Want opinions on good USB/Firewire hard drive enclosure

[Scott66]

Was looking at the Western digital external harddrives with USB and Firewire but can't justify their price. Decided I will have to put a drive in an HD enclosure.

Looking for some advice and recommendations based on your experience. What company makes quality units at a good price. Prefer to have both interfaces. Any harddrive advice is also welcome.

 

[RabidPossum]

I have the same question. I've been looking at this one:

Link

but I've also heard a few people mention Bytecc.
A friend of mine has an Addlogix (Compucable), which he likes, but they're a bit pricey.

 

[mikepeck]

I had the compusa version of that closure and I would suggest looking elsewhere. My drive got hot enough to fry a pancake on it. Although it says aluminum, there is no alumunim that touches the drive, its all plastic and works quite well as insullation to keep the heat in. I ended up returning it for this drive http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-145-745&depa=0

Haven't had any heat problems yet. Plus this one looks cooler and is ALL aluminum.

 

[stickybytes]

What are the advantages of having a third party pre-assembled external hd versus one that you make yourself with a drive and a enclosure?

So why the big price difference?

 

[phil2004]

Originally posted by: Scott66
Was looking at the Western digital external harddrives with USB and Firewire but can't justify their price. Decided I will have to put a drive in an HD enclosure.

Looking for some advice and recommendations based on your experience. What company makes quality units at a good price. Prefer to have both interfaces. Any harddrive advice is also welcome.

I had to make an emergency image of a damaged filesystem and needed an external drive - I decided on this model - http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=MAP-302F-01&cat=CAS - which I bought from a U.K. retailer. I`ve had it running for days at a time and have no complaints, came with mounting screws etc. . It was cheaper to buy the enclosure and stick a 160 gigabyte drive in it than buy from a big name manufacturer - plus it was a _dual_ enclosure. I`m considering buying a 4 bay 5.25" model from what I assume is the same producer.

There are plenty more expensive FireWire enclosures here - http://www.cooldrives.com/firen.html .

 

[RabidPossum]

Originally posted by: phil2004
I had to make an emergency image of a damaged filesystem and needed an external drive - I decided on this model - http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=MAP-302F-01&cat=CAS - which I bought from a U.K. retailer. I`ve had it running for days at a time and have no complaints, came with mounting screws etc. . It was cheaper to buy the enclosure and stick a 160 gigabyte drive in it than buy from a big name manufacturer - plus it was a _dual_ enclosure. I`m considering buying a 4 bay 5.25" model from what I assume is the same producer.

That's nice, but it's not exactly easy to carry around. I don't know about Scott, but I need something a bit more portable.

 

[phil2004]

You mean something like this bus powered - 2.5-Inch USB 2.0 Black External Hard Drive Case - http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=NC-BLK-A-811&cat=CAS ?

You`ll probably find something on the Compgeeks site, they aren`t expensive - I even import goods to the U.K. from them and still save money !

 

[Childs]

Plumax has worked out great for me. Reasonably priced too.

 

[WackyDan]

Originally posted by: stickybytes
What are the advantages of having a third party pre-assembled external hd versus one that you make yourself with a drive and a enclosure?

So why the big price difference?

Warranty on the whole unit for one... Secondly, NAME... Third - The new WD and Maxtor external 1394/USB2 drives come with backup software, and that is certainly part of the cost. I'm glad they are vending something so simple, as how many of you actually have a backup inplace for the real impoartant stuff on your drive???

I've added up the costs of both as I'm looking for a new external. I think the WD's and Maxtors offer a great value and design. I've looked at building my own, and in reality, I don't see a big difference in price especially as every week in the Sunday paper, either the Maxtor or WD are on sale or have a great rebate.

What I would like is one like the Buslink that is USB2/Firewire/SATA all in one enclosure. Only problem with the Buslink is that it is only 80gig...... and $179 direct - $199 retail. I'm hoping they up that to at least 120gig soon though though 160 would be more ideal. However.... not on their website anymore so maybe they disco'd it as a product.

 

[Scott66]

thanks for all the advice and sorry didn't respond quicker, as I am in the midst of moving. Just a quick question on the software included with WD. How does the backup software work with transferring images onto new drives? I see myself using it to copy files and possibly system files onto the external and then transferring back to the old drive or a new one. How well is the included software suited for this? I have good luck with ghost but if I can have it all in one package it might be worth the extra price.