What external hdd enclosure to get?

[Jimjamesjimothy8]

I need to get an external hdd enclosure for a 2.5'' hard drive. All of the ones I'm seeing don't have a separate power plug to power the hdd, but I thought that usb ports don't supply enough power for spinning hard drives. 

Example

Should I just buy a 3.5'' hard drive and use a 3.5'' enclosure? One that has a power plug?

I need it to work with usb 3.0 AND 2.0.

[Lenovo1984]

2.5" drives don't need external power when being used via USB. The one you linked is fine. This one is one I use, and it works well. 

[Eigenvektor]

4 minutes ago, TrainFan2019 said:

I need to get an external hdd enclosure for a 2.5'' hard drive. All of the ones I'm seeing don't have a separate power plug to power the hdd, but I thought that usb ports don't supply enough power for spinning hard drives. 

Example

Should I just buy a 3.5'' hard drive and use a 3.5'' enclosure? One that has a power plug?

Most external 2.5" drives should work just fine without external power. I know mine do. Some may have a dual-plugs to get power from two ports. The 3.5" do need external power, which I would count as a downside, not a plus

[D.U.F.F.]

-Censored-

[Hugh54321]

USB 3 provides enough power. Older USB2 enclosures use to come with a second USB cable to boost power.

[Lenovo1984]

3 hours ago, Hugh54321 said:

USB 3 provides enough power. Older USB2 enclosures use to come with a second USB cable to boost power.

Not necessarily. USB 2 can provide enough power for a 2.5" drive. 

[Jimjamesjimothy8]

22 minutes ago, Lenovo1984 said:

Not necessarily. USB 2 can provide enough power for a 2.5" drive. 

Have you tried using one with usb 2.0?

[Lenovo1984]

13 minutes ago, TrainFan2019 said:

Have you tried using one with usb 2.0?

Yes. I have used them with USB 1.1 even with no issues. 

[Hugh54321]

2 hours ago, Lenovo1984 said:

Not necessarily. USB 2 can provide enough power for a 2.5" drive. 

not all drives. I know coz I had one

[Lenovo1984]

1 hour ago, Hugh54321 said:

not all drives. I know coz I had one

The difference in the power delivery in terms of a hard drive isn't really related to USB 2 vs USB 3.

[Hugh54321]

2 minutes ago, Lenovo1984 said:

The difference in the power delivery in terms of a hard drive isn't really related to USB 2 vs USB 3.

USB2 does not have enough power for some drives. I dont want to repeat myself. Here is a picture. Some drives need these:

[Lenovo1984]

1 hour ago, Hugh54321 said:

USB2 does not have enough power for some drives. I dont want to repeat myself. Here is a picture. Some drives need these:

That's fine, people have different experiences sometimes. The cable you showed in the picture is USB 3 though, so by your logic, why would it need extra power? I've run many hard drives via USB 2 with single cables just fine. 

[Mark Kaine]

24 minutes ago, Lenovo1984 said:

That's fine, people have different experiences sometimes. The cable you showed in the picture is USB 3 though, so by your logic, why would it need extra power? I've run many hard drives via USB 2 with single cables just fine. 

On that note I tried to connect a 3.5" drive today with one of those to my Lenovo Thinkpad and it didn't want to work!   I used both cables,  still nothing.  I'm kinda thinking because one plug was USB2 and the other USB3 (they're next to each other so I kinda have to use them) or the laptop didn't provide enough power   which doesn't really make sense either. 

 

 

Btw hdd enclosure isn't really necessary imo,  works fine without since 10+ years. Unless someone needs it for the portability I guess.

 

 

Of course SSDs are more practical. I've seen people buy enclosures for those too though

 

 

 

[Lenovo1984]

1 minute ago, Mark Kaine said:

On that note I tried to connect a 3.5" drive today with one of those to my Lenovo Thinkpad and it didn't want to work!   I used both cables,  still nothing.  I'm kinda thinking because one plug was USB2 and the other USB3 (they're next to each other so I kinda have to use them) or the laptop didn't provide enough power   which doesn't really make sense either. 

 

Btw hdd enclosure isn't really necessary,  works fine without since 10+ years 

 

Of course SSDs are more practical. I've seen people buy enclosures for those too though

 

One thing I have found is that cable length and quality does matter. I have managed to run drives through cables that are ~1.5-2 ft long just fine. I have also had drives refuse to work with a crappy cable. Does your drive spin up at all? Does it click? Another thing is the device powering the drive. My phone won't power some drives, but some will power up fine from it. 

[Mark Kaine]

1 minute ago, Lenovo1984 said:

One thing I have found is that cable length and quality does matter. I have managed to run drives through cables that are ~1.5-2 ft long just fine. I have also had drives refuse to work with a crappy cable. Does your drive spin up at all? Does it click? Another thing is the device powering the drive. My phone won't power some drives, but some will power up fine from it. 

Hmm, it could be the cable is a bit bad... It was definitely the cheapest available. Though it works flawlessly with 2.5 drives,  but I see, that's a possible reason of course.