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+--- Thread: ext enclosure - fannned or fanless (/showthread.php?tid=292676)
ext enclosure - fannned or fanless - Fritz - 12-19-2024
if you were stuffing an ext 2TB 5400 for music storage & PB, would you go for the fanned enclosure or is fanless OK?
Probably 4 or so hours/day.
Re: ext enclosure - fannned or fanless - ka jowct - 12-19-2024
2.5" or 3.5"?
Re: ext enclosure - fannned or fanless - Fritz - 12-19-2024
3.5"
Re: ext enclosure - fannned or fanless - Robert M - 12-19-2024
Fritz,
Given the choice, I prefer aluminum enclosures with fans and power switches. Many of the cheap ones are plastic and lack both.
Robert
Re: ext enclosure - fannned or fanless - sekker - 12-19-2024
PB = Peanut Butter?
If noise is not an issue, I would go with a fan.
Re: ext enclosure - fannned or fanless - RAMd®d - 12-19-2024
I too like the idea of an aluminum box and fan.
But– I've got two WD 6TB desktop Elements that have been running almost none stop for years, plastic enclosures, no fans.
Re: ext enclosure - fannned or fanless - Robert M - 12-19-2024
RAM,
I concur. I have several external drives including the last Western Digital model I'll ever purchase and a couple of Seagate models (two of which have USB 3 hubs built into them) that are in plastic enclosures that lack fans and on/off switches. Can't say I like the designs. However, to give credit where it is due, I've yet to have any of them fail. Even have some plastic USB 3 enclosures designed for 3.5" drives from Hitachi that I got on the cheap. They've been fine, too.
However, when looking at drives, if I compare them to the La Cie D2 external drive, they aren't in the same class. The mechanism inside the LaCie might be a Western Digital or a Seagate (or whoever is the current OEM for them) but the enclosure blows the doors off the competitors. Just like the better G-Drive and OWC enclosures are superior to them in many respects.
Robert
Re: ext enclosure - fannned or fanless - ka jowct - 12-19-2024
My experience with Seagate externals has been about 75% failure, with the drives themselves being functional once removed from their enclosures. Some of them were the type of enclosure that had a removable base that housed the external connectors. I "fixed" one by getting a replacement base. But ultimately I extracted all of them.
They may have improved on the quality of their cases since. Not something I care to investigate though.
I mostly use OWC aluminum enclosures.