StarTech 2.5-Inch Aluminum External Disk Enclosure

[phoronix]

Phoronix: StarTech 2.5-Inch Aluminum External Disk Enclosure

While I have tested out many StarTech server racks at Phoronix, I have never checked out the company's computer peripherals. I ended up trying out their 2.5-inch aluminum external enclosure and have ended up liking it almost as much as their racks.

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=25469

[grok]

This is good : more rugged 2.5" case than usual, power input.
But I don't see a big 0/1 power switch. What happened to turning things off? Just two reasons : because I feel like it, or because I might want to make it available to the PC when I feel like it not when I'm crawling to the back of a computer to plug it, and secondarily because if turned off it won't be susceptible to malware.

Does the power supply input works even when using USB? maybe I'd use an arbitrarily old or weak computer (think raspberry pi. or phone!)
stupid thing to not advertise drive height on the box

[starshipeleven]

But I don't see a big 0/1 power switch. What happened to turning things off?

power switches on external 2.5 drives aren't exactly common. The drive inside usually goes in spindown mode within 30 mins or so of inactivity (or sooner/later if you want to configure that), irrespective of anything (does that also on Sata).

SSDs basically consume only when reading/writing. On idle their power consumption is negligible.

Does the power supply input works even when using USB? maybe I'd use an arbitrarily old or weak computer (think raspberry pi. or phone!)

Would be weird if it didn't, all drive cages I got (not Startech, random brands) with a power plug do that.
The external power is also for situations where you connect it to usb 2.0 that can't usually provide enough power for high-end 2.5 drives (7200 rpm) and older-gen 2.5 drives.
Which was a problem in the early-mid usb 2.0 days too.

stupid thing to not advertise drive height on the box

In the website thay say 9.5mm/0.4in https://www.startech.com/HDD/Enclosu...re~S251SMU33EP

[doragasu]

Does it support stopping the disks when there is not activity (either using hdparm or by their own)? I am having a hard time finding USB disk enclosures with this feature. More info about my problems here.

[wagaf]

Hardware of the last decade:

* No USB Type-C (USB 3.0 micro-B is horrible and breaks easily)
* No USB 3.1, only 3.0 hence slow speeds as shown by benchmarks

Would not pay more than 10$ for this.

Much better option IMHO:
https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-2-5-I.../dp/B014T3JRFM
or
https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-2-5-I.../dp/B017NIDXF0

[frief]

you didn't mention whether the enclosure works out of the box with smartmontools - does it?
(like "smartctl -a /dev/sdX" or does it need an option to "-d" or not work at all?)

[stiiixy]

*aluminium

Al yoo min ee um

The arse end of that enclosure looks pretty cheap (even high end gear these days seem to be using seriously questionable celluloids these days however). My $3 jobbies from Yumcha Xchina actually perform pretty well. I primarily retool old laptop drives of the 500/750GB variety. The enclosures are using a simple flat USB to USB connector and Ive never had issues.

I also wont use a SSD drive in these enclosures and expect 'performance' of the high category.

Each to ther own. Cant say that model however looks endearing.

[R00KIE]

Does trim work over usb without having to tweak anything?

[tildearrow]

*aluminium

Al yoo min ee um

"Aluminum" is proper in American English...

Typos:

StarTech's 2.5-inch external hard driver enclosure

Benchmarks were done form Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS x86_64.

[grok]

Does it support stopping the disks when there is not activity (either using hdparm or by their own)? I am having a hard time finding USB disk enclosures with this feature. More info about my problems here.

Interesting. Given it boast a better/more modern controller than usual (with the UASP support) I suppose your hdparm would work but that's no confirmation.

Also, the drive could auto-spin down based on its firmware. Sometimes it's undesireable maybe, "green" drives from a certain brand aggressively spin down I once read something about 7 minutes on a drive.. which might lead to hundreds of useless spin down/up cycles, wearing out.

to starshipeleven : yes that's the idea thanks. I think ye olde tower has 500mA USB ports. I value running any drive on any USB port.
meanwhile if you know you'll use it on a laptop with USB3 (so at least 900mA I think) you can leave the power supply at home.