Are all external enclosures the same?

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Lemodular

Senior member
Sep 15, 2004
521
1
71
External (ide) enclosures, there are many to choose from. I have seen many but not actually used any. What qualities make one better than another? Cooling, speed, controller/bridge chip? Some are passively cool while other have fans, how noisy is it? Does the HD get hot even if its just sitting there hooked up and not used?

what brands/model should I look that have resolved most of these issues and deliver a dependable device? I dont want to mirror my drive, this is just for data back-ups but I do want to leave it attached to the computer all the time if it doesn't kill the drive.
 
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osmononame

Member
Apr 26, 2001
78
0
0
Hi, is it a USB 2.0 or Firewire enclosure you want? I bought a combo enclosure which used a cheap Pacific chipset, if I use it through Firewire I get delay write failures (common problem with firewire enclosures read up on it here: http://www.bustrace.com/products/delayedwrite.htm), and when I use it on USB 2.0 my computer lags when i access the HDD. I've read that enclosures which use the Oxford chipset (can't remember chipset model) are the most reliable and the Pacific chipsets are the worst. Also some enclosures are limited to 130GB HDD's - again this depends on the chipset the enclosure uses. Personally, I would go for a decent USB 2.0 enclosure which uses an Oxford chipset, unless you are 100% sure that your setup isn't going to suffer from any delay write issues - the speed difference between USB 2.0 and Firewire isn't THAT big. I actually unplugged the fan on my enclosure as it was making too loud a noise and the HDD doesn't seem to get that hot without it.

Osmo

p.s. take it for granted that all the cheap enclosures you will find on the net and eBay will use a Pacific chipset.
 
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montag451

Diamond Member
Dec 17, 2004
4,587
0
0
I got an EBUYER own make - USB2.
Works like it should - ONLY problem is that it is quite noisy. C'est la vie
Does the job - good fan, drive is cool. Very cheap. Aluminium body with thumbscrews to take housing apart to change drive. Only need to take 3 off
 
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Tiamat

Lifer
Nov 25, 2003
14,068
5
71
Originally posted by: Lemodular2
Originally posted by: Tiamat
I was told that AMS Venus is the better of them all.
Click to expand...


What makes them better?
Click to expand...

Aluminum chasis for durability (rather than plastic). Rubber corners, and a slim 80mm fan of probably 28-32 db for good cooling with not too bad noise. My brother has one, and says it works like a charm. Only bad thing is it costs 35-40$. www.svc.com has them as well. I think they have external SATA version too.

Supposedly, bytecc isnt as good as the AMS Venus. Not sure why. But that is just what I was told by someone who bought a few of each.
 
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