Recommendations for external enclosure for ssd

iandouglas

October 20, 2011 7:45:03 AM

Hey all,

I'm looking at a Crucial SATA III SSD, and curious what sort of enclosure I should get for it, as I'll be sharing this device between two laptops. Ideally I'd love a USB 3.0 interface as I"m not sure of the speeds of the eSATA ports on the laptops, and both rigs have USB 3.0 ports.

Just curious if anyone has seen such a beast.

I can find SATA II enclosures that do USB 3.0 all over the place. Funny enough they all claim up to 5Gbit transfer speeds because of USB 3.0, well beyond the 3Gbit theoretical limit of SATA II ... I digress.

Don't really want to spend more than $100 on an enclosure since the Crucial SSD is already going to run me close to $200, and hopefully the enclosure will be self-powered via USB.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

Ian

More about : recommendations external enclosure ssd

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WyomingKnott

Storage Expert

October 20, 2011 3:57:00 PM

Don't use one myself, but this search on Newegg yields products that claim SATA III and USB 3.0: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=E... . I do not personally guarantee that they will work as advertised.

Most are 3.5" or docking stations, but here are two 2.5" ones
http://www.startech.com/HDD/Enclosures/25in-SuperSpeed-...
http://www.silverstonetek.com/raven/products/index.php?... clearly states that it supports SATA III

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JohnnyLucky

October 20, 2011 4:20:24 PM

It's a good thing I include external drive enclosures in the the hardware reviews database I maintain:

http://www.johnnylucky.org/reviews/index.html

Just scroll down to the data storage section. You'll find links to reviews of various external enclosures. The reviews are for this month. If that is not enough then just go to the hardware reviews for all of this year where you will find more external enclosures:

http://www.johnnylucky.org/reviews/2011-pc-hardware-rev...

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RetiredChief

Storage Expert

October 20, 2011 5:04:43 PM

I have about 4 (two are Usb 3)
(1) not a big selection @ newegg for Internal Sata III and external USB3 interface (should start to see more.
......Looked @ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=17-707-...
Reading the 4 1 egg comments, I would disregard three of the 4.

General comments:
(1) If using on a USB2 port remember you are limited to 2.5 Watts. Many of the SSDs draw upto about 3 Watts when writing. So make sure you use the 2 headed cable connected to two usb 2 ports or as I do I plug into a powered USB Hub. Not a problem with USB 3 as they upped the current capabilities.
(2) esata is faster (slightly) than USB3 for hard drives - has to do with the fact that it is native (less overhead).
(3) I'd be temped to go with the Internal sata II with external USB 3. (a) much better selection) and (b) Not a big diff in over all performance - then when they start offering a bigger select then replace.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=E...
Of them, Probably I'd get: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

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