. There's no difference at all.

 

Yep, just gave my TIP-230U3 a CDM run 5x1GB all 4 read/write tests. Speeds were on par with what USB2.0 can achieve. The drive was at a nice 35C afterwards, i don't expect it to go over 40C-45C if you abuse the drive for a long period of time.

 

Thanks everybody!