Deadlock, what third party cases do you recommend?
I'd prioritise keeping it simple and reliable over any specific make of case as such.
Just make sure the case can handle all drive sizes around today that you will be likely to use and perhaps upgrade in the future.
esata is in my experience a fast and stable transfer mechanism and what I prefer to use. Then USB2 - (not 3).
I shop at novatech or ebuyer - although I've had some dire customer service at the latter.
The open slot style units where you slide drives in and out are easy to break.
The multi bay drive units with USB3 like the 4 bay icy docks have given me no end of problems. It took me a year to realise that the 16TB of backups on it were corrupted due to trying to use the manufacturers recommended port multiplier to communicate over USB3 to esata converter.
Also that particular icy dock caused so much electrical interference that my wireless mouse jitters when the icybox is on.
And the marketing material that says its quiet is lying.
So my advice if you want an external hd is to keep it simple and stick to tried and tested technology.
If you need multi bay, then look for a NAS or an old PC or a cheap server.
If NAS, I wouldn't touch drobo with a barge pole. Never use proprietary OS as you will not be able to retrieve your data when something fails. Cheaper NAS units have generally poor security. Investing in something like synology would be better.