Recommend a rugged external HD case?

[JeepinEd]

I'm looking for an external Hard Drive case that can handle a bit of abuse.
I have a 3 1/2" IDE Hard Drive that I will be using with it, so the controller needs to be IDE.
It also needs to have a Firewire connection.

It will be used with an older Mac Powerbook laptop, which has USB 1.1 and Firewire, so a USB 2.0 connection will be of little use.


Thanks,

Ed

 

[corkyg]

Please clarify the size. Standard PATA (IDE) drives are 3.5". The last 5.25" made was the Quantum Bigfoot. I don't know of any external cases that can handle that.

There are almost no USB 1.1 cases anymore - but a USB 2 capable case shoul work with 1.1 - it just throttles down to a slower transfer rate. Firewire is of course, your best choice in this scenario.

 

[JeepinEd]

Duh!
Yeah, I meant 3.5" drive. (I was messing with my old Amiga 2000 and it's 60 Meg 5 1/4" drive last night)

I know that USB 2.0 is backwards compatible with 1.1, but as you stated, Firewire is my best bet.

 

[corkyg]

OK - do your search primarily on 1394 or Firewire. Just about all of them are also USB 2 and backwards compatible. Here is a decent example from Newegg:

External

 

[Zepper]

AMS and Vantec make some good enclosures. And I like my Silverstone MS04 but they are kind of expensive and hard to find - I tripped over a super deal on eBay.

.bh.

 

[dwcal]

A Vantec or Silverstone enclosure is pretty good quality, but it's not built for any kind of heavy abuse, and I doubt it has shock mounting for the HD.

Try googling for "rugged external hard drive". This was one of the hits and it's reasonably priced: http://www.pcmall.com/pcmall/s...detail~dpno~711779.asp. olixir.com has some too, but they look even more expensive.

For even more protection, put it in a Pelican case. http://pelican.com/home.php

 

[JeepinEd]

I tried that & found the Lacie drivers.
The problem is they don't sell just the case. The units they offer all seem to be 5400 rpm, which is too slow for my needs.

Maybe I should build my own...

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: JeepinEd
Maybe I should build my own...

That is really the best way.

 

[PowerRanger]

Well I recently got this Vantec enclosure. It has both USB 2 and Firewire. I bought it at Outpost though since the price on NewEgg is almost $20 more. But like a previous poster said, it doesn't have shockmounts...but it does feel solid and is pretty sleek.

 

[Old Hippie]

Originally posted by: corkyg

Originally posted by: JeepinEd
Maybe I should build my own...

That is really the best way.

Is there any other? :thumbsup: