Cheap but capable USB hard drive enclosure?

[oldschool]

Hello friends. Any suggestions for a cheap but capable USB hard drive enclosure to retrieve some data? Some of my data missed making on to my backup (maybe user error ) and I'd like to get it back. Prices and models range from high to low. I just want to get the job done. Thanks in advance for any tips.

 

[ForgottenSeer 72227]

Personally I like the HDD dock from Thermaltake. It's what I use and is fairly inexpensive. It can support both 3.5 and 2.5 HDDs and best of all you can easily pop in and out any HDD you want. It hooks up via USB and is simple, but effective.

Thermaltake BlacX 2.5"/3.5" SATA I/II/III USB 3.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure Docking Station ST0005U-D - Newegg.com

 

[plat]

oldschool, I got my enclosure for $19.95 plus tax at MicroCenter for a 3.5 inch repurposed Western Digital Blue HDD and it's first and foremost simply to function as an on-demand storage drive outside my really ugly computer for better airflow. Far as I know, it only receives data, not retrieves data and it stays offline the vast majority of the time. Could you clarify: you want to manually move the data your backup missed onto your future enclosed hard drive? I'm not sure what you mean by "retrieving" your data.

One general observation about my cheap aluminum enclosure:. I run it with the sleeve partially off, that thing gets mighty warm.

 

[oldschool]

clarify: you want to manually move the data your backup missed onto your future enclosed hard drive? I'm not sure what you mean by "retrieving" your data.

I want to get data from my HDD (from trashed PC) to my new PC. I did some research and HowToGeek has a little free app called "Take Ownership" to use if needed for the transfer.

 

[plat]

Oh, so your computer went on the fritz! Wow, OK. Well, if there's no room to plug your old HDD into your new PC, yeah, an enclosure would be great. I have a cheap but competent Vantec NexStar enclosure but then again, it's used very little. If it's plugged in, the contents are easily accessible, in this case, it's a Macrium image. So, yes your new machine should simply be able to read it and the contents be accessible just like it was an internal drive. Hopefully, you can just drag and drop without a middleman app--if you're running as an Administrator, I've never had to do anything take-ownership-ish to access my stuff on another drive.

 

[mojaveron]

Here is one I use.

Amazon.com: StarTech.com SATA to USB Cable - USB 3.0 to 2.5” SATA III Hard Drive Adapter - External Converter for SSD/HDD Data Transfer (USB3S2SAT3CB): Computers & Accessories

Amazon.com: StarTech.com SATA to USB Cable - USB 3.0 to 2.5” SATA III Hard Drive Adapter - External Converter for SSD/HDD Data Transfer (USB3S2SAT3CB): Computers & Accessories

www.amazon.com

 

[oldschool]

@mojaveron @Raiden - thanks for the info! I'll use of these two.

 

[ForgottenSeer 72227]

Here is one I use.

Amazon.com: StarTech.com SATA to USB Cable - USB 3.0 to 2.5” SATA III Hard Drive Adapter - External Converter for SSD/HDD Data Transfer (USB3S2SAT3CB): Computers & Accessories

Amazon.com: StarTech.com SATA to USB Cable - USB 3.0 to 2.5” SATA III Hard Drive Adapter - External Converter for SSD/HDD Data Transfer (USB3S2SAT3CB): Computers & Accessories

www.amazon.com

This looks like a very nice option, even simpler than mine! I may have to pick one of these up, for $9.00 you can't go wrong and overall seems to be very well rated/liked based on the reviews.

 

[Lightning_Brian]

I really like this option: Amazon.com: Sabrent USB 3.0 to SATA External Hard Drive Lay-Flat Docking Station with Built-in Cooling Fan for 2.5 or 3.5in HDD, SSD [Support UASP and 6TB] (EC-DFFN): Gateway

Granted the Sabrent USB 3.0 to SATA External Hard Drive Lay-Flat Docking Station with Built-in Cooling Fan for 2.5 or 3.5in HDD, SSD [Support UASP and 6TB] (EC-DFFN) is a little pricey at $24.99, but the added fan is nice. I wouldn't recommend keeping the lid closed for extended use at all.

Slightly off topic from cheap:

I personally use a Thermaltake Max 5G Active Cooling Hard Drive Enclosure with Two 80mm Blue LED Fans USB 3.0 5.0Gbps ST0020U for my external hard drives. However, the price point on that bad boy is expensive. I got mine on a Black Friday sale for a good price, but the normal price is quite high. I'm unsure if the Max 5G is still being sold or not... In either case, my HDDs stay nice and cold in these bad boys.

~Brian