external harddrives

[xFuryofFivex]

im looking on newegg for external hard drives.. and they seem to be in the 80-100$ range..

would be able to take a internal harddrive and slap it into an external closure... and that would the same would it?

am i missing something.

i wanna get it for a class im taking..

i just thought it would be cheaper.. and i could get more space.

[Dark Ember]

im looking on newegg for external hard drives.. and they seem to be in the 80-100$ range..

would be able to take a internal harddrive and slap it into an external closure... and that would the same would it?

am i missing something.

i wanna get it for a class im taking..

i just thought it would be cheaper.. and i could get more space.

Yes, you can buy external enclosures to put most hard drives in. All of the ones I've seen have been for PATA drives, but there might be SATA ones out there too. What you propose should work just fine though.

[DrinkinV8]

yeah buying the enclosure separately is drastically cheaper than buying an 'external hdd' buy itself. --especially if you get a nasty drive for cheap. i got a diamondmax10 series 160gb for ~$60 after rebate. had to get an enclosure this summer b/c i just have my laptop (and i ripped my hdds out of my desktop before i left). when i got home i just popped thaHDD in an enclosure i got from newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16835150746

works well. a bit noisy, but that's my drive, not the enclosure.

[DamienThorn]

When looking for external enclosures for HDDs, what are some decent brands? I've been looking for a couple days, and haven't really founds any decent reviews on enclosures.

http://www.mentallyretired.com/h3/index.cfm/u_116071 (http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/user_summary.php?u=116071)

[Dark Ember]

I'm really not sure it would matter all that much. Here is one for SATA drives that is pretty cheap:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817123124

I really don't know anything about SanMax though...

[ambit]

If you're putting a 7200rpm drive in the enclosure, i'd look for one with a fan.

[TheDoucheMan]

I think Bytecc makes really nice external enclosures. I have one that doesn't have a fan in it but its all made out of aluminum, so it doesn't get too hot. Just read some reviews before you buy if you can.

[DrinkinV8]

yeah i would have to say that i didn't feel confident at all buying an enclosure. i really didn't want added noise (an extra fan) even though my drive is 7200rpm, but i made sure to get aluminum. the reviews on newegg were mediocre in their helpfulness. i bought referencing those reviews though and mine seems to work :-/ :o

DO make sure not to get a USB1.1 enclosure or a laptop hdd enclosure and confirm it's the correct Parallel/Serial choice. also firewire can be helpful if switching between older machines or whatnot. :) good luck :p

[davidlem]

Doesn't matter if you get 5400rpm or 15000rpm, your data transfer is limited to your shared USB 2.0 chain which is 480Mb/s peak. Firewire 400 (IEEE1394) is actually 400Mb/s sustained and Firewire 800 is 800Mb/s sustained - significantly quicker than USB 2.0 and each FW channel is dedicated, not shared with other peripherals. If you're looking to improve throughput but want to keep the external versatility, consider a $20 Firewire card and a Firewire external enclosure, preferably one with a fan --particularly if you leave it running for hours and not just using it to backup once a week.

[DamienThorn]

Well, I ended up going with a Vantec NexStar 2 (NST-355U2F) and have been damn impressed with it so far. I can't hear the HDD that I've loaded into it, and I'm getting great transfer speeds using firewire. To anyone that's looking for a silent enclosure, this one rocks!

http://www.mentallyretired.com/h3/index.cfm/u_116071 (http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/user_summary.php?u=116071)

[Susquehannock]

External SATA connector is the way to go in my opinion. :)