Quiet quality external HDD case

[evilid]

Hello, I am looking for a couple of HDD case.
Most of them that I saw in stores look very cheap and just a plastic box.
Are there some quality ones with study build, good ventilation and silent (most important factor)?
Thank you.

[zsero]

I have been looking for this for a long time, and I found that none of the normal cases provide enough cooling for the drive and/or to the electronics in the small area they have between the drive and the outer shell.

On the other hand, I can only say positive things about the vertical docks made by Sharkoon. They are a German company (but not expensive at all!) and they have a whole product range specializing in vertical docking stations. Even on the most basic USB 2.0 models they use really high quality chipsets, and this vertical open-air design is a clear winner both for stable electric connections and drive temperatures! And as I found out, they might be still the only company, who has a dual drive USB 3.0 dock with one port connection. As most of the laptops have only one USB 3.0 port, I never understood why do all the companies produce dual drive docks with two separate ports. Maybe it needed a new chip design or something, but finally Sharkoon has one model with the built in hub.

Here is their docking station product range:
http://www.sharkoon.com/?q=en/overview/15

[Moo]

I have one of these. It may be big, comparatively expensive, and the fan does make some audible noise, but it does keep the drive much cooler than normal enclosures. It doesn't look or feel too cheap either. The fan could maybe be modified to run slower or maybe even temperature-controlled if it's too loud for you. Also this enclosure doesn't do much to stop vibration noise, but what enclosures do?

[who1zep]

I have an "OWC Express" that looks great, is very small, and stays quiet and cool. When I was looking for enclosures, thinking I would buy a Scorpio, I could not find anything as small as the OWC Express, and ended up finding a nice Samsung S2 1TB model that came with an enclosure smaller than even the OWC Express model.

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/

[fractal]

I have one of these. It may be big, comparatively expensive, and the fan does make some audible noise, but it does keep the drive much cooler than normal enclosures. It doesn't look or feel too cheap either. The fan could maybe be modified to run slower or maybe even temperature-controlled if it's too loud for you. Also this enclosure doesn't do much to stop vibration noise, but what enclosures do?

They are good enclosures but they have one critical flaw for me. It uses a funky 4 pin power connector. This may not be an issue for you but let me explain why it is for me.

Looking at my shelf I see several Seagate external hard drives of varying capacity. They want 12v@2a on a 2 pin connector.
Next to them I see several WD external hard drives of varying capacity. They too want 12v@2a on a 2 pin connector.

Looking at my desk, I see a USB cable and a 12v power plug. I can take anything I want out of the shelf and plug it into those two cables.

This might not be an issue if you either a) buy exclusively the antec enclosure or b) don't have many external drives or c) don't mind storing a wall wart along with each and every hard drive in your shelves. But for me, the one remaining external drive I have with a funky power plug is in the pile with zip and jaz drives to have the contents transferred to a usable format should I get around to it before the bits fall off the media.

That said, I am moving away from external enclosures for rotating backup and using a drop in drive dock. Drives are stored on the shelf in an anti static bag. Not quite as secure as an external enclosure but a little more convenient.

[Owen]

Even on the most basic USB 2.0 models they use really high quality chipsets, and this vertical open-air design is a clear winner both for stable electric connections and drive temperatures!

What high quality chipset does it use?

[Lensman]

I have one of these. It may be big, comparatively expensive, and the fan does make some audible noise, but it does keep the drive much cooler than normal enclosures. It doesn't look or feel too cheap either. The fan could maybe be modified to run slower or maybe even temperature-controlled if it's too loud for you. Also this enclosure doesn't do much to stop vibration noise, but what enclosures do?

I have a couple of these as well for my Tivos. I can second everything Moo says. When you say vibration noise, you mean seek noise, right? IIRC, the case and mounting doesn't have any sympathetic vibration problems with 5400 RPM drives.

Like many, the fan started vibrating after a while but I sent a note to Antec and they shipped me a free replacement fan, no charge. Great service from the folks over at Antec.

OTOH, I have been thinking that modern green drives seem to run a lot cooler than HDDs of old and 5400/5900 RPM green drives run coolest of them all. As a consequence I have been thinking of getting a fanless aluminum enclosure and going with passive cooling, but I don't know of a good high-quality one.