A Low-Cost USB 3.0 2.5-Inch Disk Enclosure That Works Fine With Linux

[alexvoda]

I would in no way recommend the enclosure in the article.
What in the world is with the bizarre USB A plug to USB A plug cable? Non-standard cables and connectors result in a world of hurt. I'm not even certain it can rightfully display the USB logo.

Personally, I am in a real pinch for future enclosure purchases.
With regards to 2.5" external drives I purchased only USM compatible products.
This means:
- All my portable external drives can be connected directly to SATA cables without taking them out of the case.
- I have adapters for USB 3.0 and eSATAp (eSATA/USB combo port) with the option to buy adapters for Firewire800 and Thunderbolt 1
- All adapters fit all of my drives
- USB adapters use standard USB A plug to USB Mini-B plug cables for the old 2.0 adapter and USB A plug to USB Micro-B plug for 3.0 adapters

Unfortunately in a rush to cut costs the primary proponent of this standard, Seagate, gave up on it.
There used to be plenty of companies producing USM compatible products: Seagate, Antec, Termaltake, Verbatim, Startech, Cavalry Storage, and others.

Seagate used to make great drives for this standard. Unfortunately after Seagate gave up, others did to. So now it is increasingly difficult and expensive to source enclosures and adapters for new drives. And looking forward, there are no adapters for the new USB 3.1 Gen 2 which would be useful because a SATA 3 (6Gbps) SSD is faster than USB 3.0

Here are some that are still available:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Startech-Enc.../dp/B00GJOL1KO
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Startech-5-2.../dp/B00GJOKZOW
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Verbatim-530.../dp/B007VL59J8

Purchasing an enclosure that is no longer USM compatible means I will have an odd drive I can not use in any combination I want and benefit from the maximum speed available regardless of the age of the computer.

[pankkake]

Hmm. So far I've had terrible luck with USB3 HDD enclosures, but I think I know why.
...
So to use USB3 enclosures, you have to have either a specifically low-power disk that is made to be used over USB3, or use something that isn't USB3. Which is why I'm looking forward to USB Type-C: due to the Thunderbolt inheritance, it is capable of good enough power supply, even for 3.5" drives. (There was an extension for older USB standards for supplying extra power, but I am yet to see it implemented anywhere.)

I have the Inateck USB3 with integrated 3 port hub.

It does support UASP, and it has another great feature: it has an optional power input, which you can plug into another USB port or into a power brick. That way I can properly use it on underpowered computers or computers with only USB 2.0.

I highly recommend it.

[GreatEmerald]

What in the world is with the bizarre USB A plug to USB A plug cable? Non-standard cables and connectors result in a world of hurt. I'm not even certain it can rightfully display the USB logo.

Sure beats a USB 3 A to USB "3" Mini-AB, like in sykobee's link.

I have the Inateck USB3 with integrated 3 port hub.

It does support UASP, and it has another great feature: it has an optional power input, which you can plug into another USB port or into a power brick. That way I can properly use it on underpowered computers or computers with only USB 2.0.

I highly recommend it.

Yea, something like that would be OK. Too bad they're not being sold here.

Although at this point I have so many deprecated laptop hard drives that I might as well just build a RAID (software; JBOD on hardware) NAS out of them using a regular wall plug. Too bad that for the most part, such enclosures also need active cooling, are smarter than they should be (it ought to be just a SATA multiplexer, no bloody internet capabilities!) and are really quite expensive.

[foobaz]

I wouldn't buy something that requires that non-standard USB A to USB A cable. USB is a standard, get it right.

[anybody]

I would in no way recommend the enclosure in the article.
What in the world is with the bizarre USB A plug to USB A plug cable?

I wouldn't buy something that requires that non-standard USB A to USB A cable. USB is a standard, get it right.

I agree that this is non-standard, but this is for me the biggest reason to buy this enclosure.
(I've bought at least 5 over the past 1-2 years, they are great and available in both a normal and a UAS "SSD optimized" version - I've always bought the normal one, even though I mostly put SSDs in them).

Most enclosures have USB 3.0 Micro B, and this connector is an absolute nightmare. I've seen so many unreliable connections using this connector where the external HDD only works if the enclosure and cable isn't moved while using and the cable is inserted with just the right amount of force. And I've also lent external drives to people only to get them back with the metal part of the USB 3.0 Micro B connector broken off and stuck in the enclosure.

Having a USB 3.0 A connector is non-standard, but it's incredibly reliable and sturdy. I would never recommend buying anything else, even though it's non-standard.
Perhaps USB-C will be better than USB 3.0 Micro B. But until then, this very enclosure has been a life saver and has made using external HDDs/SSDs way more reliable for me.