Hard drive with enclosure (should I buy one without or with?)

[Nobita]

I've been hearing myth from my friend that if we buy an internal hard drive (in this case 3.5") and put it in an enclosure (not a fancy one, say a $20 one), it would be more likely to fail than if we buy a hard drive that comes with an enclosure (like those WD ones that you can buy from target or elsewhere).

The thing is, internal hard drive is very cheap (in my country probably about 40% cheaper than one that comes with an enclosure). So is it worth it to buy an internal hard drive and buy a separate enclosure? Can someone give me a reference to something that bust/prove this myth?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

It's a myth, as the HDDs inside a pre-built enclosure are exactly like the HDDs you can buy yourself, except differing in the variety of specs.

I have put many HDDs into an enclosure and the only HDD which failed was one that already came in an enclosure.

 

[Jason Edwards]

I would not think that is true. How is WD or Seagate putting them together themselves any better that what you can do ? Just spend the money to buy a quality enclosure and you will be fine. I have been buying my own enclosures and putting in my own hard drives for years and have never had any issues and some of them run 24/7. I use both Rosewill and Antec brands of enclosures (with fans) and WD hard drives.


Jason

 

[Nobita]

Those are reasonable arguments. What enclosure brand do you guys think is good? Are there any difference between them, apart from the output port? I'll always go with USB2.0/3.0 (currently it does not matter to me, chances are the computers at my home will have USB2.0 for the next 3-4 years, but that wouldn't hurt.

Is something like this ok: http://msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=1878

So you're saying a WD internal drive with that enclosure would not be worse than a packaged external WD drive?

 

[Nobita]

I'd buy this if it wasn't pink: http://www.megaware.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=16_1468&products_id=112924

 

[Black.Infinity]

If you get a hdd alone then you get 3-5 years warranty from the manufacture and then buy a good enclosure

 

[Nobita]

If you get a hdd alone then you get 3-5 years warranty from the manufacture and then buy a good enclosure

Do they always honour the warranty though? I'm a little worried that they don't...

 

[maccompaq]

Buy the enclosure. That way, you will be assured of getting the reliable WD hard drive of your choice.