Hello You can insert the large 3.5" hard drives as well as the smaller 2.5" hard drives or 2.5" SSD into this housing. M.2 SSD sticks cannot be used with it.
The Ugreen enclosure is for 3.5" hard drives, whether old or new doesn't matter. I have used it with new Toshiba drives as well as with 12 year old Seagate and WD drives. It works perfectly. Compared to a direct SATA connection, the loss of speed on USB 3.1 is negligible. It is not intended for 2.5" drives. I am completely satisfied with it.