Two questions about external enclosures...

[mitchafi]

1) How do you determine the chipset? From what I have read I should stay away from the pacific chipset and go with oxford if possible. I don't see the chipset listed on newegg and haven't been able to find it on many of the manufacturer's sites.

2) How do you tell if the enclosure uses external power? I was thinking about buying this: Text but the picture looks like it has an outlet with a wall plug which means it probably has to be plugged in to use. In that case I don't want it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I believe all 3.5" enclosures need a power brick. Some 2.5" can get by without one at least for lower speed 4200 - 5400 RPM drives since laptop drives need less power.

Chipset is sometimes in user reviews or on manufacturer website. If you don't need firewire then a pure-USB enclosure is less likely to have "bad" chipset issues.

Bytecc makes good 3.5" USB enclosures.

 

[discounteggroll]

you will get mixed reviews on each and every chipset known to man. generally, i have had great experience with oxford for a firewire enclosure, depends what connection you're looking for. tom's hardware has great reviews on enclosures and their respective chipsets

as far as power supplies go, if the enclosure has an internal power supply, the plug socket connecting the enclosure to the wall will have the standard 3-prong computer power cable (which we each have a growing collection of). the link you provided uses an external power, requiring a brick to convert power, so it won't be very portable (although I use these anyway).

*edit* also, keep in mind that USB does not draw enough power from the CPU alone to power a hard drive/DVD burner, etc. as far as firewire goes, my only success has been using a mac, but for larger (3.5/5.25" drives) you will need to use a power supply other than the usb/firewire connection to the computer

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: discounteggroll
you will get mixed reviews on each and every chipset known to man. generally, i have had great experience with oxford for a firewire enclosure, depends what connection you're looking for. tom's hardware has great reviews on enclosures and their respective chipsets

as far as power supplies go, if the enclosure has an internal power supply, the plug socket connecting the enclosure to the wall will have the standard 3-prong computer power cable (which we each have a growing collection of). the link you provided uses an external power, requiring a brick to convert power, so it won't be very portable (although I use these anyway).

*edit* also, keep in mind that USB does not draw enough power from the CPU alone to power a hard drive/DVD burner, etc. as far as firewire goes, my only success has been using a mac, but for larger (3.5/5.25" drives) you will need to use a power supply other than the usb/firewire connection to the computer

Right! Or - a powered hub.

 

[mitchafi]

What is a powered hub? If I understand correctly you are trying to say that while 3.5 enclosures do require extra power, many have internal power supplies that take care of this?