Nov 26, 2005
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403
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Hello. While researching SATA to SATA external enclosures 3.5" i've discovered many people end up with a bum external enclosure due to, well my guess is, the effects of heat build up in the enclosure. I only learned that while looking for a replacement for the one i have... that ended in the "bum" state. I am hesitant on even buying an 11$ enclosure just to save myself the headache etc etc.

So what am I wondering? Here it is: Leave the drive inside the case, still connected to the SATA cable, and fit the power cable with some sort of on/off breaker switch. I don't know if this is safe or can be done and how to even do it if its a good idea.

I figured, the only functional difference between my idea and the external solution is the on off button so why not leave it in the case with something that will substitute that difference.

Any solutions to this idea?

Thanks for your time.

529th




 

mrred

Member
Dec 19, 2005
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I believe there was a major study performed by google (???) which concluded that hard-drive failure is not greatly influenced by heat.

In my experience with external enclosures, failures have ALL been due to cheap failing AC adaptors (happened with 3 so far, out of 7)

sorry I didn't actually answer your question at all... maybe I misunderstood your question but every enclosure I have used has it's own power switch
 
Nov 26, 2005
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Its all good, nbd. With the one i had, the enclosure will/would still turn on but the power feed to the drive was sketchy. It would crash my system 99% of the time near the end of its life. Then finally, the drive wouldn't boot up at all. I haven't tried the drive in my case to see if it's failed but I'm almost positive its still in good condition... results soon ... but its a fairly new drive, less that a year old... but you never can tell
 

Peter

Elite Member
Oct 15, 1999
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You know that SATA drives can start/stop via software command? Just use that.
 

Scottae

Member
Jan 19, 2008
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Originally posted by: mrred
I believe there was a major study performed by google (???) which concluded that hard-drive failure is not greatly influenced by heat.

In my experience with external enclosures, failures have ALL been due to cheap failing AC adaptors (happened with 3 so far, out of 7)

sorry I didn't actually answer your question at all... maybe I misunderstood your question but every enclosure I have used has it's own power switch

This is true. New Esata Spec is going to put the Power in the SATA cable.. so this should resolve that issue.
 

Nathelion

Senior member
Jan 30, 2006
697
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Also, if you for some reason have an enclosure without a switch, putting in a switch similar to that of a common desklamp is very easy.