by Alan Henry

If you have spare hard drives from a previous computer build or a PC upgrade, don’t let that valuable storage go to waste. Drop them in an external drive enclosure and use them for extra space, backups, or to take your music and movies on the go. Last week, we asked you which drive enclosure you thought was the best, and then we took a look at the five best drive enclosures, based on your nominations. Now we’re back to highlight the overall winner.  

Even though the polling was cut short by Hurricane Sandy, voting was tight right up to the last possible second. Squeaking out a lead was the affordable and good-looking Vantec NexStar TX/NST series, bringing in just over 37% of the overall vote. 

Hot on its heels in second place however was the hot-swappable, utility-friendly Thermaltake BlacX Docking Station with close to 35% of the vote, missing the top spot by less than 40 votes. In a distant third was the ultra-portable Zalman ZM-VE200/ZM-VE300 line with over 12% of the vote, and in fourth with 10% of the votes cast was the Rosewill RX-358. Bringing up the rear was the rugged Patriot Memory Gauntlet and the Wi-Fi-enabled Gauntlet Node, with just over 5% of the votes cast. 

The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it’s not because we hate it—it’s because it didn’t get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it’s a bit of a popularity contest, but if you have a favorite, we want to hear about it. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at [email=tips+hivefive@lifehacker.com]tips+hivefive@lifehacker.com[/email]!



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