Question Building my own external HD or buying one?

[Rick_S]

My current WD My Book external hard drive is making noise, and so I want to replace it before it completely dies. I see shells online for creating a USB 3 HD, using a 3 1/2" Hard drive. Price is a concern, but secondary. Does anyone know if the DIY kits work well? Any comparisons? Thank you.

 

[PC Tailor]

Welcome to the forums my friend!

Assuming you simply mean whats the difference between buying an enclosure and putting your own drive in vs buying a prebuilt external HDD?

If so, no real difference, it's effectively all external HDDs are, internal HDD's, in an enclosure. Usually pre-made ones are a little cheaper as they just bulk manufacturer them, but you can control what HDD goes into the enclosure with your own, and swap round with different ones accordingly.

 

[Rick_S]

Hi PC Tailor, Yes that it what I meant. I know that the pre-built ones tend to be cheaper, like buying a car from a dealer, as opposed to buying the parts and doing it myself! I've just learned to check periodically, when I haven't checked something in 5 or 10 years, because things have changed, when I wasn't looking, 😀

 

[PC Tailor]

Hi PC Tailor, Yes that it what I meant. I know that the pre-built ones tend to be cheaper, like buying a car from a dealer, as opposed to buying the parts and doing it myself! I've just learned to check periodically, when I haven't checked something in 5 or 10 years, because things have changed, when I wasn't looking, 😀

I simply have one enclosure that is interchangeable, I have a lot of spare hard drives, so I just plug and play whichever one I need into the enclosure and done.

I buy pre-built ones for others usually just because they're slightly cheaper.

In actual form, there's effectively no difference except the OEM will decide what HDD to put inside their enclosure, and then seal it.

 

[popatim]

Yes there are many good enclosures & docks but also many mediocre ones as well.
Prebuilt is almost always cheaper from the name brands.

Lastly, there are many 2.5" external drives that only have a USB drive inside and no Sata port at all.

 

[fzabkar]

If purchasing your own external enclosure, I would choose an aluminium box with fan cooling, if you don't mind the noise. OEM external drives are usually plastic hotboxes.

 

[Rick_S]

If purchasing your own external enclosure, I would choose an aluminium box with fan cooling, if you don't mind the noise. OEM external drives are usually plastic hotboxes.

TY. Good advice.