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Need Drive Enclosure with FW800

Wicked1

Wicked1

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 13, 2009
3,283
14
New Jersey
I have a hard drive either 3.5 or 2.5 to put in an external enclosure but I would like a good one with FW800, has anyone built one they can recommend and where I can buy it. Tigerdirect has a few and so does NewEgg but I am not sure who in the Mac community is using one.
 
I have a number of 2.5" and 3.5" enclosures with FW800 ports. For the 2.5", I have this one:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MSTG800U2K/

and this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182183

Both are fine and there is little difference in speed between the two. I prefer the all metal construction of the newegg one because the 500GB WD drives I use get hot. OWC has a new all metal 2.5" bus powered portable that I have not tried. (Note, the newegg enclosure is currently selling for $39.99 ... cheapest you will find ... I just ordered another one!)

I have also used a variety of 3.5" external cabinets with FW800 ports. I have currently standardized on the Newer Technology miniStack v3. I have had multiple enclosure failures that i think were due to excessive heat. Basically, the controller board cooks off. The miniStack v3 includes a fan that only kicks on when the temperature reaches a certain point. I am all about having a quiet office, but it is a balance point between the heat and longevity of the drive and enclosure. (The end of July, I bought in an OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro and it failed in 3 weeks with a WD 2T Green drive in it!) The miniStack v3 is more expensive, but so far, it has outlasted all my other enclosures.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/FWU2ESMSV3/

BTW, I have one of the black 3.5" newegg enclosures referenced in previous posts ... I used to have two, one failed because of heat issues with that same 2T WD drive. The one I have left is still running, but if it fails, I will replace it with a miniStack v3.

Best of luck with your search.
 
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