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    Hard Disk enclosures and External USB Hard Disk pros and cons

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Freakish, Aug 16, 2007.

  1. Freakish

    Freakish Notebook Geek

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    I have heard that it is much cheaper to buy an internal hard disk and put in a hard disk enclosure than buying an external USB hard disk. Is this recommended?

    What are the pros/cons of using an internal hard disk with an enclosure compared to an external USB hard disk?

    I am thinking of buying an external hard disk with a huge memory capacity for my notebook and if price is the only difference then I might go for the hard disk enclosure instead.
     
    Freakish, Aug 16, 2007
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  2. BenArcher

    BenArcher Notebook Consultant

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    They are exactly the same.

    A USB hard disk is just a hard disk that the manufactuerer has put inside an external enclosure.

    So basically its upto you wether you want to put teh disk in teh box or let the manufactuerer do it for you and charge for it.

    Teh only Pro of the pre made ones is that they often look nicer & that they are normally fairly high quality enclosures. Becasue some of the cheaper enclosures you can buy often die and take hard drives with them but to avaid that just spend an extra $5 on teh enclosuer and get a nice one.
     
    BenArcher, Aug 16, 2007
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  3. Freakish

    Freakish Notebook Geek

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    What about the price difference? Does the quality of external USB hard drives warrant their higher cost?

    I also have a question about power supply: do both types of drives draw their power from the USB port, or do they have another type of power source?
     
    Freakish, Aug 16, 2007
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  4. BenArcher

    BenArcher Notebook Consultant

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    The quality does not normally warrant the price as you can can buy enclosures yourself that are of atleast the same quality.

    The power supply wether it is made by a manufactuerer or if you make it will be the same. That is a 2.5" drive will be powered though USB but a 3.5" hard drive (the ones in desktops) requires a external power supply, normally a small power brick.
     
    BenArcher, Aug 16, 2007
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