Creating an external harddrive

[aethier]

Hi,

I have a 15in AL|book, and am finding that the 80 gig hardrive is filling up rather quickly. i do not have enough money to purchase a large external drive, so i was wandering if anybody knows a solution to "do-it yourself" i found an ata>firewire converter here. do any of you know if that is good, and if it will be powered via firewire, or will it need an indipendant power suply. also are there any cheap cases for such projects? thank you

aethier

 

[Rower_CPU]

I'd recommend getting something like this:
http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Item.cfm?ID=5350&Item=OWCMEFWATA6

It's essentially the same thing as you found, just built into a case. Just buy your own HD and mount it inside.

 

[aethier]

Ok cool, that does seem better.

Thanks,

aethier

 

[plinkoman]

i would recomend checking here too, they have lots of drive enclosures
http://www.fwdepot.com/thestore/default.php

but after adding the price of one of those plus a harddrive, you'd be better off getting one of these
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10022
for only $169, it ain't bad.

 

[jtown]

PCMicroStore has some really good deals on decent looking external cases. This place has Argosy, Bytecc, CoolMax, and others for around $50-60. USB, Firewire, or both. Significantly cheaper than macsales or firewiredepot.

I bought an Argosy case from them recently and had it in a day or two. Firewire400 and USB2 for $55. Supports large drives (I have a 160 gig maxtor in it now).

For drives, keep an eye out for deals on places like dealmac, techbargains, etc. Right now, CompUSA has a 120 gig 7200RPM 8 meg cache Seagate drive on sale for $59.99 after rebates. ($129.99 out of pocket now with a $70 mail-in rebate). With shipping, that'd be a net cost of about $125 for a fast, quiet 120 gig external drive in a nice looking firewire/USB2 case once the rebate comes in.