Or do I need to open up the externals to see what types / speed drives I have in there? Also, if I can just buy the enclosure, the drives are just plug and play in there right? I don't need to download drivers or format them or anything right?
In my experience, shucking an 8TB WD Elements from its USB 3.0 (5gbps) shell and putting it in an enclosure that’s USB 3.1 gen 2 (10gbps) greatly improved the drive’s performance. In its stock enclosure it would constantly drop connection and freeze during large transfers, but now it is very stable and responsive. The drive certainly does not exceed speeds of 5gbps, being only 5400rpm, so i believe that the factory USB enclosures just suck unfortunately.