From: nospam@needed.invalid
On Wed, 2/18/2026 10:53 PM, Lars Poulsen wrote:
>> On Wed, 2/18/2026 2:26 PM, Lars Poulsen wrote:
>>> [snip]
>>> After a recent rebuild of my main computers (one Windows, one Linux)
>>> I was looking at external drives to use with them, and discovered
>>> that my nice, recent 6TB external drive (SeaGate Backup+ Hub) will not
>>> to SMART on my Linux system, although it apparently will on Windows.
>>> At least on Windows, I can read the SMART attributes with the SeaTools
>>> utility, but the Linux version of SeaTools does not show a SMART tab.
>>> "smartctl -a /dev/sd?" says SMART is "available but disabled".
>>> The drive inside is a "Firecuda" which has a full complement of SMART
>>> data.
>>>
>>> So I am looking for (empty) external enclosures. Cheap Chinese products
>>> start at $10/unit, at $16/unit some decent ones are stocked at Amazon
>>> warehouses for next day delivery, but those are disappointing. Half of
>>> them have bad reliability histories with several customer reviews saying
>>> they died after about 4 months, and the other half do not support SMART.
>>> The ones that do have good reliabilty and SMART support are closer to
>>> $60/unit.
>>>
>>> Any experience and recommendations?
>
>
> On 2026-02-18, Paul wrote:
>> As you would imagine, enclosures come and go. These suggestions
>> are based on availability, rather than absolute goodness. There
>> are a couple Asmedia chips for SATA to USB3, so for a while at
>> least, we can have a good adapter.
>> ...
>> For most HDD-only enclosures, the adapter is 12V @ 2A, and this is supposed
>> to cover the spinup current until it comes up to speed. I have two or three
of
>> these adapters, and this hasn't caused a problem. The controller board
>> can have a 12V to 5V regulator, and that makes the 5V at up to 1 amp
>> that older drives needed. The modern drives use a bit less 5V for the
>> controller board.
>> ...
>> At one time, the first HDD wall adapters, they were crap. They were
>> dropping like flies. But eventually the people who make them,
>> did enough of the engineering right, they no longer fail like that.
>>
>> *******
>>
>> This is an older Vantec, aluminum enclosure removed (too small, no cooling),
>> just the controller board. Chip is ASM1053 from Asmedia.
>> [snip]
>
> It looks like the "good" enclosures are advertizing that they support
> UASP , which gives better transfer rates when used over "good" USB-3
> connections. I suspect that most of these use the "good" chips, and so
> have the "right" features. But the ads from these Chinese vendors have
> precious little technical information in them, and Amazon's AI assistant
> insists that they will not support SMART passthrough, even though your
> example seems to contradict that. Despite different cosmetic appearance,
> they all seem to have a lot of similarities; f.x. they all use a USB-B
> formfactor for their USB connector; they all get enough power over USB
> for 2.5" drives, but require 12V/2A DC feed for 3.5" drives.
>
> You have good experiences with Vantec, so I think I will look on Amazon
> for drives that are USB Prime Eligible and offer next-day delivery
> (meaning they in stock at a Los Angeles Amazon warehouse, giving
> preference (in this order) for Vantec, Orico and Sabrent, while looking
> carefully at the lowest-rated reviews. Does this make sense?
>
> Amazon gives me listings for
> * Vantec NexStar TX (Black) at $24
> * Vantec NexStar G (Silver) at $25
> Reviews report a small but not neglible amount of quality issues.
> Poor cooling, loose fit for drive tray. Older NexStar 3 was better
> built.
> * Orico 3588C3 Black at $30
> Similar problems.
> * UGREEN at $30
> External power cube is 24V; when the enclosure's controller board
> failed, it fried the drive.
>
> None of them have 80+% top rating in reviews.
>
> Not encouraging.
That's reasonably accurate.
Now you know why I extracted the controller PCB and
just use one of those "loose" on the table. I have some
wooden blocks with rubber covering over them, as
a surface to lay the hard drive on.
The enclosure on that one, had no fan, and there wasn't
any convection cooling scheme either.
I like to see a fan on an enclosure. There should
also be an intake and exhaust vent, so the fan can
actually blow air through. I had one enclosure, I had
to drill holes in it, so the fan could actually work
to cool the thing. The fan was blowing into a closed box,
which does not encourage cooling particularly.
On one enclosure, the fan used a sleeve bearing. The unit
was received "with a pool of oil sitting in the bottom of the case".
The fan lasted a matter of seconds, as the sleeve was so loose,
the fan could not rotate without "rattling". In other words,
the fan was already dead. And I replaced it with one from
my stock of 40mm (ball bearing) fans.
The adapter should be 12V, because the 12V rail is
used directly by the drive. The 5V rail (generated
by the enclosure controller board), could still fail, and if
the voltage were to rise sufficiently above 5V, it could
fry the controller on the hard drive. At one time, the
wall adapter had a four pin connector, with GND GND +5 +12
on it, and that is how the hard drive was powered. But
they decided to simplify the wall adapter, make it
output only one rail, and generate the +5V locally
on the enclosure controller PCB.
Part of the problem with advertising listings now,
is the pictures are poor, and a lot of useful info
is non-existent.
The last decent enclosure ("had a fan"), it still had
one shortcoming. The drive was held against the
connector, by a "chunk of stuff" that sat between the
opposite end of the drive, and the housing. And
that did not fit snugly.
What you're looking for then, is "ingredients".
Having a fan is good. Having a fan with sufficient
clearance so the air can actually blow somewhere,
that's good. Having holes in the case so the air
can escape, that's good. Having a mechanism to
hold the drive securely, and shock mounted, that
would be very nice if they could manage it.
If all the enclosures had a youtube video with
the enclosure open, you could see more of the details
and so on. This presenter is known for doing things
while too full of caffeine. He doesn't know the first
thing about what people expect from a video like this.
The chip on this could be an ASM1051, but because
we don't even have the model number of the unit to work
with, no further research is possible. But at least
you can see this one has no cooling to speak of.
# Linux Tech Tips unpacks a VantecUSA.
[continued in next message]
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
|
