Ext HDD - Build or Buy?

[imported_Driller]

Looks like I can pick up a Seagate Internal 300gB HDD for about $140 less $40 RB @ OP or $152 w/o RB at Newegg. I'm kinda leery of OP based on some posts about troubles with RB's.

A good aluminum case is about $50 looks like everywhere.
Seagate's warranty is 5 years for INTERNAL drives only.
Thier warranty for EXTERNAL drives appears to be only 1 year

the same drive delivered as External w/factory case is
$180 less $50 RB @ OP, $230 TD or $226 @ Newegg

Seems cheaper to build and better warranty, too.
Am I missing something?

 

[Texun]

This may not help much since I don't own any Retail Backup Drives, but I wasn't concerend about getting the backup software or the one touch feature. I have no personal info on it and only use it to store MP3's, DVDs and Windows patches. I also didn't like the 1 year warrantywhich was the main reason I built my own.

What do you plan to do with it? If you prefer somethig more automatic you may want to buy instead of build.

 

[INM8]

Generally building you own external will be cheaper, and if you dont plan thrash the external drive around alot, its generally the better option. Iv got a segate 160 3.5" drive in a Vantec Nexstar 3, its great, its cheaper than buying a prebuilt external and IMO it looks better.

Only thing i have noticed is all the DIY external enclosures dont have much as far as shock absorption goes. If you where to drop an external HDD you build with a DIY enclosure from a considerable height, chances are it'll be broken. Companies like segate that bundle the drive and the enclosure probably develop storage case's for the hard drive that are little more resiliant to drops and shock.

Then again, dropping anything with a hard drive in just a plain bad idea, no matter what enclosure its in. I'd build your own if i where you, its cheaper, it looks better, and you can always swap drives if you have too,

 

[imported_Driller]

I have two systems currently with the following drives:

Drive Size cur. used
40gB 13 this is the boot drive, system 1
120gB 15 storage drive system 1
80gB 5 boot drive , system 2

total 240gB, currently 36 gB used
Plan to get much heavier into scanning old photos

I'll use this drive for backup of all 3 system drives plus add some photos that are not on the other drives.

This is the one I will grab onthe way out the foor for hurricane evac (next time)

 

[imported_Driller]

I guess from what you say, after re-looking t the factory made externals, I better get one of those. I don't see much in the way of either cooling (mostly pasive or open mesh) or shock mounts in the cases, even in the $50 class.
And I may have to grab and go in a hurry
This last time, I opened the systems, popped out the HDDs and wrapped them in bubble wrap and threw them in my hardside suitcase. Probably lucky that are all still working.
Thanks for the insight

 

[ribbon13]

Did you look at this one?

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
Did you look at this one?

that is nice, ribbon have you used that particular case?

 

[imported_Driller]

Looks pretty good, but I can't tell from the description how much shock adsorption is available in the case.

If purchasing both from NewEgg, the cost for the Seagate External 300 gB and the cost of this case plus an internal Seagate 300 gB total is a wash. Seagate advertises a high shock case int he factory build. However, building your own does make it where you have a 5 year warranty instead of 1 year.

Anyone using this case want to comment about Shock Adsorption?

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Driller
Looks pretty good, but I can't tell from the description how much shock adsorption is available in the case.

If purchasing both from NewEgg, the cost for the Seagate External 300 gB and the cost of this case plus an internal Seagate 300 gB total is a wash. Seagate advertises a high shock case int he factory build. However, building your own does make it where you have a 5 year warranty instead of 1 year.

Anyone using this case want to comment about Shock Adsorption?

stricly imo, unless there is some type of suspension system in the case that holds the hdd, i don't think one is going to shine out from the rest. hdds are sensitive any way you put it and all of these cases seem to hardmount the hdd in the little case, the one that ribbon made a reference to does have what appears to be large rubber sleeves for the front and in case you drop it. i would not make any removeable hdd a "data/mission critical" hdd unless it just sits in one place all the time. if it gets moved it will get bumped, but just don't bump it when it is on.

 

[imported_Driller]

thx Bob4432
I will just use this in one place, hooked to mymain system, (at least with Acronis) I will backup the other via the network. The only time it will ever get moved is if I have to bug out. Then it will be off, of course.
Went backt o check.. the "anti-shock" case was a 3rd party deal through a dealer who was installing internal drives into theier own cases. Thier idea of preventing shocks was just the rubber gromets around the mounting screws like a lot of tower cases use.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Driller
thx Bob4432
I will just use this in one place, hooked to mymain system, (at least with Acronis) I will backup the other via the network. The only time it will ever get moved is if I have to bug out. Then it will be off, of course.
Went backt o check.. the "anti-shock" case was a 3rd party deal through a dealer who was installing internal drives into theier own cases. Thier idea of preventing shocks was just the rubber gromets around the mounting screws like a lot of tower cases use.

i always thought that was sound, but would guess it would be for a little bit of vibration dampening (but i guess vibration = sound)

since you are not going to move it much, i would probably get on you like that has all the options you want, 1394, usb, etc and the put small, soft rubber feet on it. since there is not a true dampening system then regardless of which one you get your chances will probably be pretty close if/when you drop it if it will still work.

on the bright side, with a internal seagate, you do get the 5yr warranty and i highly doubt they could figure out it was in a external case.

 

[daniel1113]

I would normally say that it doesn't matter if you build or buy an external hard drive. However, after having owned a few of each, I must say that the retail drives just seem to work much better. I especially enjoy my Maxtor OneTouch II, since it has a setting which will cause it to spin down after a certain amount of inactivity.

 

[imported_Driller]

Thnx to all
after the copious comments and insight
i decided to order the Seagate 300gB internal OEM drive
and the Venus AMS case. Looked like the best deal overall.
If I can't assemble one of these i have no business building pcs anyway
and it looks like the lowest oa cost, longest warranty and best features
except no free software
I'll probabaly use Acronis anyway since none of the free stuff
has network capability. Don't think too much of the gizomos on the
gactory case, anyway. I like to be in control. So here it goes.

 

[ribbon13]

Originally posted by: Driller
Thnx to all
after the copious comments and insight
i decided to order the Seagate 300gB internal OEM drive
and the Venus AMS case.

Excellent choice. The AMS Venus is the best model of external enclosure I've ever worked with.

 

[imported_Driller]

Thanks for your help, ribbon.
Stuff should be here Thursday 6th from NE
I'll repost after I gin it up this weekend.
got a pretty good deal on the internal drive from NE but not 'hot' deal

I was kinda leery of a price $50 less at OP(due to RB) for the same drive when I found thier RB form link was dead... even thought the rebate period was valid. TRied again several times over 2 days after sending message to the website keeper. No results.

Does anybody here do routine business with OP and get good results?

 

[Lyfer]

Im interested in doing this with a cheap 320GB maxtor, but I don't want a huge box, are there any small compact enclosures for 3.5" drives?

 

[INM8]

Yep...the Vantec Nexstar 3 is small, compact, passive, and it looks good! Iv got one of them and i thinks its great...but remember, just as i said above...not many DIY external enclosures have adequate shock protetction. Although....unless you really put the thing through hell, nothing will happen to your data

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

I got a Vantec Nexstar 2, and I hate the fvcking thing. The back came out as I was removing the 1394 cable. I'm glad other people like the drives, but I personally won't be buying any of them again.

 

[INM8]

Yeah the Nexstar 2's do look at bit cheapy. Look like its made mainly out of some form of acyrllic to me. Lukey the nexstar 3's are all aluminium (apart from front panel)...however, as iv said, you'll rarely find a DIY enclosure that has the robustness that you get with a prebuild external hdd (eg. segate\maxtor\LaCie).

 

[marvw]

BUMP

 

[imported_Driller]

Well just to update:
I pulled my usual trick of studying things to death and then being careless when I ordered.
I ended up with a Seagate 300 gB SATA drive, and the Venus enclosure for an IDFE drive.
Had to make a decision which to RMA; sent back the AMS Venus enclosure, kept the SATA drive. Tried to order an AMS Venus enclosure for SATA drives; but they are out of stock at NewEgg and Atacom, not carried anywhere else I could find. That was September. As of today (October 25th) they are still out of stock at both places. Called NEwEgg; they were evasive. Asked about availability via email at the AMS site, got no answer. IT may be vaporware.

The only alternative I could find with a cooling fan was this one from Coolgear:Native SATA enclosure
This unit has a tiny (looks about 25mm) fan at the rear and internal power supply.
The PS looks questionalble and an I wonder if the little fan can adequately cool both PS and HDD without have to spin up fast enough to make a racket. And its expensive ($80-$96) vs. the AMS Venus advert price at NewEgg ($49).

Any help???
Ribbon??

 

[imported_Driller]

Another update... guess I din't wait long enough for an answer from AMS. Here is an excerpt from thier reply:

"Venus DS3 (DS-2316SU2BK) is now replaced by a newer and improved Venus DS3
(DS-2316SU2S) based on the Oxford OXU921S chipset. The difference is the external ports now supports both SATA+USB2.0 and will be available on Newegg & Atacom soon. Or you can purchase it directly at the AMS estore."

It sells for $59 at AMS, now waiting for it to hit the NewEgg shelves.

 

[corkyg]

An external SATA drive case will work provided you can disable write caching. If not - you will probably get a lot of Delayed Write Errors. I would return the SATA drive and get an IDE for external use.

 

[imported_Driller]

Thanks for the advice, Corkyg. Unfortunately I was out of country and didn't see it until just now. How can I test for those Delayed Write Errors? OR disable write caching?
I am a mechanical engineer who builds PCs for a hobby but not familiar enough with HDD controllers. Can you help?

Update: Received a new AMS VEnus 2316SU2S enclosure direct from the AMS eStore.
I installed the Seagate 300G|ST 8M SATA ST3300831AS drive. Had a simple problem when the PC was on standby and I subsequently turned of the Ext HDD and then powered back up, the USB connection and drive were not recognized. AMS tech support came to aid immediately and advised to disable the power management on that USB Root Hub, and the problem is solved.

Had a nice conversation with the AMS rep as this is a very new product, for SATA drives with SATA output as well as USB2.0. He asked for comments so I sent them in to him. Here are a repeat of my comments. Please understand that I have only just installed the drive, have it working and have runa few files onto it and read them back out. Long term use will reveal more about the enclosure.

Here are my comments on the design of this unit. Hopefully you can pass these on to your design engineers:

1) The smoky Lexan front cover and rear ring are unnecessary, and appear to serve no useful purpose, other than to serve to elevate the enclosure above the surface on which it rests for airspace, and to provide a place to attach the rubber pads for feet. Instead I recommend replacing both lexan end caps with black rubber or polyethylene, leaving the cover off the front. You will not need feet pads in this case, if the surface friction factor of the caps is suitable.
2) Inside the enclosure, a set of rubber grommets for mounting the drive would reduce the vibration linkage between the drive and fan and serve to isolate those. Right now they appear to be close enough in frequency to create harmonics.
3) Running the fan from a temperature sensor as you mentioned is a good idea for two reasons: it will extend the life of the fan and reduce noise / vibration and change the frequency linkage harmonics.
4) I?ve read some negative comments about the small power switch. My personal preference is for a small sunken switch like this to avoid inadvertent actuation, as long as the switch itself is robust enough to allow frequent actuation over a long life; say daily actuation for 10 years or so.