HOT: Removable IDE Drive Enclosure $6.95 + shipping

[jagilbertvt]

Computer Geeks has a Genica GN-210 removable drive rack for $6.95 + shipping here. This is a "Geeks Special" so you can't use the 10% off coupon.

Reseller Ratings


This is a great buy for anyone looking for a removable hard disk enclosure! I ordered a bunch and thought I'd pass it along .


Edit: Sorry, the links got butchered somehow.. Obligatory Reseller Ratings link

 

[SUOrangeman]

I have at least *EIGHT* of these caddies in use in various systems (four alone in my main PC, others in wife's PC, work PC, and parents' PC). No problems with them at all. Makes moving hard drives and my Zip250 a breeze, allowing me to access everything I need when I need it.

I am secretly hoping someone will make a caddy that takes SATA on the outside, but uses the existing PATA interface on the inside. This would allow me to keep my drives as they are, but let's me move to SATA.

-SUO, the dreamer

PS: Ignore the "Hot Swap" label. Hot swapping you should not attempt with PATA.

 

[Robbed]

is there something like this that is hot swappable for windows xp?

thanks,

rob.

 

[slomo1k]

Just a useless fact. Genica and Compgeeks are the same company.

 

[Devistater]

Originally posted by: SUOrangeman

PS: Ignore the "Hot Swap" label. Hot swapping you should not attempt with PATA.

Heck, even the new Serial ATA has problems hot swapping. Not hardware problems, but win XP seems to have a problem realizing its been removed

But yeah, do NOT try to hot swap a normal IDE drive.

 

[cheapgoose]

this one?

it's 5.50 and not special, so 10% off?

 

[jagilbertvt]

That is just the tray. It doesn't include the 5 1/4" enclosure that you need for mounting it in a computer.

-Jeremiah

 

[babylon5]

Thanks, got one!

 

[funnyfenix]

funny info
at Compgeek they stated this
-------------
Removable ATA/133 - ATA/66 Drive Tray
-------------

back to Genica they stated this
-------------
Takes all UDMA/100, UDMA/66, UDMA/33, Standard IDE Devices
-------------

so will it take ATA 133?

 

[funnyfenix]

never mind, I saw it
---------
NOTE: Box May Say up to ATA/100 but It works up to ATA/133 *

 

[cheapgoose]

tks

 

[optimistic]

So this is the whole kit??

<~~ Needs to time to decide if I need it.

Would this be a good reason?
1. I have a computer at college and one at home. What's the fastest way to transfer all the stuff I downloaded to the home computer?

Would this thing be it? Right now I'm just docking the whole comp to my KVM

 

[stevejst]

I have a computer at college and one at home. What's the fastest way to transfer all the stuff I downloaded to the home computer?

External USB2 hard drive, no doubt. Investment for the future.

 

[TheDon]

I thought XP checked the hardware on the system looking for significant differences. If I moved my drive from one computer to another, wouldn't I have to re-register XP? This might not work for me anyway since I run a RAID controller.

 

[WiseOldMan]

I'm using 4 of these $6.95 ones with my Win2000 systems. They ARE hot swappable but
you need to detect for them in Device Manager after swapping drives. The only problem is that
playing back AVI video store on them doesn't run smooth.

These $6.95 ones actually worked better at hot-swapping than the more expensive
aluminum model they sell.

 

[db]

Anybody have screaming fans from these (older) ones?
Looking for ball-bearing replacements....

WiseOldMan are you saying you had problems playing back avi *after* swapped drive detection? Any problem if no swap?

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: stevejst

I have a computer at college and one at home. What's the fastest way to transfer all the stuff I downloaded to the home computer?

External USB2 hard drive, no doubt. Investment for the future.

True, if by "the future" you mean the next couple of years, lol.

 

[gard]

Originally posted by: feralkid

Originally posted by: stevejst

I have a computer at college and one at home. What's the fastest way to transfer all the stuff I downloaded to the home computer?

External USB2 hard drive, no doubt. Investment for the future.

True, if by "the future" you mean the next couple of years, lol.

Hi,

I need some education here. Does this enclosure make my internal IDE drive into a removable (but still internal) IDE drive? Or, does it turn an internal IDE drive into an external IDE drive?

Either way, the drive is accessed over the IDE interface, right? So, drive performance can't be any worse than internal IDE. Why is USB2 better? I expect USB2 may be quicker to install, as in getting the cables connected? What am I missing? I dont think I understand what this box does.

In order to be able to move a drive from one PC to another, I will need 2 of these, right?

gard

 

[jagilbertvt]

It would basically turn it into a removable 5 1/4" drive. Basically the drive rack mounts into a 5 1/4" external drive bay. you then mount the drive into the tray. The tray can easily slide in and out of the drive rack . Here is a review I found on it (w/ some crappy pix). If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

-Jeremiah

 

[Harvey]

I love Mobile Racks. It makes Ghosting my drives a snap. You have to be careful to get a good one. The cheap ones often break too easily, and the drawers are not usually interchangable from brand to brand. I had one bad experience where the pull handle on the drawer was too weak and broke, making the rack useless. I usually see reasonable quality mobile racks at the local swap meets for about $12.

 

[WiseOldMan]

Originally posted by: db
Anybody have screaming fans from these (older) ones?
Looking for ball-bearing replacements....

WiseOldMan are you saying you had problems playing back avi *after* swapped drive detection? Any problem if no swap?

db, it's not that the avi movies don't play it's just that the movies don't run smoothly. The same AVI movies would play
beautifully (without any 1/2-seconds stalled every few seconds). This happened whether the drives were attached before
or after boot-up. My hard drives (in the removable cages) are connected to IDE0 and IDE1 (I have RAID0 setup).
My Abit KG7-RAID mb supports ultra ATA-100 and I'm using 7200RPM hard drives. I think but the swappable cages' circuit board and
connector/cable must have slowed down the data stream -- reducing a hard drive's Ultra ATA-100/133 performance down
to Ultra ATA-33/66.

 

[WiseOldMan]

Originally posted by: WiseOldMan

Originally posted by: db
Anybody have screaming fans from these (older) ones?
Looking for ball-bearing replacements....

WiseOldMan are you saying you had problems playing back avi *after* swapped drive detection? Any problem if no swap?

db, it's not that the avi movies don't play it's just that the movies don't run smoothly. The same AVI movies would play
beautifully (without any 1/2-seconds stalled every few seconds) when copied to my RAID drives. This happened whether the drives were attached before
or after boot-up. My hard drives (in the removable cages) are connected to IDE0 and IDE1 (I have RAID0 setup).
My Abit KG7-RAID mb supports ultra ATA-100 and I'm using 7200RPM hard drives. I think but the swappable cages' circuit board and
connector/cable must have slowed down the data stream -- reducing a hard drive's Ultra ATA-100/133 performance down
to Ultra ATA-33/66.

 

[SUOrangeman]

I have to agree with all of the comments here from other mobile rack users. And I am sure many of you realize that a hard drive is not the only thing you can put in one of these. Any IDE 3.5" device can be used. I have a Zip 250 and even a Seagate IDE tape drive (never bought any tapes, hehe).

I have had fans in these units get loud. I tend to just disconnect the fan from the power source and forget about it. Heck, I've got two IBM Deskstar 60GXPs (mebbe two yeas old now?) in racks and they haven't given me a bit of trouble ... even if I'm not using them as main drives anymore.

-SUO

 

[Devistater]

Originally posted by: TheDon
I thought XP checked the hardware on the system looking for significant differences. If I moved my drive from one computer to another, wouldn't I have to re-register XP? This might not work for me anyway since I run a RAID controller.

XP does check the hardware when it boots up, and yeah, I wouldn't do it on a boot drive. Data drive would be fine though. If you dont have a data drive.... well pick one up, they are dang cheap

Originally posted by: WiseOldMan
I'm using 4 of these $6.95 ones with my Win2000 systems. They ARE hot swappable but
you need to detect for them in Device Manager after swapping drives. The only problem is that
playing back AVI video store on them doesn't run smooth.

These $6.95 ones actually worked better at hot-swapping than the more expensive
aluminum model they sell.

Now, you realize what you are saying by hot swappable, right? Hot-swappable means that you can REMOVE the IDE drive while your comptuer is ON and RUNNING. Like a USB device. Hot means you can remove it and plug it back in while the power is on.

I dont think you can do that with these. Unplugging any IDE device (especially hard drives) while your computer is on is not exactly a good idea from my experiance.

But correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[lancefang]

thanks a lot, a great deal, I have ordered 5 pieces