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2.5 enclosure that does not suck

adam9c1

adam9c1

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 2, 2012
1,906
320
Chicagoland
Looking for a 2.5 HD SATA enclosure that does not suck.
Must be able to use a single USB connection for data and power.

Purchased several enclosures from Frys, one even had an attached USB cable (that stays with the drive), but upon opening the box, I see another cable that needs to be attached for power. Talk about false advertising.
 
This is bus powered - http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go - has USB3/firewire or USB3 only options. Scroll down to the 0GB option. I use one of those for a back up device and it's powered through the USB port. It's advertised as compact, but compared to WD's or Seagate's external drives, it's chunky. But it gets the job done.

Are you sure the enclosures you purchased require a power cable? Many external drives, like the one I linked to above, have optional power connections but work without it. That's for the cases where the computer USB port doesn't have enough power to drive it. That shouldn't be a problem with the more up-to-date Macs, but I had one a few years ago which had a low powered USB port that wouldn't power a drive.
 
adam9c1 said:
Looking for a 2.5 HD SATA enclosure that does not suck.
Must be able to use a single USB connection for data and power.

Purchased several enclosures from Frys, one even had an attached USB cable (that stays with the drive), but upon opening the box, I see another cable that needs to be attached for power. Talk about false advertising.
Click to expand...

Check out this one from Inateck that supports UASP.

Good review of it here.
 
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There are many excellent enclosures out there that do not require external power but rather are powered by the USB3 line itself (the computer).

The Firmtek offering is not cheap but rates very well. I have one and am extremely happy with the results. I tested both a regular 2.5 drive and also an SSD with the enclosure and got the best results of all my enclosures that I have gotten over the years from USB2, Firewire 400/800 and one USB3.

http://www.barefeats.com/hard161.html

Check this out and perhaps you'll find it fits your needs too.
 
adam9c1 said:
Purchased several enclosures from Frys, one even had an attached USB cable (that stays with the drive), but upon opening the box, I see another cable that needs to be attached for power. Talk about false advertising.
Click to expand...

As plinden suggested -- it's not rare for an enclosure to come with a 2-headed cable or a wallwart power supply. These are "just in case" additions, because it's possible to get into a situation where the USB port or hub can't supply enough power for the drive.

It's not false advertising.

I like Oyen Digital enclosures, myself, but they are hardly the only good ones out there.
 
plinden said:
This is bus powered - http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go - has USB3/firewire or USB3 only options. Scroll down to the 0GB option. I use one of those for a back up device and it's powered through the USB port. It's advertised as compact, but compared to WD's or Seagate's external drives, it's chunky. But it gets the job done.
Click to expand...

I have 6 of these (5 USB3 only, 1 USB3/FireWire800) and they all work perfectly well. The largest drive I've got installed in them thus far at 1.5TB HGST Travelstars.
 
matreya said:
Well, the 2TB 2.5" HDDs require more current (e.g. 0.85A) than say a regular USB2 port can deliver (0.5A)
Click to expand...

Most all USB ports on modern machines can put out at least 1A, because people tend to charge phones on them. Motherboard and PC makers have realized this and added more current to the ports. It doesn't really cost much more to do.

Apple USB ports are even more impressive and can crank out 2 amps. All newer Macs can charge iPads at full rate, which is impressive.
 
The USB3 spec is 0.9A, which can drive a 2TB 2.5" hard disk.. I was referring to older USB2 ports on older machines...
 
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