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Advice: Best enclosures for external HD's?

Tydog07 said:
So I'm going to soon be in a position that I can buy a drive and an enclosure (or an all-in-one) that is FW800. I have a couple questions after re-reading this thread:


1) I want to buy a FW800 drive that doesn't need a power adapter, I'm always moving place to place and I don't have a standard desk for my MBP so I don't want to lug around a power adapter. Is this possible?

2) I will be storing media files, such as a lot of transcoded footage for FCPX and some other TV/Movies, should I get a Hybrid drive or just get a normal 7200RPM drive?

3) If I just get a normal drive, can I get any size I want?
Click to expand...

  1. External hard drives, both USB and Firewire that don't require a power adapter (bus powered) are only available as portable units using 2.5" hard drives (versus 3.5" for desktop models).
  2. I don't think Hybrid drives are available in a portable hard drive.
  3. By normal do you mean not a Hybrid? If so, I think that the largest portable hard drive currently available is 1TB.

Hope this helps.
 
DewGuy1999 said:
  1. External hard drives, both USB and Firewire that don't require a power adapter (bus powered) are only available as portable units using 2.5" hard drives (versus 3.5" for desktop models).
  2. I don't think Hybrid drives are available in a portable hard drive.
  3. By normal do you mean not a Hybrid? If so, I think that the largest portable hard drive currently available is 1TB.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

I'll need a 2.5" drive that will fit into the Pro Mini, the hybrid drive is 2.5" and it could take the factories hard drive position and I could put the 500GB drive into the Enclosure. I just need to know how to switch the drives out.
 
Bit The Bullet

So I called OWC and paid $185 for the Momentus XT 500GB harddrive, Pro Mini Enclosure and 5-Piece tool-kit. My representative took $10 off the price because I told him I could get all the components cheaper elsewhere, it ended up evening out, but I know they are a solid company.

I'll take all the advice and suggestions I can get about setting up the enclosure, cloning the old hard drive to the new one, swapping out the hard drive and getting the latest firmware for the Momentus XT drive. My order will arrive on Saturday and I'll be home on Sunday to open it!
 
Tydog07 said:
I chatted with a sales representative and here is what he said will work:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEQM0GBK/


So if I get that, I'm thinking about getting a Momentus XT and swapping that in for the laptop harddrive and then using the factory apple harddrive inside the enclosure, will that work? How would I transfer my data to the new drive?
Click to expand...
Put the Momentus XT in that enclosure. Then, I would use either SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the internal drive to the Momentus XT. (By the way, cloning a drive means that eventually they will both be exactly the same, content-wise, bit for bit.) After that, you can easily swap the drives and you won't notice a thing. Well, you'll notice a nice speed improvement. In fact, this is exactly what I'm planning to do later this year.
 
Last edited:
Tydog07 said:
So I'm going to soon be in a position that I can buy a drive and an enclosure (or an all-in-one) that is FW800. I have a couple questions after re-reading this thread:


1) I want to buy a FW800 drive that doesn't need a power adapter, I'm always moving place to place and I don't have a standard desk for my MBP so I don't want to lug around a power adapter. Is this possible?

2) I will be storing media files, such as a lot of transcoded footage for FCPX and some other TV/Movies, should I get a Hybrid drive or just get a normal 7200RPM drive?

3) If I just get a normal drive, can I get any size I want?
Click to expand...


1. FW800 drives that are portable 2.5 laptop drives likely fit this requirement. I don't think there are any 3.5 desktop harddrives that do not require power.
2. You can just get a normal drive. No need for speed for media.
3. Yes you can get any size you want. Just get the size that is sufficient for your data.
 
>>> So I'm going to soon be in a position that I can buy a drive and an enclosure (or an all-in-one) that is FW800. I have a couple questions after re-reading this thread:


1) I want to buy a FW800 drive that doesn't need a power adapter, I'm always moving place to place and I don't have a standard desk for my MBP so I don't want to lug around a power adapter. Is this possible?<<<

Only with the small, notebook drive style drives. The larger, desktop drives all need a power supply. This limits you to 1 Tb for a single drive case, but there are double drive cases.

>>> 2) I will be storing media files, such as a lot of transcoded footage for FCPX and some other TV/Movies, should I get a Hybrid drive or just get a normal 7200RPM drive?

3) If I just get a normal drive, can I get any size I want?<<<

If this is a non-boot data drive, I don't believe that you would get much, if any, speed increase from a hybrid drive. Also, there are only a few hybrid drives made, so you would limit your choices quite a bit. So, I would go with the biggest normal drive that you can afford, but also plan on some sort of a backup plan for your most important stuff....

Now, a true SSD would be much faster than a normal drive.
 
I have a 40 gb ssd sitting in an external enclosure and I just use that as a boot drive. 7200rpm or even 5400rpm drives should be just fine for media.
 
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Bengt77 said:
Put the Momentus XT in that enclosure. Then, I would use either SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the internal drive to the Momentus XT. (By the way, cloning a drive means that eventually they will both be exactly the same, content-wise, bit for bit.) After that, you can easily swap the drives and you won't notice a thing. Well, you'll notice a nice speed improvement. In fact, this is exactly what I'm planning to do later this year.
Click to expand...

This is the plan, I'm very excited! :D

peapody said:
I have a 40 gb ssd sitting in an external enclosure and I just use that as a boot drive. 7200rpm or even 5400rpm drives should be just fine for media.
Click to expand...


Yup, I'll just use my 7200RPM drive that came with my MBP.

Fishrrman said:
Why "enclose" a drive into a case at all?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=usb+sata+dock&x=0&y=0
.... when, for about $25, you can have a dock and "swap drives" as necessary.
(I realize that some need an enclosure for easy portability)

With firewire/SATA connectivity as well:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/FWU2ESHDK/
Click to expand...

I wanted firewire 800 specifically, the one you showed me is $80, my enclosure (from the same store) is $75. Thank you though.


The only thing I am concerned about as of present is the firmware, I have done searches and research about which firmware (SD45/25/26) I should install onto the drive. Any thoughts for the 2.2 15"?
 
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Fishrrman said:
Why "enclose" a drive into a case at all?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=usb+sata+dock&x=0&y=0
.... when, for about $25, you can have a dock and "swap drives" as necessary.
(I realize that some need an enclosure for easy portability)

With firewire/SATA connectivity as well:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/FWU2ESHDK/
Click to expand...

You just answered your own question.

I have a dock and several enclosures and the enclosures just make it easier to tote around and also swap data with friends.
 
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OverSpun said:
Mine came in and I assembled it but I noticed a few things that were a bit strange-

I noticed that the light turns on before the switch is on, and for that matter, that the power cord wasnt even plugged in yet. I thought I totally remembered that FW400 couldnt power any peripherals (such older ipods), but its odd...

So, I tried it on my macbook pro with FW800, same deal and the light will stay on even after the drive is ejected, and its just strange for me. Which is the point having a power switch if it doesnt actually turn it off?


On top of this while I was assembling it, there is a small little white switch on the board while I was putting my drive into the enclosure, and I think it has a "1" on 1 side, and I think the other side was blank, is that little switch for anything? I talked to someone at OWC on chat today, and they didnt have any answer for that white switch.

But, I suppose it is a bit interesting how the power switch doesnt actually turn it off, and they told me that the FW cord can give some passive power to lit the light, but what is the point for that? Am I missing something with this enclosure that maybe mine is defective? For me, if theres a light on, that means its on.... if the lights off, then its 'OFF'. ?? :confused:
Click to expand...

So even if the drive is turned off and unplugged the light stays on as long as it's connected via Firewire? Did you ever find out anything more about this, is the enclosure defective or is that the way it's supposed to work?
 
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