External hard drive enclosures with capacity ratings what is this?
 

I am looking to get a 4 tb 3.5 inch bare hard drive, & want to be able to use it with my current external hard drive enclosures. But the are all rated at supports up to 2tb. I am not sure what that rating means, as a 2tb bare hard drive has the same dimensions as a 4tb 3.5 inch hard drive. What does this capacity support mean?

I read that it is better or more economical to get bare hard drives & swap them with my own enclosures, but it seems that as the hard drive capacities get bigger, the enclosures become obsolete, as one seems to have to update them to keep up with capacity ratings.

I don't want to have to keep buying a new enclosure every year or 2 to keep up with growing hard drive capacities. Would it harm to use a 4 or 6 tb bare hard drive in an enclosure with support up to 2tb.

If this is the case, is it better to just buy pre made ready to go external hard drives as opposed to buying the bare hard drives & placing them into my own enclosures that I buy separately.

I haven't really heard of any limits on external enclosures. The only thing I can think of that could limit the size would be the chipset in the enclosure. I would say it would be better to get a pre made, readt to go external drive. By the time you price out a workable enclosure that you like and a drive, it can come out to around the same in cost.

-JMP