Good enclosure for 2TB drive? Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD20EARSI have a Mac Mini and am looking to add this 2TB WD drive to my system. Amazon doesn't list the size limits for various external enclosures, so I'm hoping that others here who have purchased this WD20EARS can tell me about the external enclosure that has worked for you. Bonus points if it's actively cooled by a fan! =) Good enclosure for 2TB drive? Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD20EARSI have a Mac Mini and am looking to add this 2TB WD... » Read More Good enclosure for 2TB drive? Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD20EARSI have a Mac Mini and am looking to add this 2TB WD drive to my system. Amazon doesn't list the size limits for various external enclosures, so I'm hoping that others here who have purchased this WD20EARS can tell me about the external enclosure that has worked for you. Bonus points if it's actively cooled by a fan! =) « Show Less
17636
A Drobo is crazy overkill for enclosing a single SATA drive. You should be able to find an SATA enclosure with a fan for about 1/10 of the cost of the Drobo.
17637
Check out on of the Drobo enclosures. Drobo Beyond Raid 4-Bay USB 2.0/FireWire 800 SATA 6GB/S Storage Array with Drobo PC Backup DR04DD10
17638
It's the size of a standard 3.5" hard drive, and the power dissipation is similar or lower than other 3.5" hard drives. Mine are in a Cooler Master 4 in 3 HDD Module Device - (STB-3T4-E3-GP), inside a Cooler Master Centurion 590 ATX Mid Tower Case Black - (RC-590-KKN1-GP), but there's a ton of external SATA enclosures that should work with this drive. Choose based on what interfaces you need (SATA, USB, Firewire). Most important, the WD20EARS needs to have 4kB blocks, properly aligned in your file system to perform efficiently. It's the size of a standard 3.5" hard drive, and the power dissipation is similar or lower than other 3.5" hard drives. Mine are in a Cooler Master 4 in 3 HDD Module Device - (STB-3T4-E3-GP), inside a Cooler Master Centurion 590 ATX Mid Tower Case Black - (RC-590-KKN1-GP), but there's a ton of external SATA enclosures that should work with this drive. Choose based on what interfaces you need (SATA, USB, Firewire). Most important, the WD20EARS needs to have 4kB... » Read More It's the size of a standard 3.5" hard drive, and the power dissipation is similar or lower than other 3.5" hard drives. Mine are in a Cooler Master 4 in 3 HDD Module Device - (STB-3T4-E3-GP), inside a Cooler Master Centurion 590 ATX Mid Tower Case Black - (RC-590-KKN1-GP), but there's a ton of external SATA enclosures that should work with this drive. Choose based on what interfaces you need (SATA, USB, Firewire). Most important, the WD20EARS needs to have 4kB blocks, properly aligned in your file system to perform efficiently. « Show Less
476517
This external hard drive contains a SATA-2 5400 rpm hard drive with a 8mb buffer.I would tell you the model number but it gets deleted when I post it.I would tell you how I know for sure but that gets deleted also.So in other words you just need to use your noodle and seek out the info you need; there are ways but this will probably get deleted to so what's the point in all of this?PS I Bought this thing and I have hands on experience with it!
400977
I've got an older 20" iMac (2009?) with the black back. It runs pretty hot and loud, but seems to be fine. I've recently replaced the 1TB WD black with the 2TB variant and it's been running fine for at least six months. If I could do it over, I'd buy a fast, quiet SSD and use external drives for data. Of course, that's going to cost a lot more.
1848759
I have eight Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB WD30EZRZ in mine and they work great. They recommend 3TB, but I know of friends that are using 4TB.
625581
Well I've never mounted this type of drive into and external enclosure but I'm fairly certain (about 85%) that you'll need more power than what a USB 2.0 can supply. Then again, I could be wrong.
754492
What is the RPM for Western Digital 1.5 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD10EADS? Is it 5400 or 7200 RPM?
1673636
I installed an internal 3tb drive with no problems, all 3 tb useable. Firmware Version 1.0.1.52 will support 4tb external, but I'm not sure about internal. I would think it would.
424957
I sent mine back and got the Thunder Bay enclosures from OWC, they are much easier to swap out drives, and they are Thunderbolt 2 speed..i now am running 4 of these enclosures and they are awesome!
1363739
I'm believe you're confusing the 2.5" HD enclosures and external HD with the 3.5" ones. 2.5" are powered only by USB where as the latter require use of the included AC adapter. 1) I believe any decreased performance would be due to the drive's quality (manufacturer) and how often the drive it's defragmented. In any case they should be minute. 2) It wouldn't seem likely the other USB devices be sluggish unless perhaps your using multiple tasks with a slow CPU, not enough RAM, low PSU, etc. 3) Answered above.
926434
Although I don't own this particular drive, I am here as I am looking to buy this one also to add to my two other Seagate 500gb Freeagents that I already have that have been working flawlessly for me for over 12 months now. I honestly think that your experience was most likely caused by a faulty unit. Without knowing your computer configuration (windows, mac or linux) it's hard to say if any extra steps would need to be taken to set it up, but for a windows or linux based pc it should be simply plug and play in my experience. As you see on this site, there is only one bad review of the product. If you think about how many of these must get sold every year, one bad review is pretty good as almost everybody will take the time to complain, but very few will come back to write a positive review as a working product is what most people expect. So I guess the short answer from me is yes, I would give this drive a second chance, but then again, i may be biased by my great experience. I hope that this is of some help to you..
689155
YES, It has worked fine for me since purchasing both the Nomad hard case and the WD My Passport Ultra 2TB (same model as question).The Nomad come with rubber spacers, both for a secure fit & that can be removed for some larger drives. The Nomad has an opening for connecting the drive to your device, PC, Mac, server, etc.; this drive is configured so you can use that opening...so you never have to open the case to access it.This is a great combo! I simply don't understand WD no longer offering such a sturdy case.
1191268
Hi Adrian, my 9mm hard disk (standard size 2.5 inch hard disk) seems to be the max this enclosure can take (it is a bit of a squeeze inside the enclosure). Anything fatter would be a problem I reckon. For any fatter hard disk I would go for the Vantec enclosure which specifically states support for 12.5mm thickness.
286962
Hi William: I have so far had a good experience with the LaCie 3TB minimus (with Windows 7). It is possible I may have a review of it on Amazon. My concerns were largely issues of formatting a 3TB drive. But an official vendor's quote could be taken if you make a pdf of the Amazon page for the relevant product. I would think the same goes for any other site. And give the school a printout of the pdf. They can verify it independently as well once you have given them the pdf. If the school is bureaucratic about it get written quotes from neighbourhood computer stores. That ought to do it. Good luck!! Hi William: I have so far had a good experience with the LaCie 3TB minimus (with Windows 7). It is possible I may have a review of it on Amazon. My concerns were largely issues of formatting a 3TB drive. But an official vendor's quote could be taken if you make a pdf of the Amazon page for the relevant product. I would think the same goes for any other site. And give the school a printout of the pdf. They can verify it independently as well once you have given them the pdf. If the school is bureaucratic about it get written quotes from neighbourhood computer stores. That ought to do it.... » Read More Hi William: I have so far had a good experience with the LaCie 3TB minimus (with Windows 7). It is possible I may have a review of it on Amazon. My concerns were largely issues of formatting a 3TB drive. But an official vendor's quote could be taken if you make a pdf of the Amazon page for the relevant product. I would think the same goes for any other site. And give the school a printout of the pdf. They can verify it independently as well once you have given them the pdf. If the school is bureaucratic about it get written quotes from neighbourhood computer stores. That ought to do it. Good luck!! « Show Less
1104138
I installed a 2TB Western Digital internal drive and it works just fine. You can transfer files from your main PC onto this internal drive with the supplied cable that comes with this unit. My set up works great
1612192
I am not an expert. I believe any Sata 2.5" hard drive should work. I have purchased several WD HDDs and Toshiba HDDs (2 of each) and they are all working perfectly. I use them for external hard drive storage and daily use. You might try to replace wit a Toshiba (but you surely can use either) as Toshiba is what Mac seems to use. The most important thing though is that its Sata 2.5"
1104139
I installed a 2TB Western Digital internal drive and it works just fine. You can transfer files from your main PC onto this internal drive with the supplied cable that comes with this unit.My set up works great
807230
If you are trying to use this as an internal HDD, you might want to double check on the size there. That's a 3.5" HDD commonly used in desktops; unless you were planning on using this drive in an external HDD rig I would suggest you look into the 2.5" HDDs.*Suggestion: go with <Western Digital Bare Drives 2.5 Inch, Low Profile, 5400 RPM, SATA II, 8MB Cache 500GB Mobile Hard Drive, Blue WD5000LPVT> it's only $3 more ($43.99) than that desktop HDD for double the capacity.