PC Peripherals Need help with External casing for HDD

Kaleen Bhaiya

Kaleen Bhaiya

Level H
I recently bought a new hard drive to replace my 320 gb old one. Now I want to use the old drive as a media device or backup by converting it to an external portable hard drive.

I was going through Amazon and found this link..




I have following questions.

1. How do I know if my old drive is Sata 2 or Sata 3. I got it in 2007-08. Will putting it in a USB 3.0 enclosure help it achieve good speeds? I do know that it runs at 7200 rpm.

2. Can it provide a decent data transfer if I try playing 4K content on my TV from this drive?



Or I should instead get a USB 2.0 casing as my drive is old hence I won't be able to take advantage of the 3.0 casing/connector port.

I am a bit confused as this is my first external case.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.
 
1. Your HDD is PROBABLY sata 2 but it will still perform better on usb 3.0.
Most 7200rpm hard drives have speeds of 80-160 MBps. Whereas usb 2.0 is about 25-30MBps max! Its better to opt for usb 3.0 to eliminate this bottleneck.

2. Yes. As you can see from my first point it has more than enough read/write speed required for 4K playback.
 
Almost any HDD is faster than USB 2.0. So 3 should be faster.

Keep in mind if you're using the drive for constant use rather than occasional archiving, it could overheat in these casings with poor ventilation and low space inside.

Ever since an old backup plus overheated while transferring (and developed a bad sector immediately), I open up all my external drives so the drive inside is freely exposed to the open air. It's a bit of a pain but none of my drives have died in a while as a result.

Then again, a 320gb should be fine, those don't usually get very hot.
 
It will mostly be used for archiving. Very rarely for media playback incase if any drive is unavailable. I just don't want a drive to lay wasted so using it occasionally should keep it running smooth. Thanks for the heads up.

Can anyone help me with better alternatives for external casing than the one mentioned in my OP? Something which is more durable and convenient.
Do I really need to visit Lamington road to get the drive fixed in the casing? Can it be done manually?
 
Tejas01 said:
I recently bought a new hard drive to replace my 320 gb old one. Now I want to use the old drive as a media device or backup by converting it to an external portable hard drive.

I was going through Amazon and found this link..




I have following questions.

1. How do I know if my old drive is Sata 2 or Sata 3. I got it in 2007-08. Will putting it in a USB 3.0 enclosure help it achieve good speeds? I do know that it runs at 7200 rpm.

2. Can it provide a decent data transfer if I try playing 4K content on my TV from this drive?



Or I should instead get a USB 2.0 casing as my drive is old hence I won't be able to take advantage of the 3.0 casing/connector port.

I am a bit confused as this is my first external case.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.
Click to expand...
Actually its a first copy product as originally it belongs to QuantumZERO which I'm happily using since 3 yrs with zero issues. Speeds are awesome for sata drives.
 

Storite USB 3.0 to SATA Dual Bay Hard Drive Docking Station for 2.5 3.5 inch SDD/HDD - Buy Storite USB 3.0 to SATA Dual Bay Hard Drive Docking Station for 2.5 3.5 inch SDD/HDD Online at Low Price in India - Amazon.in

Amazon.in: Buy Storite USB 3.0 to SATA Dual Bay Hard Drive Docking Station for 2.5 3.5 inch SDD/HDD online at low price in India on Amazon.in. Check out Storite USB 3.0 to SATA Dual Bay Hard Drive Docking Station for 2.5 3.5 inch SDD/HDD reviews, ratings, features, specifications and more at...
www.amazon.in

This one makes more sense; will easily get attached to PC or Raspberry Pi and run OMV through it.
 
Tejas01 said:
It will mostly be used for archiving. Very rarely for media playback incase if any drive is unavailable. I just don't want a drive to lay wasted so using it occasionally should keep it running smooth. Thanks for the heads up.

Can anyone help me with better alternatives for external casing than the one mentioned in my OP? Something which is more durable and convenient.
Do I really need to visit Lamington road to get the drive fixed in the casing? Can it be done manually?
Click to expand...
Currently it seems like there are no big brand 3.5" hdd enclosures. For 2.5" there are ones from Adata and transcend, but for 3.5" there are only more of the type that you showed and they all just look like clones of each other. Would be better if you just go with the one with better reviews.
The one you showed says that it has tool-free installation so i think you'll be able to easily install it yourself.
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nikhilavasthi said:

Storite USB 3.0 to SATA Dual Bay Hard Drive Docking Station for 2.5 3.5 inch SDD/HDD - Buy Storite USB 3.0 to SATA Dual Bay Hard Drive Docking Station for 2.5 3.5 inch SDD/HDD Online at Low Price in India - Amazon.in

Amazon.in: Buy Storite USB 3.0 to SATA Dual Bay Hard Drive Docking Station for 2.5 3.5 inch SDD/HDD online at low price in India on Amazon.in. Check out Storite USB 3.0 to SATA Dual Bay Hard Drive Docking Station for 2.5 3.5 inch SDD/HDD reviews, ratings, features, specifications and more at...
www.amazon.in

This one makes more sense; will easily get attached to PC or Raspberry Pi and run OMV through it.
Click to expand...
But if he wants to spend that much just for running an old 320gb hdd occasionally then he's better off selling that one here for like rs.500 and pooling that money together to buy an external HDD. Might get a new one or a used one with bigger space for that price
 
@Greyfalcon is spot on.

If it was a 2.5" you could get a cheap small enclosure and use it for portable storage. But spending any more than 500 bucks for using a 320gb is a waste of money. And even that much i dunno...
 
Since we are on the topic of hard drives, I had a small doubt and hope you could chip in with your experiences.
1. In two instances 3.5 in drives went kaput. The first Seagate was unused for over 3 years. When I tried it gave the usual clicking sound and was not detected in any of my machines.
2. My computer engineer, whose Seagate/WD 1 tb drive also failed to run in front of me said he was using it after 1 year prior to this.
Is there some time period like a hard drive needs to run after a certain period of time so that they don't end up getting bad. Just like how we maintain our cars.

I would have certainly bet this observation would have been concrete. But my Maxtor 320gb bought in 2005 was unused for more than a decade and it's still going strong.
Have these companies really compromised on the longetivity of the drive so as to keep the costs down.

Have you guys experienced such abnormal behaviour? Would it be safe to bet that getting a drive with 5+ years warranty would be better off that the one with 2 years.
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Julian said:
@Greyfalcon is spot on.

If it was a 2.5" you could get a cheap small enclosure and use it for portable storage. But spending any more than 500 bucks for using a 320gb is a waste of money. And even that much i dunno...
Click to expand...
Agreed. I am being literally ripped off here. Each time I look at the product I say to myself it's a friggin plastic case, it shouldn't cost more than 1000(worse case scenario). But all the branded products seem out of stock(Amazon Basics, Quantum Zero).
Tried searching on the net, no luck. Have people suddenly got enlightened and stopped using External casing and hence there is no demand?
Corona, I understand, but almost every seller going out of stock!!
 
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Tejas01 said:
Is there some time period like a hard drive needs to run after a certain period of time so that they don't end up getting bad. Just like how we maintain our cars.
Click to expand...
Not mechanically but for disk magnetism it should be run at once a year for sufficient amount of time else be ready to face data corruption type of incidents or weak sectors where data is not readable. As time passes, platters tend to lose its magnetic ability which directly affects the data stored on it.
I have hard drives as old as from year 2k5 and still working great. I power them on twice a yr or so for 15-20minsm, scroll through the data and done! Pack and keep.
It also crucially matters where and how you store such drives in what environment.

Tejas01 said:
But my Maxtor 320gb bought in 2005 was unused for more than a decade and it's still going strong.
Have these companies really compromised on the longetivity of the drive so as to keep the costs down.
Click to expand...
I agree, Maxtors were THE BEST and awesome...ultra quiet and smooth. But upon merger it was killed by Seagate. Sadly I lost my two maxtors by my own foolishness... Still regret them badly.

Tejas01 said:
Have you guys experienced such abnormal behaviour?
Would it be safe to bet that getting a drive with 5+ years warranty would be better off that the one with 2 years.
Click to expand...
5yrs is always great but now only premium drives carry more warranty so nothing could be done here...
 
I'm not sure about the magnetism thing, as in, just by reading through it how can it remagnetize the sectors if they've lost charge? I can't accept this theory without evidence.

What can happen with long periods of disuse is that the bearings can seize up. This has been documented a lot and people used to use various methods like whacking the top of the drive to freezing it to unstick the bearings. Dunno if modern bearings would still be affected but in theory it's possible.
 
Julian said:
I'm not sure about the magnetism thing, as in, just by reading through it how can it remagnetize the sectors if they've lost charge? I can't accept this theory without evidence.

What can happen with long periods of disuse is that the bearings can seize up. This has been documented a lot and people used to use various methods like whacking the top of the drive to freezing it to unstick the bearings. Dunno if modern bearings would still be affected but in theory it's possible.
Click to expand...
Dealing with harddrives and data recoveries for 2 decades I can confirm the magnetic field detoriots over time making hard drive weak & wear down over time. So its essential to refresh your drives once a while even during prolonged storage. Of course mechanical parts/motors also need that exercise.
blog.macsales.com

Do HDDs or SSDs Need 'Exercise'? The Rocket Yard Investigates

So, let’s find out if we need to keep exercising our storage devices to maintain information and performance
blog.macsales.com blog.macsales.com

1597313184914.png
 
Yes, i already said in theory it's possible to the magnetic charge on the platters to degrade, but not sure if to the level of data loss.

But the question is how does READING the data, refresh or restore the strength of the charge?? It would have to be read and written back in full strength. Your 'scrolling' through the data is not even reading it, just displaying the contents of the FAT. Nothing personal mate but make sure you know what your talking about before advising someone. And i've been doing this for more than 2 decades too ;)
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In fact, read the comments in that blog you've linked, including the 1st, 7th, 10th and 14th.

Spinrite is a tool that was touted to recover HDDs on the brink of data loss (by refreshing sectors through a read and write) but it often ends up killing drives already on the brink of failure due to sustained overuse in their critical condition.
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Also see:
https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/74i499

They talk about utilities called DiskFresh and StableBit but god knows how effective they are.

One thing you can do is run a surface scan which actually reads each sector for errors. Hopefully the ECC built into the drive controller will correct any dying sectors. Nothing much else you can do. Except maybe image or copy the entire drive to another one and then write it back. That would 100% refresh the data.
 
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So I ordered the product from the first link, got delivered today. While running the adapter started to make hissing sound which became quite audible even when my pc is at a distance of over 3feet. Ordered for a replacement.

Since it's a cheap Chinese ripoff, I was wondering if my Maxtor adapter would do the job incase the 2nd adapter also acts wierd. Both are 12V 2A so technically both giving same output.
Will it be safe or can it damage my drive?
Have you guys experienced the same from the adaptor by any chance?

The casing is kinda ok btw, cheap plastic. Got speeds upto 30MBps(I am on Sata 1.5). But definitely expensive
 
There are three things to check when using any ac adaptor. Voltage, current and pin polarity. If these three match you can use anything. You can actually play around with the other two a little and it may still work fine but NEVER polarity. Usually connector pins are center positive. Rarely the other way around.

Polarity symbols - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org
 
Julian said:
There are three things to check when using any ac adaptor. Voltage, current and pin polarity. If these three match you can use anything. You can actually play around with the other two a little and it may still work fine but NEVER polarity. Usually connector pins are center positive. Rarely the other way around.

Polarity symbols - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org
Click to expand...
Yup, the tip is positive while the ring is negative. I hope the connector pin you mentioned is the tip( the mirror shiny surface, the black extension is the ring)
Hope I got that right.
 
Haha, i used the term center positive instead of tip positive because these are usually barrel connector plugs. There are some adapters that use pin connector plugs which look like headphone plugs and for those the tip and ring terminology works.

Anyway, just make sure the diagram on both ac adaptors match and you're good to go.

1597340445856.png
 
Let's see. The replacement is due today. If it's good else using Maxtor one.
Thanks again for your help guys...
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Update: Got the replacement, same issue with adapter. Read the reviews and realised others also have the same issue. And at this point it is the only one selling USB 3.0 connectivity.
Using my Maxtor adapter, works fine.

Amazon basics had some good cases too. Wonder what happened to them. Atleast their quality would be assured.
 
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