WD Elements appears as 'local disk'

I would like some advice with this enclosure (below). I bought it and it didn't work. I've attached various drives but ithose haven't worked.
I bought the same model and that didn't work either. Im changing brands . . .

What brand would you suggest that I buy? [I dont want to spend more than $25 - $30.

Thank you

BENFEI 3.5/2.5 Inch SATA HDD/SSD Enclosure, Tool-Free Design, Supports 20TB HDD & UASP​

If cost is no consideration, I would buy this https://www.amazon.ca/SABRENT-Docki...X4LSHS4/dp/B0BX4LSHS4/ref=dp_ob_title_ce?th=1

(Personally I have Four Orico products attached to my Desktop PC in India all purchased in 2019 {one two-slot Orico dock, switched on only when necessary for backups) and two 2.5" enclosures and one 3.5" enclosure plugged in/switched on only when necessary for temporary storage and experiments} At 80y+4m I have stopped purchasing any computer electronics now - time to quit and be happy with what one has and does )

BTW, referring to your post #49, your WD My Passport 25E1 USB [1.0 TB] is dead as a dodo with all bad sectors filling the reserved space and many pending bad sectors to be relocated .but has no space left for it. Cannot be resurrected by any means. You could have easlily got that report running the Hard Disk Sentinel. That would also help monitoring all your disks, When bad sectors start showing up and get relocated it will warn you to backup all data in the disk, if you intend not losing the data.

Marie SWE said:

I make it easy for me... i stay away from disks with chip-encryption.

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Again. User preference. Encryption can be a nasty bit of bizznizz. Fortunately, at the time, I had a friend who had connections that afforded my the privilege of decrypting what I saved to my WD My Book. My friend is gone now and I wouldn't know the first thing to do should I find myself in those circumstances once again. I think the whole deal is a scam, really : Get the user to buy the product, wait for the bridge to fail, user calls for assistance, WD special recovery services steps in.... for a nominal fee.

How much is my data worth to me? A: Worth enough to strip off the WD Elements/My Book to an unencrypted drive and likely duplicating that data in a personally configured LSI RAID array. These older style drives can indeed be "shucked" and connected directly to a standard SATA configuration or, popped inside a regular external drive bay that doesn't use encryption. At that point I completely wipe the drive (1's and 0's) and reformat it via MiniTool Partion Wizard. Now Seagate is a different matter. You can turn off encryption on Seagate external hard drives. At least you sure can on the ones I have. You can also mirror data on the ones I use. Even then these drives are used by me as secondary and tertiary backups. I never completely rely on external drives to "save the day" because they often don't and they often out right fail. That said, some backup is better than no backup at all.

My motto regarding externals? IF it can't be shucked it should be chucked. These drives are known to fail and aren't known for long life.

User preference prevails.

jumanji said:

If cost is no consideration, I would buy this https://www.amazon.ca/SABRENT-Docki...X4LSHS4/dp/B0BX4LSHS4/ref=dp_ob_title_ce?th=1

(Personally I have Four Orico products attached to my Desktop PC in India all purchased in 2019 {one two-slot Orico dock, switched on only when necessary for backups) and two 2.5" enclosures and one 3.5" enclosure plugged in/switched on only when necessary for temporary storage and experiments} At 80y+4m I have stopped purchasing any computer electronics now - time to quit and be happy with what one has and does )

Click to expand...

I have a little clear view Orico that has come in rather handy over the years. I like it for its portability, i can slide it into a pocket easily, and it's completely transparent. I'm not quite 70 and already I feel much the same as you mentioned: Be happy with the toys I already have and leave all that over priced stuff to the next generation.

M1000tutorials said:

I would like some advice with this enclosure (below). I bought it and it didn't work. I've attached various drives but ithose haven't worked.
I bought the same model and that didn't work either. Im changing brands . . .

What brand would you suggest that I buy? [I dont want to spend more than $25 - $30.

Thank you

BENFEI 3.5/2.5 Inch SATA HDD/SSD Enclosure, Tool-Free Design, Supports 20TB HDD & UASP​

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0FM81V6CB?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

View attachment 186124

Click to expand...

As I stated previously, if you have a lot of drives to pan through you should get a toaster.

TOASTER << We call them "toasters" in the trade because they look and behave like toasters.

The problem with the cheaper docking stations is that they burn out fast. I went through three versions of what you have in the picture you shared and mine were made by Sabrent. Get a toaster if you want it to last. The bridges in those cheap docking stations only last a couple of years and then they die just like the WD My Books and WD Elements.

Thank you for trhe recommendations. I couldn't find an Erico for a reasonable price.
I paid $200 for Ulanzi video editing items so price is a consideration

I was going to order this

MAIWO External Hard Drive Enclosure for 3.5 2.5 Inch SATA HDD SSD, USB 3.0 to SATA Converter Case Reader with 12V 2A Power Adapter, Tool-Free, Support 24TB HDD & UASP​

https://www.amazon.ca/MAIWO-External-Enclosure-Converter-Tool-Free/dp/B0G1XMS74Y/ref=sr_1_55?crid=2H7YBVDAPO1C3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.3FTo0zluLli-wX_1DjcbWmrFCX6nVWY5BRAKtYMD5LaYaS0g7P-fp4HGYvgR9dcI0-Zr65SX_3IQJn4flFeZ7Q.uFLt0xptTec2-UprRVwyzXwlgA5KzUcXfGFzNX3YtDw&dib_tag=se&keywords=sata+enclosure+orico&qid=1791658934&sprefix=sata+enclosure+orico,aps,243&sr=8-55&xpid=UUlNtGxVzLvGS

I'm not familiar with those video editing devices but okay, I confess that I do own one of those MAIWO units. So far it hasn't given me any trouble and I've had it for a couple of years. I only turn it on when needed and that is likely why I haven't burned out the bridge in the thing. I don't like recommending hardware until I've had thorough use of the item(s) myself. I suppose if one is on a poor man's budget this device will work in a pinch. I still prefer using my toaster for scanning dubious drives. I have a lot of drives. I keep triplicates of my archived data. Not saying everyone should but that's just my preference. There's a reason those units are so cheap. The MAIWO outlasted my Ssbrents but to be fair it never saw the workload I put on my Sabrent units. The choice is yours. User preference prevails. I prefer toasters.

Thank you for the information

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- there are reviews with people saying they didn't know how they edited without 'the dial'


- within the first 11 seconds, he says "this is one of those upgrades you didn't know you needed"