why do some usb hdd enclosures only support up to 500gb?

  • Thread starter Thread starter yawnmoth
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yawnmoth

I was looking into buying a USB HDD enclosure and some of the ones
that I was looking at only supported hard drives up to 500 GB. My
question is... is that a real limitation or more of a contrived one?

If you a sufficiently old game, it might, on the box, say that it only
works on versions of Windows up to Windows 98, or something, but that
might just mean that the game was only tested on Windows 98 and that
it was released before any subsequent version of Windows was. As
such, in the case of games, a game that only works up to Windows 98
might actually work on newer versions, as well. It's also possible it
wouldn't, but the fact that it doesn't say Windows XP shouldn't be
taken to mean it absolutely won't work.

Is this true for USB HDD enclosures, as well, or is there a more
substantive reason why they wouldn't support higher capacity drives?
 
yawnmoth said:
I was looking into buying a USB HDD enclosure and some of the ones
that I was looking at only supported hard drives up to 500 GB. My
question is... is that a real limitation or more of a contrived one?

If you a sufficiently old game, it might, on the box, say that it only
works on versions of Windows up to Windows 98, or something, but that
might just mean that the game was only tested on Windows 98 and that
it was released before any subsequent version of Windows was. As
such, in the case of games, a game that only works up to Windows 98
might actually work on newer versions, as well. It's also possible it
wouldn't, but the fact that it doesn't say Windows XP shouldn't be
taken to mean it absolutely won't work.

Is this true for USB HDD enclosures, as well, or is there a more
substantive reason why they wouldn't support higher capacity drives?
Click to expand...

Older enclosures may not have the electronics in the case that will support
drives over a certain size. I have one that will refuse to operate with any
drive over 132 GB (an old limitation) and I have tried to trick the device
with all sorts of "fixes." Never worked with anything over that size but
worked well with drives from 20 - 120 GB.

If you are going to use a drive above what the manufacturer specifies on
their packaging you will probably regret purchasing it. Ensure that drives
are compatible with the enclosure.
 
yawnmoth said:
I was looking into buying a USB HDD enclosure and some of the ones
that I was looking at only supported hard drives up to 500 GB. My
question is... is that a real limitation or more of a contrived one?

If you a sufficiently old game, it might, on the box, say that it only
works on versions of Windows up to Windows 98, or something, but that
might just mean that the game was only tested on Windows 98 and that
it was released before any subsequent version of Windows was. As
such, in the case of games, a game that only works up to Windows 98
might actually work on newer versions, as well. It's also possible it
wouldn't, but the fact that it doesn't say Windows XP shouldn't be
taken to mean it absolutely won't work.

Is this true for USB HDD enclosures, as well, or is there a more
substantive reason why they wouldn't support higher capacity drives?
Click to expand...

The drive controller chip in the enclosure determines the max capacity.

Suggestion: If your mobo has external SATA ports then be sure to buy a SATA
enclosure and drive. The data transfer rate is six times what usb 2.0
supports and drives up to 2TB are supported.
 
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