Drive enclosures and clone stations let you use a spare SATA hard drive or SSD as external storage, or copy one drive to another. The range suits laptop owners upgrading an SSD, recovering old files or building a backup. Brands in our range include UGREEN, ORICO, UNITEK and COREPARTS.
The selection is small, so each model is worth comparing carefully.
How to choose a drive enclosure or clone station
Drive size and interface. Check the drive you want to fit before anything else. Our enclosures are built for Serial ATA III drives, which covers most 2.5-inch laptop HDDs and SATA SSDs. NVMe and M.2 drives use different connections and will not work in a SATA enclosure.
USB speed. The enclosures in our range offer a 5 Gbit/s data transfer rate, which is the speed of USB 3.2 Gen 1. That is enough for a hard drive and close to the real-world limit of many SATA SSDs. A slower USB 2.0 connection would hold an SSD back considerably.
Connector and laptop ports. A USB Type-A male connector plugs straight into the standard rectangular port found on most laptops and desktops. If your laptop only has USB-C ports, you will need a suitable adapter, so check this before ordering.
Enclosure or clone station. An enclosure turns one drive into a portable external disk that works through a computer. A clone station copies one drive to another, usually without a PC, which saves time when replacing a laptop drive. Decide whether you need a permanent external drive or a one-off copy of an entire system.
Power and build. Most 2.5-inch drives draw power from the USB port, while 3.5-inch desktop drives normally need a separate power adapter. A metal casing, such as aluminium, helps carry heat away during long transfers, which matters when you are copying large amounts of data.
Drive enclosure and clone station brands we carry
- UGREEN: known for chargers, cables and adapters, which makes its storage accessories easy to pair with other connectivity gear.
- ORICO: a manufacturer with a long record in external drive enclosures, docking stations and USB hubs.
- UNITEK: focused on cables, adapters and docks for connecting peripherals to laptops and desktops.
Also in our range: COREPARTS.
Frequently asked questions about drive enclosures and clone stations
What does a drive enclosure do?
A drive enclosure holds a bare hard drive or SSD and connects it to a computer through USB. It turns an internal drive into an external one. This is a common way to reuse the drive from an old laptop or to add extra storage cheaply.
Can I use an old laptop hard drive in an enclosure?
Yes, as long as it is a SATA drive of a size the enclosure supports. Most laptop drives from the last fifteen years or so use SATA, but very old drives may use the older IDE interface, which a SATA III enclosure cannot read. Check the connector on the drive before buying.
Is 5 Gbit/s fast enough for an SSD?
It is fast enough for most uses. A 5 Gbit/s USB connection allows transfers of roughly 400 to 500 MB/s in practice. A SATA SSD usually tops out only a little higher, so you lose little speed in everyday copying and backups.
Do I need a clone station to copy a drive?
No, you can clone a drive using an enclosure and cloning software on your computer. Connect the new drive in the enclosure, then copy the old one across. A clone station is more convenient if you copy drives often, because it works without a PC and without installing software.
