Cheap but good USB 3.0 enclosure for 2.5inch drive?

[Rummy]

Hello N-E! I'm doing a favour for someone at work and taking the old hard drive from a knackered laptop to put into a caddy so it can be used as an external hard drive.

Having briefly explained USB 2.0 vs USB 3.0 to a not overly technical 60 year old lady, she's decided that 3.0 might be worth the extra bit if it's faster - but I'm just wondering if any of you have a good but cheap(sub £20) suggestion for a 3.0 2.5inch caddy? Seems to be lots of options on the market, but I don't know if there's really any much difference between them all - I've no idea how 'good' usb 3.0 devices and caddies actually are at hitting spec speeds.

[Sheikah]

Here's one I just bought and installed the other day for my sister (although mine was yellow). Cheap and cheerful and works fine.

[Rummy]

Here's one I just bought and installed the other day for my sister (although mine was yellow). Cheap and cheerful and works fine.

 

Link didn't work but searched the name on amazon and it's less than a tenner so that's grand! What size drive did your sister have, and does this come with a split/Y cable? Taken the drive out of my colleague's laptop and it's a 500gb so I'm wondering if it might need a Y cable to spin up properly as my old 500gb didn't work without one.

[Sheikah]

Link didn't work but searched the name on amazon and it's less than a tenner so that's grand! What size drive did your sister have, and does this come with a split/Y cable? Taken the drive out of my colleague's laptop and it's a 500gb so I'm wondering if it might need a Y cable to spin up properly as my old 500gb didn't work without one.

 

It was a 500GB one also, no Y-cable included but powered up fine. I think it depends on how much power the laptop you're plugging it into is giving out through one USB port.

 

 

Not sure what happened with my link there but you can pick the silver version up off Amazon here for just £5.99:

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/2588US3-Portable-External-Enclosure-High-speed/dp/B015GMSHMO/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&qid=1452813000&sr=8-22&keywords=Orico+hdd+enclosure

Edited January 14, 2016 by Sheikah