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External Hard drive enclosure

A

amholl

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Hi all,

Ive been brosing through youre threads for a few days. Its pretty cool here. Anyway. Just ordered a new iBook. I have extra Maxtor 60GB ATA133 HDD. What enclosure should I get?

Thanks!

P.S. Only USB because the Firewire port is already taken bu my iPod and i will be storing my music on the external one because the iBook only ship with 30 gigs.
 
I guess this is a desktop-sized drive (3.5"), and not a notebook sized drive (2.5")?

You can buy enclosures from many stores. It just has to be the right size, and have the port(s) you want- USB/Firewire/network. A Firewire would probably be best for you.
 
Then you can probably just go with a typical 3.5 enclosure with a Firewire port. I know Firewire drives have some extra capabilities-you can boot off them, etc. Stuff you'll probably never do, but good to have just in case.

I think most drive enclosures will come with a power supply. I don't know if there are any that can get power from the Firewire port, or if the iBook Firewire port could power such a drive. It would be a nice optional feature to have if possible.

Maybe someone else can post about this?
 
I am very happy with my Macally enclosure. Very well built and stylish as well. I think they are designed for macs as well.

Check newegg.com.
 
I've always just gone with whatever was cheapest or had the best rebate...none of my mismatched enclosures has failed on me yet! Of course, I'm not too worried about aesthetics, all non-computer parts (anything other than my imac, ibook, mouse, and keyboard) are tucked out of site...

Decide if you'd rather use Firewire or USB 2.0, and then find a cheapy...that's my advice...
 
I bought a compusa brand 3.5" case for about $40, that supports both FW and USB 2.0 and it works pretty well. I also like the cases from newegg.com.
 
jalagl said:
I bought a compusa brand 3.5" case for about $40, that supports both FW and USB 2.0 and it works pretty well. I also like the cases from newegg.com.
Click to expand...
I'm definately going to want something that has at least 1 5.25" and one 3.5" bay... so most like 2 5.25" bays and some adaptor rails. I would like to have room for a second harddrive and an optical drive...

So far everything I have seen is around $130+, which seemed a bit steep for an enclosure, but I guess I am just being cheap. Just seems like if you can get a 1 bay for under $50, that a 2 bay SHOULD be cheaper per pay, and so under $100, not $130-200... alas.
 
Hey guys,

Thanks for all your help, but my dad has a 60GB MAxtor external that he is willing to trade for he internal. Thanks for your help
 
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