Anyone know if any hard drive would work in a WD USB 3.0 enclosure or if its pretty much locked to a single type of hard drive? I plan on using the 2TB for internal and maybe get a 4TB to replace it in the enclosure.
Some enclosures have capacity limits, like max size hard drive is 2TB. Also, make sure that you match the hard drive enclosure to the physical size of the hard drive, 2.5" or 3.5". The biggest issue with that is a 3.5" desktop hard drive will require an external power supply.
yeah, would agree about external HDD power requirement... And using an enclosure with an external power supply...
surely saves frying a usb port...
And some of the port-powered 2.5" cases come with a USB Y-cable, one leg of the Y for data and power and the other leg for additional power, use 2 USB ports. Or maybe a case can be found that needs only a single cable. A lot depends upon how much power the drive itself draws. I've not had problems with either size changing around but largest I've needed to work with was 1TB. The case that uses a Y-cable was a problem with my MacBook Pro with only 2 USB ports but using the Bluetooth connection for the mouse relieved that issue. Except for portability a Self-powered USB 2.0 Hub would be great.
WD also has some type of encryption with some of their enclosures. I've had numerous drives fail to be recognized after pulling them from a WD enclosure, until I put them back in and cleared the drive.
My advice is to ditch the WD enclosure and get one that is meant to have the user add their own drives. I'm partial to the Vantec line.
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