Does it matter which external hard drive case to choose?

I saw branded external hard drive case and unbranded.

Questions about unbranded:

• Must i check first if case supports S.M.A.R.T.?
• When it comes to S.M.A.R.T. should I consider branded rather than unbranded?
• Do external cases have a limit of hard drive capacity, or does every case supports any capacity?

Are there other things I am missing?

Solution 1:

I guess it depends on how you're planning to use it.

If you're going to leave it running all the time cooling is important. If you want the best future proofing then usb 3 might be worthwhile. If it's going to be portable then shock proofing. Sound proofing might also be useful.

I think external drives might struggle with 2 TB drives unless they specifically mention support.

Solution 2:

Its not the branding that matters, it is the chip that is used to do the USB to Pata or Sata conversion, branding does not insure that they choose a better chip for the job, sometimes this is difficult to determine which chip is inside, but it is how I choose which enclosure to use.

The chip brand/model determines what hard drive support it has, most enclosures sold these days are very compatible with all hard drives up to 2TB. You might have to do more research when it comes to enclosures for over 2tb support.

I have always used unbranded, did the research to find which ones had the best chip at the time.