External Hard drive enclosure

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?

 

OWC

I really like Other World Computing (OWC) drives and enclosures. They are very reliable and compact. They come with Oxford chipsets which are the best. The drives/enclosures also come with power adapters. Most of the enclosures will have USB 1.1/2.0 and Firewire 400/800.

http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Page.cfm?Parent=1087&Title=&Template=1

 

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.

 

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.