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livingfortoday

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 17, 2004
2,903
4
The Msp
Hey, I'm thinking about selling my Sawtooth G4 in order to save on space. Currently I'm using it as a file server, holding four IDE hard drives, in two RAIDs. I was thinking of getting something like this to put the drives in instead. I know that the major downside of that is that I won't be able to stream video and whatnot to all my computers, but as I'm slowly cutting back to only one main computer, that's not a major issue. Other than that, can anyone foresee and problems I would have with such an enclosure over my PM G4? And would there be advantages to going with USB 2.0 over FW400? I will be watching high-quality video which I've stored on the drives, as well as music.
 
You'll want to go with Firewire every time. USB isn't as fast, and I've had problems with high quality video when used over the USB2 bus.

Is FW800 an option? Even just getting an enclosure that supports it is a good idea - it's so much faster than FW400. If you're on a budget, however, 400 is fine.

And last but not least, PATA, instead of SATA? I take it you will not be replacing your existing drives, just moving them from the G4?
 
Yeah, I'm sticking with my current IDE drives, as they're pretty new still. And I'll be using this with a MacBook, mainly, so I only have FW400 as an option.
 
I have one of those in beige for my iMac, and it works pretty well for my needs. Faster than wireless from my server, and quieter too. Bought it from the same guy I think. Get some hdd brackets though if it doesn't come with it.
 
I have one of those in beige for my iMac, and it works pretty well for my needs. Faster than wireless from my server, and quieter too. Bought it from the same guy I think. Get some hdd brackets though if it doesn't come with it.

Yeah, he's got a beige one with 4 brackets for drives, as well as two FW400 cables for the same price.

Have you had any problems with it? Does it seem pretty stable and decent quality?
 
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