ISO: Reliable USB 2.0 IDE to USB external drive enclosure

[BonzaiDuck]

I'll emphasize my main point of inquiry first.

I have a lot of spare hard disks, and need for external-drive backups.

My favorite external USB2 enclosure for IDE drives (including 5.25" opticals as optional use) was the ThermalTake A2173 Silver River:

Tt A2173 Silver-River 5.25" USB enclosure

These things are hard to find anymore, or when you do find them, they cost more than they once did -- which was even then a premium price. But they worked well. I have two of them sitting on my desk now -- hold a cumulative 400 GB of storage capability.

My brother asked me for "suggestions" per his Xmas present to me. Since I'd had such good experience with the A2173's, I e-mailed him an option to pick up a couple of these:

ThermalTake A2398 SUCKS!!

The annual family Xmas party was a blast, and I was pleased when I opened the boxes containing these enclosures.

Today, I decided to test them one at a time. Power switch works; LED lights up; drive spins up. Computer fails to recognize the USB connection. Switched USB cables with one known to work. No cigar. Tried another computer. No cigar. Swapped the known, working HD into the second box; same positive indications, but for the USB connection, no cigar, no cigar.

Called my bro'. We're going to RMA them. But there's probably a good reason for the $19-and-change price-tag.

It's a pretty sh***y ( "shabby" for yur vurgin ears) product.

DOES ANYONE KNOW OR HAVE ANY IDEA OF A "BEST" IDE-TO-USB ENCLOSURE WITH AN EXTERNAL TOGGLE SWITCH? Also would be glad to get your recommendations for SATA-to-eSATA and SATA-to-USB2 enclosures.

I've discovered that these things can be very convenient to extend usefulness of retired hard disks. You can store them on a bookshelf, and if you have the same model for several, you can just leave one power-transformer plugged in, and swap the USB and power cables from drive to drive as it suits you.

And Bro'!! Fret not!! Get me the paperwork and we'll take care of it. It was the thought that counts, and my fault for not looking at NewEgg Customer Reviews on this . . . . sorry excuse for a product.

[Sending Bro' the link to this.]

 

[Old Hippie]

For your SATA drive needs, ya can't beat the Antec MX-1. I've seen it as low as 40.00 + free shipping.

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: Old Hippie
For your SATA drive needs, ya can't beat the Antec MX-1. I've seen it as low as 40.00 + free shipping.

Why did they have to go with that finnicky S-video style power connector? What's wrong with a regular male/female connection type like Western Digital uses?

 

[Old Hippie]

What's wrong with a regular male/female connection type like Western Digital uses?

I'm not sure what WD product you're talking about, but if the dedicated power supply is outside the box, it's probably better to use a non-standard interface so some "Einstein" doesn't plug it in to a standard plug. Course, none of us would ever do that. :roll:

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Thanks for the recommendation.

Per the power-connector, I've tried (obscure and cheap) USB enclosure products from other manufacturers. One, made by ULTRA, did not have a switch and used instead the common type of power-plug found on WalkMans and other items requiring a DC transformer. The other one -- from a manufacturer I do not remember -- had a proprietary plug that only resembles S-video.

What is really bothersome, however, is the discovery that two different models of ThermalTake USB enclosures use plugs that "look" similar from a distance -- but which are incompatible and not interchangeable.

Like I said -- it is very convenient to keep one transformer active and simply move the cables (USB and DC power) from one unit to the next.

I've learned to expect these products to be "temperamental." So I make sure they have a quality toggle-switch in the design, and only leave them connected -- and only run them -- for backup purposes. Occasionally, you run into the problem that some computer's BIOS does not have a "boot from USB" choice or is configured to rearrange the boot-order if it finds a USB drive connected -- always a nuisance.

I also figure we have a long wait before they start selling USB "Flash" drives with 50 to 100GB capacity for the price of a 3.5" USB enclosure

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: Old Hippie

What's wrong with a regular male/female connection type like Western Digital uses?

I'm not sure what WD product you're talking about, but if the dedicated power supply is outside the box, it's probably better to use a non-standard interface so some "Einstein" doesn't plug it in to a standard plug. Course, none of us would ever do that. :roll:

I'm talking about the standard plugs that most DC devices, like laptops, etc use.

Here's a pic. http://cache.gizmodo.com/asset...2007/06/wd_dvr_pal.jpg

I've had one of those s-video style connectors rendered useless by a pin bending. I just don't get why they do it that way. I guess the hard drive needs 5v and 12v, but they could easily put the regulator to step 12v down to 5v in the enclosure like WD did.

 

[GeekDrew]

I personally have one of these, and I love it. Seems to work excellently for me.

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: GeekDrew
I personally have one of these, and I love it. Seems to work excellently for me.

Wow that's a nice price for eSATA and USB, with a nice big cooling fan. Plus it doesn't have the s-video power jack!

 

[TTjd]

Please try the following to access the drives.
Does the drive show up in Disk Management??
If new HDD does show up in Device Manager/Disk drives, but it does not show up in the Disk Management check the power connector, make sure the power cable is connected.
To initialize HDD:
Right click on My Computer select and click on the Manage
click on the Disk Management
right click on the left side of disk drive with black bar on the top(your new HDD)
select and click on Initialize Disk
******* make sure that the disk you are going to initialize has been checked and click OK
To format HDD:
Right click on My Computer
select and click on Manage
click on Disk Management
right click on the disk drive with black bar on top and select New Partition
the New Partition Wizard will pop-up, click on Next
select Extended Partition and click Next
click next for Specify Partition ..........click on Finish
When top bar becomes green, right click on it and select New Logical Drive
click Next when you see Welcome to the New Partition Wizard
clickNext when you see Select Partition Type
click Next if you need a single partition
click Next if you do not want to change the drive letter
check the box for Perform a quick format, if you dont want to wait for long time on formatting the HDD.
Quick format is faster , however, normal is a better format.

make sure to back up drive first as formatting will erase all data
.
Click Next to Finish
the HDD should show up in My Computer.


Also what operating system are you using?

 

[Old Hippie]

Originally posted by: TTjd
Please try the following to access the drives.
Does the drive show up in Disk Management??
If new HDD does show up in Device Manager/Disk drives, but it does not show up in the Disk Management check the power connector, make sure the power cable is connected.
To initialize HDD:
Right click on My Computer select and click on the Manage
click on the Disk Management
right click on the left side of disk drive with black bar on the top(your new HDD)
select and click on Initialize Disk
******* make sure that the disk you are going to initialize has been checked and click OK
To format HDD:
Right click on My Computer
select and click on Manage
click on Disk Management
right click on the disk drive with black bar on top and select New Partition
the New Partition Wizard will pop-up, click on Next
select Extended Partition and click Next
click next for Specify Partition ..........click on Finish
When top bar becomes green, right click on it and select New Logical Drive
click Next when you see Welcome to the New Partition Wizard
clickNext when you see Select Partition Type
click Next if you need a single partition
click Next if you do not want to change the drive letter
check the box for Perform a quick format, if you dont want to wait for long time on formatting the HDD.
Quick format is faster , however, normal is a better format.

make sure to back up drive first as formatting will erase all data
.
Click Next to Finish
the HDD should show up in My Computer.


Also what operating system are you using?

Hey there TTjd! Welcome to the forums!

Are you a factory rep, or just like typing? :laugh:

 

[TTjd]

Type type type all day long. Type type type while i sing this song!!!LOL
Just trying to help them figure out what is going on. This is just a step thru process to format drives of any enclosure,