IDE HD Enclosure

Wrong forum.

Back on topic, I like the Macally ones. Reliable (in my experience), and relatively cheap in price. BTW-- 2.5" or 3.5"? (laptop HD or desktop HD.)

http://macally.com/EN/Product/?BigClassName=Drive Enclosures&SmallClassName=2.5

The PHR-250CC or the PHR-250CE.

I bought one of these for a friend: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=17269&vpn=2U3488&manufacture=nGear Technologies Inc.

I installed a spare drive I had in it and it works perfectly fo him. I also have a 2.5" ngear enclosure myself and it works very well. Don't expect too much speed though.. even though USB 2 is rated at 60MB max I never get above 12-15MB/sec on any usb drive.

Go with a FireWire drive.

Many apologies and thanks for the advice

Cheers

Lars said:

Go with a FireWire drive.

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you make a good point but they want low cost.. usb doesn't scream but its fine for just extra storage or backup.

zen.state said:

you make a good point but they want low cost.. usb doesn't scream but its fine for just extra storage or backup.

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Have seen some issues with the lower cost USB only drives. Since a back-up needs to be reliable, will second the Macally suggestion.

Macally enclosures get my vote, as well. I've had no problems with 2.5" and 3.5" versions, including their SATA enclosure.

I've been using a Bytecc-740U2F for quite a long time now and have had zero issues at all.

I picked up another Byetcc case for the DVD burner I eventually put inside my eMac (now it holds my second 320GB HD). They both use the Prolific chipset (some have had issues with it) but in my experience anyway, Bytecc makes good cases.

I've recently used a couple of these Mediasonic USB/FW enclosures with Seagate HD's. They have auto-standby and are very quiet & cool, cosmetically attractive too.

Canada Computers - Drive Enclosure : Mediasonic HD6-U2FW - Smart Drive 3.5" USB 2.0 & Firewire (IEEE 1394a) HDD External Enclosure.

Pretty well anything on the market will work. I picked up a dirt cheap clearance Adaptec case at a local computer shop.

Not sure where you are located but I have purchased a few Nspire FW/USB 2 cases at a decent price from these guys.

http://www.cty.ca/details.asp?pid=69

There are lots of external enclosure threads in the Anything Mac subforum.

gt is right, just about anything works. Macally is great for them as can afford it--and since it's your data, perhaps your only backup, that's a good choice. But cheap enclosures can last for decades too.

HowEver said:

There are lots of external enclosure threads in the Anything Mac subforum.

gt is right, just about anything works. Macally is great for them as can afford it--and since it's your data, perhaps your only backup, that's a good choice. But cheap enclosures can last for decades too.

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Four years ago I started with a cheap enclosure. Good news is that when it died, the HD survived and is still being used in the Macally. Going with a good enclosure to start with would have saved me about $75. Obviously the cheapies are a little cheaper now but to me the reliability is worth the price.