For the enclosure I would suggest Akitio solutions.
You can buy them populated with HDDs or SSDs, but if you know how to do, you can buy the HDD/SSD separately and install them.
Regarding the HDD, what's your plan? Storage, Workflow?
Idk if it's the absolute best but I'm happy with the 1TB WD Elements series https://shop.westerndigital.com/products/portable-drives/wd-elements-portable-usb-3-0-hdd#WDBUZG0010BBK-WESN
It's light/small, doesn't make noticeable noise, and price is correct, they are selling it at 49.99 bucks, I think I got mines a little cheaper btw...
Hitachi is a consistent top scorer in HD reliability rankings. Seagate is a relatively poor performer, and Western Digital is in the middle. There are other makers of HDs of course but I can't recall where they fall in the rankings and I can't be arsed to look it up.
To keep things in perspective the differences between top and bottom is only a few percent so it's not like all Seagate drives are ticking time bombs. There are millions of that brand out there working just fine; I have several that have served me well for years.
But if I was putting a server farm together and looking to acquire 100s of drives I would prefer to get Hitachi.
There're no other HDD makers anymore. It's Seagate - Western Digital (+ Hitachi aka HGST but they still run an own factory) - Toshiba (who afaik was licensed the technology by WD to avoid government intervention due to monopoly concerns)
I think that the best is an internal drive that you place into a quality enclosure.
For 2.5" HDD, Hitachi or WD Black (Blue might be OK) are the best you can do.
You have to specify if you are after HDD or SSD, 2.5" or other format, USB3 or other interface.
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