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Quiet firewire enclosure

I

iGrf

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 12, 2007
24
0
After getting my new iMac last week, I started to get annoyed by the noise that my WD-Mybook makes.

So I'm looking for a replacement.

Ideally I would like to get a firewire800 enclosure in which I could put a harddisk of my choice.

requirements are :
- Available in Europe
- Quiet !
- and if it contains a disk that must be quiet too.

anyone has any ideas/suggestion ?

Thanks,
Greg
 
I have a fanless case from CoolDrives with Seagate 500 (IDE). Well built.

I'd consider this one. It looks like a fanless design, also.

edit: actually, OWC's looks good: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEFW924AL1K/. They have good products and good support. I just bought their On-The-Go FW800/400/USB2 case for my old 160GB 2.5".

I have a total of 3 Seagate drives sitting next to me, ranging from 500GB to 750GB, and all are virtually silent. I can't hear them spinning, and almost never notice any seek noise - if it is, it's the 500, which is probably a slightly older series. The 750 and 320 are both FreeAgent enclosures. I'd recommend them, but I haven't seen a FW800 version yet.
 
gr8tfly said:
I'd consider this one. It looks like a fanless design, also.
Click to expand...
I found these already, problem is that they don't except orders from outside the US :(
quote
NO ORDERS FROM NON-U.S. BILLING ADDRESSES and NO ORDERS FROM OUTSIDE THE U.S.A

gr8tfly said:
edit: actually, OWC's looks good: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEFW924AL1K/. They have good products and good support. I just bought their On-The-Go FW800/400/USB2 case for my old 160GB 2.5".

I have a total of 3 Seagate drives sitting next to me, ranging from 500GB to 750GB, and all are virtually silent. I can't hear them spinning, and almost never notice any seek noise - if it is, it's the 500, which is probably a slightly older series. The 750 and 320 are both FreeAgent enclosures. I'd recommend them, but I haven't seen a FW800 version yet.
Click to expand...

OWC looks good and they do ship internationally but a 42$ shipping charge on a 109$ feels a bit steep :(
will see if I can find a local reseller !

thanks for the comments !
 
anyone familiar with this one ?
MacAlly FireWire 800 enclosure for 3,5 inch SATA harddisk (MacAlly: TB-M120)
(link = http://consument.chipmunk.nl/Opslag/behuizing.html)

also found the macally page
http://www.macally-europe.com/productpage.php?product=1329

review = http://www.pcpro.co.uk/shopper/reviews/128576/macally-mactbm120.html

All in all this seems very positive and with a reseller which is located nearby :)

I don't mind that you need to undo some screws to get the disk in but I do like the rubber mounted/damped hdd though.
 
iGrf said:
anyone familiar with this one ?
MacAlly FireWire 800 enclosure for 3,5 inch SATA harddisk (MacAlly: TB-M120)
(link = http://consument.chipmunk.nl/Opslag/behuizing.html)

also found the macally page
http://www.macally-europe.com/productpage.php?product=1329

review = http://www.pcpro.co.uk/shopper/reviews/128576/macally-mactbm120.html

All in all this seems very positive and with a reseller which is located nearby :)

I don't mind that you need to undo some screws to get the disk in but I do like the rubber mounted/damped hdd though.
Click to expand...

I've seen the MacAlly one at several vendors, under different names. I think this is the same: http://www.cooldrives.com/esata-firewire-800-enclosure-case-external.html. Fanless is good. I've never had any heat problems with them.

I like the 2.5" case at the bottom of that page - haven't seen it at vendors in the US. Interesting blue trim.
 
it looks indeed like the same product.
that's propably why they don't deliver internationally.

Fair enough, I think I have found what I am looking for.

thanks for the help
 
Might sound stupid - but what about peeking inside your WD enclosure, and seeing what the interface of the drive is - then buy a nice Seagate drive of the same interface / size.

I can't think of any good reason for it to not work.

I've noticed that any drive sold as an internal for PCs are usually a lot quieter / cheaper and have longer warranties than their external counterparts.

WD internal drives are usually nice and quiet, but I've had the best luck with Seagate.

Don't touch Maxtor - I've seen too many of those die (personally), and most have been pretty noisy, too.
 
That would actually be a good idea !

ok I would not have firewire but I would save a nice bit of money.

Haven't seen any screws on the conclosure of the mybook but will see if I can pry it open somehow :)

Will keep you posted !
 
I was under the impression you had the same WD drive I do. I have the My Book Pro 500GB Triple Interface. It has the USB2.0 / FW400 / FW800. I went with firewire 800 because I don't have any USB ports available - and don't want to add a hub. So prying open your WD Book doesn't hold the same appeal, knowing it's not FW.

As for my WD its fast - but, not that quiet. (spindle/platter has a slight vibration) It's not terrible, but certainly louder than my internal WD. And loud enough that I am sure to power it down before going to bed.

I did a quick google search for external FW800 drive cases (sans hard drive) and think I found a decent one. (bear in mind, I didn't dig around a lot)

http://www.firewiremax.com/fi800sahadre.html

It's cheaper than other FW800 enclosures - with even more features. It is FW800 / USB2.0 and eSATA. Just pop in a nice Seagate SATA drive, and it looks to be sweet. I couldn't find any fans on it (+2 stealthy ninja points) It looks to have elastomer mounts for the hard drive. (+2 stealthy ninja points). And it's solid aluminum - with no obvious vent holes. (+1 stealthy ninja points) I don't think heat would be a huge issue, as aluminum is a nice thermal conductor.

When I'm less poor, think I'll grab one myself.

The others I was looking at:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEFW912AL2/

http://www.cwol.com/firewire-drives/tt-firewire-800-usb-2-drive-kit.htm

Both of those appeared to have fans, and were either plastic, or holy metal. (I was looking for silence)

Anyhow, good luck.
 
Woops took me a couple of days to spot your last reply.

I've also figured out another potential downsite to opening up the mybook.
it will more than likely not be SATA and there not not that many big ATA drives for sale anymore.

The link you send is basically the same device as I posted above but marketed by a different company.
So I got with one of those and fit a cheap 500Gb maxtor drive in there.
they get good reviews and are a lot cheaper than the 750 or 1TB disks.
 
iGrf said:
Woops took me a couple of days to spot your last reply.

I've also figured out another potential downsite to opening up the mybook.
it will more than likely not be SATA and there not not that many big ATA drives for sale anymore.

The link you send is basically the same device as I posted above but marketed by a different company.
So I got with one of those and fit a cheap 500Gb maxtor drive in there.
they get good reviews and are a lot cheaper than the 750 or 1TB disks.
Click to expand...

If you got the same drive case with different labeling - please DO keep me in the loop and let me know how it works for you?

And if you don't mind, a linky to go with it. The one I was eyeballing looked super nice and has a lot of appeal to me - but I'm always wary with going to new vendors.
 
Don't sweat it - but if you do get it - just don't forget to brag or b!tch about it accordingly in here. Ok?
 
If you plan on running a drive 24x7, do NOT get a fanless enclosure.

"Silent" fanless enclosures do not provide enough heat dissipation and are hell on drives. After a few years of operation, you should be fully prepared to have drive failures and very loud spin-up due to dried out bearings.

It's fine for drives that are only used occasionally, but never ever leave a drive spun up 24x7 in a fanless enclosure.
 
admiraldennis said:
If you plan on running a drive 24x7, do NOT get a fanless enclosure.

"Silent" fanless enclosures do not provide enough heat dissipation and are hell on drives. After a few years of operation, you should be fully prepared to have drive failures and very loud spin-up due to dried out bearings.

It's fine for drives that are only used occasionally, but never ever leave a drive spun up 24x7 in a fanless enclosure.
Click to expand...

That may depend on which enclosure you're using. Clearly some are better than others.

You might also check out this study. Some of those observations aren't quite what you would expect...
 
simple -LACIE

Easy answer........

Get a Lacie i use external drives all the time Lacie are the most reliable and super quite and they put them selves to sleep so you dont need to ever turn them off
 
aquajet said:
That may depend on which enclosure you're using. Clearly some are better than others.

You might also check out this study. Some of those observations aren't quite what you would expect...
Click to expand...

I have a Seagate 750GB running in an Azio case. It's running 24/7 as a DVR connected to a DirecTV receiver. Barely warm to the touch. For reference, it's sitting vertical on the included stand.
 
krissvl said:
Easy answer........

Get a Lacie i use external drives all the time Lacie are the most reliable and super quite and they put them selves to sleep so you dont need to ever turn them off
Click to expand...
Not if you ask me ...We've had the absolute worst time with the D2 line at work. At least 1/3 of the drives we bought have either failed outright ..or have some glaring problem with them. Unfortunately we have like 10 or so floating around the office. Er ...we DID. :(

OWC is what I recommend now.
 
gr8tfly said:
I have a Seagate 750GB running in an Azio case. It's running 24/7 as a DVR connected to a DirecTV receiver. Barely warm to the touch. For reference, it's sitting vertical on the included stand.
Click to expand...

I recently bought a few different enclosures to evaluate their quality. I stuck with the Macally Firewire/USB 2, and I have a Seagate Barracuda installed. The aluminum case is barely warm.

Maxtor, Seagate and Western Digital all sell their own external hard drives, presumably with their own mechanisms. The Seagate, for example, doesn't have a fan, yet still has a 5 year warranty. Why would they sell a product with an exceptional warranty if it was an inherently bad design? I believe it's also worth mentioning that the Cube and iMac G3 didn't have active cooling either, yet nobody thought it was a bad idea to run them 24/7.

I just don't buy the assertion that using an external drive without active cooling is a bad idea. Maybe it's a different story if you have multiple drives in a RAID setup however...
 
iGrf said:
After getting my new iMac last week, I started to get annoyed by the noise that my WD-Mybook makes.]

Might just be that individual WD My Book drive as I have 2 hooked up to my macbook one I have had for about half a year and its a USB connected one. Just this week I added a firewire My Book and they both are very quiet and don't make a sound when I put my macbook to sleep. When awake I don't hear them at all and I am right beside them. My macbook fan is much noisier than those 2 drives
Click to expand...
 
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