Reddit mentions of Plugable USB 3.0 Hard Drive Dock for 2.5 and 3.5 HDD or SSD (Supports SATA III, UASP and Drives 8TB+)

I think it depends what hardware you currently have and what kind of storage (hot or cold) you want.

If you have a laptop, 4TB external drive is about $100, probably the easiest. Keep it simple, plug and play when you want it.

If you have a desktop and can throw another hard drive into it, then WD 4TB Red for about $120. I think the 4TB is the sweet spot in terms of $/GB.

If you're doing more of a cold storage, ie backup every once in awhile, otherwise the drive is disconnected/in a drawer somewhere, I'd personally go for a hard drive dock. Something like this or this. And then again pick up a 4TB WD Red for $120.

Those last two solutions are over $100, but if you're transitioning to a desktop or looking to do a more substantial NAS setup in the near future, it's a fairly cheap solution that allows you hoarding capabilities now that can be expanded to a solid 4-bay NAS box without issue, later. With the external (unless shuckable) you'll have to start over again, drive-wise, to fill that 4-bay NAS box.

I had a drive failure once back in like 2004, and was back up and running with all data intact in two hours, one of them having been the Windows XP reinstall. DVD burners FTW!

Nowadays I have two options. I have one of these, and they are awesome, BTW - just shove a regular internal SATA hard drive into it and poof, instant high-speed external drive. I have a 750GB drive I use as an external backup. I also have a BD-ROM burner that can stick 25 gigs on a dual-layer, single-sided 120cm disc. 50 gigs if it's double-sided.

If it's at all important to you, back that shit up.

Mental note - I'm about due to update my backup set. Might be a good thing to do this weekend.

Yes, it's very easy.

I don't know if this is the argument you want to get into, since the PS4 doesn't officially support 7200 RPM drives and is limited to 2.5" SATA II drives with a transfer rate of 3 Gbit/s.

Steve Gibson's Spinrite can check the integrity of the drive as well as refresh the surface data by reading it and re-writing the data back to the drive. If it finds an error, it does a pretty good job of repairing the drive if possible. He's on the verge of releasing a new version soon.

I have an old dual core box I use specifically for doing virus scans, booting it from a variety of CD/DVD AV rescue disks and another dual core box configured for cloning drives, I use these, mine are branded Orico but they are the same:

http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-SuperSpeed-Lay-Flat-Docking-ASM1053E/dp/B00APP6694

for easy drive insertion and removal on both of those machines.

This is all you need + a HDD. It supports any drive 2.5" or 3.5". I currently have a 4tb HDD in mine.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00APP6694/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_GgvYub0AK476B

I have a 6TB hdd, so I know what you mean, but this thing doesn't seem that mobile to me, so I might just buy another "regular" 6TB hdd.

the one you have looks like an external hard drive in a large case with sata-to-usb cable and a power connector, so I might just buy this thing to turn my internal hdd into an external one when I'm traveling or smth, but thanks, it'll definitely be a good idea to keep the hdd you linked in-mind when deciding.

case: Corsair Carbide Series White 500R Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005E97ZUU/ref=oh_details_o09_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

motherboard: MSI Computer Corp. Motherboard ATX DDR3 1333 LGA 1150 Motherboards Z87-G45
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D12OBEU/ref=oh_details_o09_s01_i04?ie=UTF8&psc=1

processor: Intel Core i5-4670K Quad-Core Desktop Processor 3.4 GHZ
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CO8TBOW/ref=oh_details_o09_s02_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

thermal paste: Arctic Silver 5
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OGX5AM/ref=oh_details_o09_s01_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

psu: Cooler Master V1000 - 1000W Power Supply with Fully Modular Cables and 80 PLUS Gold Certification
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CGY4ETG/ref=oh_details_o09_s02_i03?ie=UTF8&psc=1

heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005O65JXI/ref=oh_details_o09_s01_i02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006EWUO22/ref=oh_details_o09_s01_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

fans: Corsair Air Series AF120 Quiet Edition Twin Pack Fan
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007RESG7G/ref=oh_details_o09_s02_i02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition Single Fan
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007RESGGC/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

storage: Seagate Desktop HDD 4 TB
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B99JU4S/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Samsung Electronics 840 Pro
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7PD256BW/dp/B009NB8WRU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382907278&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+840pro

Seagate Barracuda 3 TB HDD
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B99JU4S/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

keyboards: CM Storm QuickFire Stealth
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CKJ2EZI/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Ducky Shine II TKL Mechanical Keyboard White LED Backlit (Black Cherry MX)
http://tigerimports.net/sunshop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=12170

mouse: Logitech G9X
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Programmable-Laser-Gaming-Precision/dp/B001NTFATI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382907692&sr=8-1&keywords=logitech+g9x

hot swap hard drive bay: Plugable USB 3.0 SATA Hard Drive
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00APP6694/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

monitor: ViewSonic VX2703MH-LED 27-Inch LED-Lit Monitor
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008A3KFB8/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1

sata cables: 18" White SATA 3 III 6 GB/s
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DK68OA4/ref=oh_details_o09_s01_i03?ie=UTF8&psc=1

lighting kit: NZXT CB-LED20-WT 2-Metres Light Sensitivity Sleeved LED Kit
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0046Y5Z92/ref=oh_details_o09_s02_i05?ie=UTF8&psc=1

buy this https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Hard-Drive-Supports-Drives/dp/B00APP6694/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1498023487&sr=1-1&keywords=Plugable+USB+3.0+Hard+Drive+Dock+for+2.5+and+3.5+HDD+or+SSD+%28Supports+SATA+III%2C+UASP+and+Drives+8TB%2B%29

I purchased one 3 years ago and it holds my external 2tb hdd for my xbox.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00APP6694

This is absolutely excellent, cheap, and works flawlessly. I have two of them.

I have a boatload of drives, I just plug and go.

Try something like this first http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00APP6694/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1449579489&sr=8-3&pi=SX200_QL40&keywords=external+drive+bay&dpPl=1&dpID=41lwku%2Bq4pL&ref=plSrch . Last resort really, but it takes the laptop out of the loop. Alternatively you could also put the hard drive in a desktop to accomplish the same.

im am using 2 of these 22.95 open enclosure and powered
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00APP6694/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So far no issues

I'm using this: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00APP6694

With a bare 1tb seagate drive.

As Chibone says, what model? But anyway if you go to the iFixit section for MacBooks and select your model, you will find clear instructions on how to take the hard drive out of your laptop. It's very straightforward.

After it's out, you don't want to actually put it into another MacBook, just connect it to one, using a simple dock like this one for instance. If you have any friends who like messing with computers at all, they would most probably have one already.

[Edit] Here is the link to SuperDuper btw, which is free.

Drat; it's a bare drive and all I have is a dock (Plugable's, which does not seem to allow for SMART data).

Thanks; I figured it was a part of SMART reporting, and that DU should show it.

No clue what a native SATA hookup is. Google doesnt know either as no product descriptions came up either haha.

I am currently using this: http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-SuperSpeed-Lay-Flat-Docking-ASM1053E/dp/B00APP6694/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1420563909&sr=1-3

Thanks for hte software!

I had this issue - this is what I purchased and did it myself (the first one, not really knowing how to do myself before hand), (you'll need a new computer to transfer the data and a place to transfer the data to). If I new you I would loan you mine. There are different versions of these devices:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DQJME7Y/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

or

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00APP6694/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2EF8L5POAS8HF&coliid=IC1C39PQCSDMQ

I've got this from my participation in the reddit secret santa for 2014. It's very useful for the shitload of internal hard drives I have that are always outside my case.

I hope you didn't buy that cheap looking thing. For that price you can get a much better one then that dinky thing.

Like these for instance:

https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Hard-Drive-Supports-Drives/dp/B00APP6694/

or

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Drive-Docking-Station/dp/B0099TX7O4/

or

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Docking-Station-DS-UBLK/dp/B00IKAQ538/

This is how I would try to salvage a self inflicted fuckup such as yours - Getting one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Hard-Drive-Supports-Drives/dp/B00APP6694

Retrieve the data you need and reformat and reinstall.

Now you can fuck around with dual-boot on a system without important data on it.

I actually use a internal hard drive with a usb dock instead of an external hard drive.

Link to the dock I use (just as an example) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00APP6694/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_v1TuxbKRTR1XV]