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usb harddrive enclosure -vs- usb external harddrive

1K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  dustyjay 
#1 ·
I realize one is just an enclosure and you provide the harddrive, and one is a true harddrive, but which is better and whats really the difference?
 
#3 ·
One is just pre-assembled and the other you assemble. I guess it's a little cheaper just to buy the case and hard drive separately and assemble your own, but I don't know of any other real differences other than getting some backup software with the pre-assembled drives.

I have 2 MAXTORS and 1 WESTERN DIGITAL (all pre-assembled) and I like the MAXTORS much better than the WD.
 
#5 ·
ok well thanks for the feedback, im going to be doing some backups on a server, and Im just trying to find the best solution, I guess what im asking is what is more reliable, I mean I know there both usb connected but which one would be built better? the prefabd external or the do it yourself enclosure. I read here somewhere a member had a external hd and it somehow crapped out on him and he couldnt access his files no more, because the os always wanted to format the drive again to read it....yikes
 
#6 ·
If you buy just the case, you have the option of using either a CD-ROM or hard drive.

But to help prevent reading problems later, partition and format it from the machine that will be using it. It's always a good idea to create new partitions when you have the chance. There have been a lot of posts about lost access to external drives, most due to corrupted partition tables. Make new ones.
 
#7 ·
Elvandil said:
If you buy just the case, you have the option of using either a CD-ROM or hard drive.

But to help prevent reading problems later, partition and format it from the machine that will be using it. It's always a good idea to create new partitions when you have the chance. There have been a lot of posts about lost access to external drives, most due to corrupted partition tables. Make new ones.
you mean make new partitions for seperate backups, so for example if I had to do backups with more than one server or pc...
 
#8 ·
Staples had an 80gig maxtor external a week ago for just $69, now that is cheap. I put together a maxtor 60 gig drive with an external enclosure for a grand total including shipping of $65, works great, and very reliable so far on one computer.
 
#9 ·
axis77 said:
you mean make new partitions for seperate backups, so for example if I had to do backups with more than one server or pc...
Partition it in any way that is convenient. The suggestion was only that it should be partitioned and formatted by the machine that will be writing to it (the most often if more than one machine will be using it).
 
#10 ·
Also remember that if this external drive is going to used on a system running anything like 98SE you will need to format it Fat32 for it to be readable.
 
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