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General discussion

Building an External Hard Drive

Nov 18, 2006 11:53AM PST

Discussion is locked

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I have 2 of those drives. But I'll pass up a case that
Nov 18, 2006 12:05PM PST

Doesn't have a fan.

Bob

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Does it need one
Nov 19, 2006 12:05AM PST

Does it need one if it is aluminum?

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We had a poll about that.
Nov 19, 2006 12:18AM PST

About 9 to 1 in favor of the fan. I have one fanless and I've retired it.

Bob

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Many aluminum enclosures ...incl those made by Adaptec have
Nov 19, 2006 5:13AM PST

no fan and work very well. To wit I have 3 Adapatec eclosures without any problems. Given the choice ...I'd prefer an enclosure with a fan especially if it had a fan failure warning.

When I purchased the Adaptecs...there weren't many external enclosures which handled HDDs with capacities greater than 200-300GBs. Adaptecs handled drives up to 1,000GBs.

Newegg has a number of units to choose from, good product descriptions, a good product search engine, buyer comments, etc., etc.,

VAPCMD

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Reccomendations
Nov 19, 2006 11:46AM PST

What then would you reccommend as an enclosure? Also, as I said in my original post - will I have (noticeably bad) speed issues if I'm going through a USB2 hub?

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If you've got SATA...here'd something that might be worth
Nov 19, 2006 12:18PM PST
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While that is appealing
Nov 19, 2006 12:56PM PST

I'd be interested in something maybe a little cheaper and also a little technologically simpler (i.e. not opening up the laptop) but thanks for the suggestion. So should I just stick with the hard drive I originally mentioned and a enclosure with fan (any reccomndations? does it matter? I'd like to go cheap if it's all the same)?

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I'm looking to try this 1 myself.
Nov 19, 2006 7:28PM PST

10% off Coupon:- TG10 and use Google checkout! $22.00
They have lots of other stuff to!

http://www.shop4tech.com/user.htm?go=view_item&id=5852&cata=&s_cata=

Size 3.5"
AC Adapter Yes
Material Aluminum
Internal Interface IDE
External Interface USB2.0
Features Front LED status indicator display
built-in Dual speed adjustable Blue LEDs cooling fan
Suitable for 3.5" IDE Hard Drive up to 500GB.(any brand)
40X times faster than USB 1.1
Supports USB 2.0 Transfer rate of 12 Mbps and 480 Mbps
High Speed (480 Mbit) and Full Speed (12 Mbit) supports
Date Transfer rate up to 480Mbit/sec
Enhanced IDE/ATAPI protocol
USB1.1 downward compatible
Support ATA PIO modes 0-4, Ultra DMA 0 - 5
Support hot swappable
Plug and Play
PC & Mac compatible

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP
Mac OS X or above
One available USB Port
Packaging
Package Contents External Enclosure
Power Adapter
USB Cable
Driver Disk

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Also
Nov 19, 2006 7:50PM PST
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Ok
Nov 20, 2006 12:10AM PST

Maybe I'll go for that first one you posted Ed Mead. It'd work with that orignal HD I posted?

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Ok Then . . .
Nov 20, 2006 6:39AM PST

If I was looking to spend about $100 on an external hard drive and enclosure - what would you suggest? Are those two you just posted compatible and a good choice?

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Also
Nov 20, 2006 6:48AM PST

Is there anything out there cheaper? I was hoping to spend ~$80 on the drive and ~$20 on the enclosure.

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320sata HD
Nov 22, 2006 6:36AM PST
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I ordered the enclosure yesterday
Nov 20, 2006 7:04AM PST

and it should be here soon. I'll post back when it comes.
http://www.shop4tech.com/user.htm?go=view_item&id=5852&cata=&s_cata=

The specs show for Ultra and Serial ATA hard drives. I'm sure that you can find a serial hard drive for less with xmas sales coming up. I'll be looking because I now need a HD to go in that enclosure also.$20.00 for a enclosure with fan is a very good price. I also have gotten a Ultra enclosure for $20.00 with rebate before, but the little fan is noisy.
http://www.ultraproducts.com/product_details.php?cPath=19&pPath=249&productID=391

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Metalgear case
Nov 29, 2006 11:34AM PST
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Good Dealers
Nov 22, 2006 11:13AM PST

I really wish I knew what an external hard drive enclosure is, but when I followed the URL you posted, I found some other things I've been wanting to purchase that I couldn't find elsewhere -- and FREE postage on my purchase! Thanks for the URL!

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Needs a fan
Nov 22, 2006 9:35AM PST

Hi,
I have two external drives, one 2.5" (40 GB ex-laptop upgrade) and one 3.5" (Seagate 250 GB, 7200 rpm bought new). The 2.5" drive is in a slimline aluminium case with no fan. The drive is powered through the USB cable and conductive cooling via the aluminium case has proved perfectly adequate.

Different story for the 3.5" drive. The 3.5" enclosure is powered by a mains adaptor and the drive generates a lot of heat, both from its power consumption and "air friction". So a fan is mandatory.

I bought both my enclosures at a local computer fair, GBP 5 and GBP 15 for the 2.5" and 3.6" respectively (USD 8 and 25). Both work perfectly.

Point to note, 2.5" disks are designed to be moved around in laptops, 3.5" drives are not, so don't go moving a 3.5" drive around while powered on.

Z.

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(NT) Should buy case w/ fan & speed would be bad, Firewire better
Nov 23, 2006 8:04PM PST
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So
Nov 24, 2006 7:57AM PST

You're saying the speed would be bad? Well, I'm think I'm going to go for a fan, but I don't have Firewire so that's not an option.

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Seems like a good case...
Nov 25, 2006 4:06AM PST

..., though all those LEDs seem to serve little useful purpose.

I too am trying to build an external enclosure and would like something that supports dual drives (like the new WD MyBook) and has either Firewire and/or eSATA connections. Any one with an idea where I can find this? (the drives I have are two 259GB WD, EIDE drives.)

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Fan noise in external enclosures
Dec 1, 2006 11:37PM PST

One thing to pay close attention to is the noise of the fans in many cases.

I tend to leave my drives on all the time and I've had too many enclosures that were just frankly much nosier than my computer system.