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Need help on constructing a firewire 800 harddrive on my own

Philberttheduck

Philberttheduck

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 15, 2006
527
6
HB, CA
I really need to get a new harddrive so I need help on what kind of harddrive and enclosure would best look next to a MBP? im looking for a firewire 800/400 enclosure and was wondering what kind of harddrive would be compatible? I remember reading somewhere about how its easier to setup an IDE on your own than a SATA?
 
For looks OWC's HD enclosures match very well and they have a cornucopia of options.
 
For firewire 800 get a SATA drive - it's faster and what's the point of using FW800 if you are going to have a slower drive?

Keep in mind, SATA drives are more expensive and SATA enclosure with FW800 are more expensive too. Look to spend around $100 on the enclosure.
 
Does it have to be firewire? I bought a Hitachi USB2.0 1TB drive from Best Buy ~$400. For my purposes it is fine (just backing up stuff mainly). It is light and very quiet. If you will build your own I recommend SATA as well. I believe the capacities are higher than IDE.
 
is there a tutorial on how to build an external sata drive? also, how would i connect it to my macbook pro? and can i hook it up to my imac (1st gen intel)
 
If it's speed you want... I would buy two 500 GB SATA drives, and RAID 0 them. Infact, that is what I am doing this weekend.

I also have an Airport Extreme Base. I've connected tow USB 2.0 IDE drives to it with a USB hub, and use it to back up files to, etc. Not terribly fast, but pretty decent for the usage intent.
 
It's very easy to "build" a SATA drive - you just need to get an enclosure that accepts the drive type and has the outputs that you require.

http://www.allthingsmarked.com/2006/12/03/howto-build-your-own-external-hard-drive/ - some of the info looks a little outdated (the price between SATA and IDE is really, really close at this point - enclosure price is higher for SATA, but again, not by much).

And yes, assuming you get an enclosure that also outputs to Firewire 400 (and all do), you can certainly use it with an iMac.

I'd reccommend getting a 3.5" drive for this - because you'll get more value for your buck and larger drives of high capacities are more reliable than laptop drives.

Check out www.newegg.com, www.directron.com and www.macsales.com for parts - you need a 3.5" enclosure that supports firewire 800 (if that's the speed you want -- and firewire 400 is still better than USB2 for hard drives because it is s sustained speed, and USB2 is variable - I mean, USB2 is fine, but I'd do firewire myself) and can be connected to a SATA drive (sometimes marked as Serial ATA) and the drive itself.
 
daze said:
If it's speed you want... I would buy two 500 GB SATA drives, and RAID 0 them. Infact, that is what I am doing this weekend.

I also have an Airport Extreme Base. I've connected tow USB 2.0 IDE drives to it with a USB hub, and use it to back up files to, etc. Not terribly fast, but pretty decent for the usage intent.
Click to expand...

that sounds like a real good idea. ive chosen this enclosure.
mercury elite enclosure

but im debating which HDD to buy
seagate 500gb sata 300
or
wd 500gb sata
or
maxtor

the seagate is the most expensive, followed by the wd, then maxtor. which is better? is there a tutorial on how to raid 0 them? and i think both harddrives are OEM, so what additional cables am i going to have to get?
 
filmgirl said:
For firewire 800 get a SATA drive - it's faster and what's the point of using FW800 if you are going to have a slower drive?

Keep in mind, SATA drives are more expensive and SATA enclosure with FW800 are more expensive too. Look to spend around $100 on the enclosure.
Click to expand...

Just as an aside, I've noticed that for very large drives (400gb+) SATA is cheaper than IDE by a few bucks generally speaking. The enclosures are probably more expensive, but the drives aren't.
 
Just to be clear: IDE or SATA is referring only to the internal connection between the drive mechanism and the enclosure. Right now, SATA-Firewire cases are harder to source and a bit pricier than IDE-Firewire cases. This will change over time.

When you are talking about a Firewire drive (whether 400 or 800), the difference between IDE and SATA for the internal connection is slim to none. Even an ATA-100 (IDE) interface will outrun a Firewire 800 interface.

The thing to consider SATA for is the future -- no Macs come with external SATA connections now, but this is becoming standard on PC motherboards, and will likely make it to Macs in the future. An eSATA connection is faster than Firewire 400 or 800 -- then it makes sense to go with a SATA drive and an eSATA capable enclosure.
 
CanadaRAM said:
Even an ATA-100 (IDE) interface will outrun a Firewire 800 interface.
Click to expand...

True, but easier to later use in a Mac Pro if he were to get one.

That being said, I have both kinds, with SATA and PATA connectors inside and there doesn't seem to be much difference.
 
I just got the FW400 version of the Icy Dock USB/Firewire enclosure. They don't have great noise insulation, but in bus powered firewire enclosures, I think they're great. The style is a good match to Macs also (The aluminum and white plastic one has very similar cues to the new keyboard).

This is the USB2/FW800 SATA box:

http://www.icydock.com/product/mb559ueb-1s.html

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817198006

It really only takes a Phillips screwdriver and three minutes to get a hard drive inside one of these. 60 seconds flat once you've done it once. :p

You can also, if you really want, get extras of the internal caddy so that hard drives can be placed in it without using any tools at all.
 
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