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Firewire 800 Enclosure

MattZani

MattZani

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Apr 20, 2008
2,554
104
UK
I Cant seem to find any stand alone 3.5" SATA enclosures which support Firewire 800. I Ask because it seems cheaper to buy a 1Tb SATA HDD, and the Enclosure seperately, cheaper than a closed product.

Although i quite like the designs of some, and wish the Sharkoon QuickPort came with FW800! (How cool is that though, being able to SEE the HDD's!)

Just forward thinking really, as this Summer i want to Get an area setup for my MBP where i can dock it, and have External Storage, and Displays etc, for my Photography Course.
 
MattZani said:
I Cant seem to find any stand alone 3.5" SATA enclosures which support Firewire 800. I Ask because it seems cheaper to buy a 1Tb SATA HDD, and the Enclosure seperately, cheaper than a closed product.

Although i quite like the designs of some, and wish the Sharkoon QuickPort came with FW800! (How cool is that though, being able to SEE the HDD's!)

Just forward thinking really, as this Summer i want to Get an area setup for my MBP where i can dock it, and have External Storage, and Displays etc, for my Photography Course.
Click to expand...

I personally got a pair of these:

http://www.cooldrives.com/fi800andusb21.html

Granted they are expensive but the biggest thing they offer is QUAD interface and native power supply. They don't require one of those bricks which makes taking it to other places much easier. Swapping drives on them isn't a big chore either since you have to just unscrew two small screws and your in.
 
While I notice you are in the UK so I don't know if this or the previous links will be of any use, but OWC (my personal favorite Mac hardware supplier) has about 30 various enclosures that include FW800 here.
 
I just bought the Icy Dock MB559UEB1-S FW800 enclosure and popped in a Seagate 1.5TB SATA HDD. The enclosure is awesome. It runs very cool and is quiet. It has a nice rack system for easy swapping of drives. It even matches the aluminum iMac's design.

I live in Japan so I didn't buy it from Newegg, that's just for reference. I bought it from a local reseller. If you can get it where you are I highly recommend it.
 
You can get the Macpower Pleiades Super S Combo in the UK. I like the mechanical engineering better than OWC's, if they haven't improved it since triple interface PATA.
 
That only has 1 Drive support, and doesnt have the funky Mac Pro Style Feet :p:apple:
 
For 2 drives there is the Macpower Taurus Super S Combo (I haven't used it).

But maybe you can use it only as an array (JBOD or RAID).
 
cube said:
For 2 drives there is the Macpower Taurus Super S Combo (I haven't used it).

But maybe you can use it only as an array (JBOD or RAID).
Click to expand...

yeah, the MacPower Taurus line is verrrry similar to the G-Tech G-RAID line. Anyone notice the aesthetic similarity?
 
Why still no firewire 800 enclosure products?

Hi,

I am trying to get a firewire 800 enclosure. Any suggestions? While US has some products, products in Europe still suck.
 
I recall starting a few threads here (or maybe only elsewhere) where I summarised a whole bunch of options, like dozens of them, including links to OEM's, latest pricing etc. Dig threads like that up, absorb, then start your own thread, unless the thread's only 12mth or less old, then by all means necro.
 
Last edited:
VasileiosTech said:
Hi,

I am trying to get a firewire 800 enclosure. Any suggestions? While US has some products, products in Europe still suck.
Click to expand...
iUse InXtron (was MacPower) enclosures:
http://www.inxtron.com/external-hard-drive-enclosures

I use one SK-2500 U3+ and two SK-3500 Super-S3. These enclosures have two FW800 ports, which means that they support daisy chaining. USB 3.0 is necessary for future compatibility.

IIRC, the 2.5" enclosure needed an additional 5V/2A power supply. However, newer 2.5" variants come with a power adapter.
 
I got a Seagate Backup Plus inclusive firewire adaptor. It's the cheapest way to get a HDD with FireWire interface while still being future proof. You can always upgrade to USB 3 later.

Personally I got only one FireWire interface since I use the drives for time machine. I simply swap the drives from time to time.
 
smellalot said:
I got a Seagate Backup Plus inclusive firewire adaptor. It's the cheapest way to get a HDD with FireWire interface while still being future proof. You can always upgrade to USB 3 later.

Personally I got only one FireWire interface since I use the drives for time machine. I simply swap the drives from time to time.
Click to expand...
You can even upgrade it to Thunderbolt.
 
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Mr. Retrofire said:
iUse InXtron (was MacPower) enclosures:
http://www.inxtron.com/external-hard-drive-enclosures

I use one SK-2500 U3+ and two SK-3500 Super-S3. These enclosures have two FW800 ports, which means that they support daisy chaining. USB 3.0 is necessary for future compatibility.

IIRC, the 2.5" enclosure needed an additional 5V/2A power supply. However, newer 2.5" variants come with a power adapter.
Click to expand...

Good enclosures but for US ...

smellalot said:
I got a Seagate Backup Plus inclusive firewire adaptor. It's the cheapest way to get a HDD with FireWire interface while still being future proof. You can always upgrade to USB 3 later.

Personally I got only one FireWire interface since I use the drives for time machine. I simply swap the drives from time to time.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about the same, but, even though is fairly priced it is ugly to have the drive naked just standing there.

I was thinking of buying 3 enclosure so I can daisy-chain them
 
VasileiosTech said:
Good enclosures but for US ...



I was thinking about the same, but, even though is fairly priced it is ugly to have the drive naked just standing there.

I was thinking of buying 3 enclosure so I can daisy-chain them
Click to expand...

What do you need three different drives for?
I bring one of the drives to my parents place. I think the godflex is quite nice to rotate drives.
 
smellalot said:
What do you need three different drives for?
I bring one of the drives to my parents place. I think the godflex is quite nice to rotate drives.
Click to expand...

Goflex is nice but I will have to buy their drives too, and I ve heard some complaints. I prefer internal drive with enclosure. The best enclosure for me would be this from owc but I cant find it in europe.

Now for the usage of three enclosures, I am glad you ask. I want to daisy chain them, I will then use my own rsync simple script file for data redundancy, NOT raid. Simple copy paste but using rsync for it.

The result will be assuming 3x2tb disks:

total capacity (Not as single volume but three separates) will be 6tb/2 = 3tb

1) if one hard disk fails I will loose nothing.
2) if two hard disk fail at the same time I will loose 1/3 of my data, and no (necessary) need for rebuilding since I will only use rsync.
3) No need to operate disks together, any disk can be used alone.
4) No need for disks to be the same size. (it that case the amount of data lose, when two drives fail and the same time, is based on which two drives have failed).

I have thought of all the alternatives (nas,drobo,raid system) but requires lots of time and especially money.
 
Last edited:
I've found the only price sensible option in the UK is the GoFlex drives.

Everything else is just a rip off unfortunately.
 
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