What HDD/SSD to use for USB 3.1 enclosure

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AJBOJACK

Honorable
Aug 9, 2016
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10,510
Hi

I have recently built a new PC which has Type A USB 3.1 ports.

Motherboard is a ASUS z170i pro gaming

I would like to purchase a new external hard drive and have come across a few enclosures. All these drives accept SATA connections. See list below.

https://www.akitio.com/portable-storage/neutrino-u31 - will require a Type C to Type A cable

https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-com-10Gbps-Tool-free-Enclosure-Drives/dp/B00XLB0NWK

https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-com-10Gbps-Enclosure-SATA-Drives/dp/B00XLAZEFC/ref=sr_1_7?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1474882839&sr=1-7&keywords=usb+3.1+hard+drive

https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-com-10Gbps-Single-Bay-Dock-SATA/dp/B00XLAZTWA/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1474884111&sr=8-11&keywords=usb+3.1+hard+drive

My query is which HDD/SSD drive should I use within these enclosures to utilise the full 10Gbps speed of USB 3.1? Also if the SATA connection on allows 6Gbps how can it even reach the 10Gbps?


 
Solution
A
Are you aware that Akitio device is designed for 2.5" drives? So if you were considering the possibility of using a SSD in the 4 TB - 6 TB range you're talking big, big $. The other alternative would be a 2.5" HDD which really doesn't appear to serve a useful purpose for your specific backup objective.
It would seem a USB 3.1 external enclosure designed to handle both 2.5" & 3.5" disks would be a more sensible approach.
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ArtPog

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Sep 17, 2014
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I'll just mention our experience with the USB 3.1 standard.

Working with an ASRock Z170 motherboard...

We've used...
StarTech USB 3.1 docking station Model #SDOCKU313, and a
Vantec NST-270A31-BK 2.5" enclosure
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817392087

Both with Type A connectors. We've had no experience with Type-C connectors.

Both devices are performing satisfactory and no problems experienced with USB 3.0 backward compatibility.

Don't get too carried away with what you may be anticipating as to enormous speed increases with these USB 3.1 devices. At least based upon our experience over the past few months the speed increase over USB 3.0 has been rather modest - certainly less than we had anticipated or had hoped for. As a general proposition about a "real-life" 10% - 15% speed increase over USB 3.0.

Our primary uses for these devices is for general backups, including disk-to-disk cloning operations, and file copying & moving between drives.

I don't think you should be especially concerned about which HDD/SSD should be used with these devices. We've been using a fairly wide variety of HDDs & SSDs; naturally a SSD will provide better performance over the HDD but the difference between SSD models has been quite modest or even non-existent in our experience. Ditto for your concern re "saturating" the SATA III interface.
 
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ArtPog

Admirable
Sep 17, 2014
2,951
3
8,965
Are you aware that Akitio device is designed for 2.5" drives? So if you were considering the possibility of using a SSD in the 4 TB - 6 TB range you're talking big, big $. The other alternative would be a 2.5" HDD which really doesn't appear to serve a useful purpose for your specific backup objective.
It would seem a USB 3.1 external enclosure designed to handle both 2.5" & 3.5" disks would be a more sensible approach.
 
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