External HDD vs Laptop HDD with enclosure ?

Srock97 · December 13, 2015

Which is better

BobyTheDragon · December 13, 2015

External HDD if you want to transfer and work on massive files between multiple computers.

d3sl91 · December 13, 2015

Which is better

In most cases, just get whatever is cheapest for you. External HDD's are just an internal Laptop or Desktop HDD inside an enclosure. If you already have the laptop drive, just grab an enclosure.

If you don't already have the laptop drive (aka, 2.5" drive), you can get some higher performance by buying a faster laptop HDD and putting into an enclosure - either by getting a 7200rpm or SSD.

~~Some manufacturer's will use refurb or "not quite perfect" drives in their external HDD's, but that may not be the case anymore.~~

Edit: Ignore that last bit. Likely was a rumor I heard years ago. In all reality, they sell TONS more external drives than internal. So of course it can be had for cheaper. Also, most of these drives no longer have SATA connectors. The USB interface is straight on the PCB of the drive. The plastic "enclosure" is literally that, a piece of plastic glued over a drive.