Recommendation for an internal hard drive + USB 3.0 external enclosure

D

DermicSavage

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jun 8, 2004
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I'm set to be leaving for Afghanistan this summer and need to grab a big hard drive to keep myself entertained in my down time out there. I'm looking for at least a 2TB internal drive that I plan to throw into a HTPC box later down the road. So, until I get that HTPC box built, I want to run off my USB 3.0 using an external enclosure.

I've been leaning toward grabbing this Samsung 2TB 5400RPM drive, but USB3.0 enclosures are full of random brands. I don't know if there's any catch or things to look out for with these enclosures at all, are there any pointers for which external enclosures would be any good?

Thanks [H] :D
 
I love my Vantec Nexstar enclosures. They are esata but the quality is great and I know they also make them in usb3.
 
Not your original question, but I travel a bunch for work and would def. reccomend getting 2 hard drives to store your media on. Especially with travel the stuff can get knocked around and tend to fail - it sucks when you've stocked up on movies to last you 3+ months and the drive fails a week in.

You don't really even need to enclosures or a RAID enclosure (though you could raid-1 them out in your htpc) - just keep a copy of your data on one as a backup.
 
I have been using 2 Seagate GoFlex 3 TB for 6 months, very compact design and reliable so far (not made in China.) One of them has been written at least 3 times over with data already and is doing fine with heavy daily usage.
 
rive22 said:
I love my Vantec Nexstar enclosures. They are esata but the quality is great and I know they also make them in usb3.
Click to expand...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817145167
i got 4 of these total....using 2 now on this deployment, and had 2 last deployment. Gave one to mother in law. They get a lil warm on the outside sometimes, thats only with the 750gig though when being accessed alot, others never really got warm, but ive had absolutely no issues with them. My only thing is i wish the power cord was a lil longer.
Good for 120v and 220v so you can use it there with no issues. All my drives are WD except one. Seagate 750.
Be safe on your deployment and enjoy what down time you can get with lots of movies :)
 
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rive22 said:
I love my Vantec Nexstar enclosures. They are esata but the quality is great and I know they also make them in usb3.
Click to expand...

I have heard these are good. I know Micro Center was using them in their offices at the Minneapolis store, 1-2 years ago.

Personally, I would give preference to one with a fan though.
However I bought a Thermaltake Max 4 Active Cooling (1 80mm fan) 3 years ago and sold it to my friend and he is still using it.
There is a new Thermaltake Max 5 with USB 3, it comes with 2 80mm fans and still has a 3 year warranty (on website shows it, but not on Newegg). NE & Amazon.

ChrisBenn suggestion to have a backup isn't a bad idea. If you can afford to get a second Samsung 2tb before you go might be a good idea. I assume when your done packing everything, it will be very tight and compacted. Will probably get banged up a lot in transit, at least that's what I got out of my cousin 3 years ago, IIRC.

I have 2 Samsung 2TB's in my current desktop right now and am liking them (after the firmware update that is).
 
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There is a new Thermaltake Max 5 with USB 3, it comes with 2 80mm fans and still has a 3 year warranty (on website shows it, but not on Newegg). NE & Amazon.
Click to expand...
I hate the lights but that's a nice enclosure!
 
There seems to be a switch to turn the lights off, which is also a good reason why I bought it lol
 
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