External hard drive enclosure

The external enclosure turns an internal drive into a portable USB drive. This way, you can use the drive from an old laptop for backups, transfer data between computers, or create a very fast portable drive from an M.2 SSD. Here you can find enclosures and docking stations for 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch drives, as well as for M.2 SSD.

How to choose

• The size of the drive. 2.5-inch enclosures are for laptop drives and SATA SSDs and are usually powered directly from USB. 3.5-inch ones are for desktop hard drives and require separate power.
• The type of M.2 drive. M.2 drives are SATA or NVMe and have different connector keys. Check if the enclosure supports your type – some enclosures support both.
• The speed of USB. For SATA drives, USB 3.0 or 3.2 Gen 1 is sufficient. For NVMe drives, choose an enclosure with 10 Gbps or more to avoid losing speed.
• The material. Aluminum enclosures dissipate heat better, which is important for fast NVMe drives. Plastic ones are lighter and cheaper.
• Docking station. If you frequently change drives, the station allows you to insert them from above without a screwdriver, and some models can even clone a drive without a computer.

What to watch out for

• For full speed, connect the enclosure to a port with the same or higher version of USB.
• Before unplugging the cable, use the safe removal option in the system.
• The new drive in the enclosure must first be formatted to be recognized by the system.
• Do not leave a hot NVMe drive in a closed plastic enclosure during long copying – it throttles speed to cool down.
• Check if the enclosure fits drives with a height of 9.5 mm if your drive is thicker.

Compatibility

Enclosures work with Windows, macOS, and Linux without drivers, and many models with USB-C also work with tablets and phones. If you will use the drive on different systems, format it in exFAT to be readable everywhere. If you need a new drive for the enclosure, check accessories and the categories with drives, and if the computer does not have enough USB ports, add a powered USB hub. To read cards from a camera, use a card reader.