Questions tagged [enclosures]

In computer terms an enclosure is a case which contains something. Examples external HDD enclosures.

An enclosure is an area that is surrounded by a barrier. In computer land it often is a case which contains something.

One of the most commonly used case is an 'external HDD enclosure' which is a case which can contain a HDD and which often has plugs for power, eSATA, Firewire, SAS, Ethernet, USB or Thunderbolt.

An enclosure can also contain other things. E.g. external graphics cards, RAID arrays (optionally with a HW RAID card in the enclosure), etc. etc.

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Connecting Internal SATA HDD to eSATA

I have these 3 things: (1) An internal 3.5 SATA HDD. (2) An independent power supply that provides a Molex style connector (i.e. 5V and 12V power) and an adapter to convert it into SATA (except that it cannot provide the 3.3V found in a SATA power…
JavaMan
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Could a low quality SSD enclosure prevent the TRIM functionality on my SSD?

I'm about to purchase an external SSD enclosure (case) for my Samsung 860 QVO. Some case manufacturers mention "supports TRIM" in the description, some don't. Reading online, I only could find evidence that TRIM support is dependent on the drive…
J13C
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How to connect a desktop SATA harddrive to laptop?

I will be going out of the country for a couple of months, and most of my stuff will go in storage. I will be taking my laptop, and will be keeping the desktop back at home. I was thinking of taking the harddrive from my desktop with me, since I…
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Externally attached ZFS pool hangs up, no sign of errors on drives

I have an array of 5 1TB WD Red drives in an external enclosure on a SATA multiplexer. This is being fed into a desktop machine with a SATA multiplexer controller. After about a year of service (this has happened twice) the array will start to reset…
J Collins
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Advanced Format HDDs, USB enclosures and Windows / Linux compatibility

The environment I just bought a 1 TB Seagate Barracuda ST1000LM048 HDD. It's an Advanced Format drive, with 4096-byte sectors. I planned using it with my cheap-but-trusted (and I do mean cheap, it's really generic chinese and I paid about 5 USD for…
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Worth getting USB 3.0 enclosure for old HDD?

I have a WD 500GB MyPassport which is a couple of years old (2009-2010). Will I be able to see a noticeable speed difference if I remove the HDD and use it with a USB 3.0 caddy instead?
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Why are some hard disk enclosures limited in hard drive capacity?

Why are these hard drive enclosures advertised as having 160 GB maximum capacity? http://amazon.co.uk/dp/B008MRBMPA USB 2.0 interface (Compatible with USB 1.1), Up to 480 Mbps data transfer rates, 160GB capacity…
Gnubie
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Is it safe to regularly transport an internal hard disk?

I'd like to make backups on an internal hard drive (using an USB enclosure) and carry it off-site. Will the hard disk survive for a long time?
Dimitri C.
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What connectors do USB 3.0 devices use?

This USB 3.0 HDD case has something that looks like a USB A receptacle requiring an A-A cable, something quite unusual. The only alternative that Amazon.de is offering, has the 10-pin USB 3.0 Mini-B connector, something very rare as well. I don’t…
AndreKR
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How to turn a hard drive into an NAS?

I just got myself a 2TB drive (this one). I'd like it to be available to all the computers in the house. Is there a SATA enclosure available that turns a drive into an NAS?
AngryHacker
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eSATA enclosure powers down SATA HDD after 5 minutes

I bought a new Delock 3.5″ External Enclosure SATA HDD to USB 2.0 / eSATA for some backup SATA HDD drives that I keep around and everything works just fine, except that if I leave the drive to idle for 5 minutes (precisely 5 minutes), it gets…
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Why does a SATA hard disk enclosure have a maximum capacity?

Why do some USB SATA enclosures have a 1.5TB, 2TB, or 3TB maximum written in the box? I want to know what happens if I use it on a drive above the maximum. Also, some enclosures don't specify any maximum -- does that mean I can use them for a 4TB…
William C
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Code 12 on a graphics card in a Thunderbolt 3 eGPU-enclosure

So, I'm trying to do the eGPU thing. I'm running Windows 10 (freshly installed, literally 15 minutes ago, no changes whatsoever) on a 2016 MacBook Pro (15", the one with two full PCIe busses over four Thunderbolt 3 ports). I've connected an NVIDIA…
ELLIOTTCABLE
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How do I check whether the enclosure failed or the hard drive failed?

I have a spare 500 GB 3.5" internal SATA HDD which I decided to be used as an external HDD. Recently, I bought an 3.5" enclosure (3.5 inch Cavalry EN-CAXM SuperSpeed USB 3.0 enclosure) for this. I am using USB to connect to this to my laptop. For…
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How should I construct my own hard drive enclosure?

I recently replaced my laptop HDD with an SSD. It came with a handy transfer cable which lets me easily connect the old "naked" HDD to my laptop via USB. Now that I have switched over to the SSD, I would like to use the old HDD as a backup drive (OS…
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