Need help picking an enclosure!!!

S

supremeone

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 17, 2007
Messages
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I have some old ide drives lying around from old computers. So I figured it'd be nice to have a case for them to plop one in and connect it and have it recognized, like a flash drive. I've been browsing on newegg and looking around and theres a ton of different ones available. And I'm very picky with decisions like this, I prefer to get the most for my money I guess. A lot of the reviews I've seen come with good stuff, but also bad stuff about the products. So it's hard to put one above the rest. So far though, vantec and metalgear seem pretty decent.

Heres all I'm looking for:
1. Should be able to sit down horizontally on a desk and I guess not move much?
2. That I don't have to format it for windows to recognize it. Would be cool if it just showed up without too much trouble.
3. Has atleast USB 2.0 connection
4. Keeps cool because it has aluminum casing (and maybe a fan but doesn't really matter)
5. Easy to put a harddrive in, I've seen some that you have to attach a harddrive to a bracket first and then slide it in. Would prefer something quicker to swap drives with.
6. Would like to buy from newegg and don't want to spend more than $40.

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
Anyone? I want to use this to start taking my old drives and using them for backups. Want to start doing that soon, just having trouble picking out a good one. A lot of things to consider ;o
 
just pick one that has usb2.0. how it looks shouldn't matter since your going to be changing the drive in it all the time. The outside wont be used so looks shouldn't play into it.

1 thing i do recommend is buy a molex extension cable and ditch the origional IDE cable for a full size. makes switching drives much easier.
 
But do most enclosures plug in and are recognized by the computer right away? That's kind of my main concern. That and it being easy to put a hd in the case.
 
supremeone said:
But do most enclosures plug in and are recognized by the computer right away?
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USB - yes.

That and it being easy to put a hd in the case.
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This would be a bad choice. IDE drives aren't designed to be swapped a lot and I wouldn't be too optimistic about the connectors taking a lot of repeated removal/insertions.

You'd be better off getting a drive mobile rack (e.g. Kingwin KF-21 Black Hard Drive Mobile Rack ATA 133 w/ Fan - not a specific recommendation, just an example) with one removable tray for each of your hard drives. That will cost more but you'll be able to swap the drives with greater reliability.

Note that this is not a hot-swappable solution. IDE doesn't support hot-swap. You'd have to get SATA drives for that.
 
Well I just mean't a hd case having a smarter design therefore making it a little easier to put in a harddrive. And I'm not going to constantly be swapping harddrives. Probably only have like 4-5 old ones I'd mess with. And I'd swap them occassional. Just would prefer if it took only 5 minutes around to plug one in instead of longer.

I'm not going to use this as an external harddrive because all the old drives I have aren't more than 80-250 gigs and I can just buy a bigger sized drive at the store. But even so won't be swapping too often.

Just want the hd case to be able to easily plug in an old hd and format it maybe and then backup all the data from my current harddrives. Much easier than using dvd-rs or whatever. I'm not too picky either with backing up stuff every day or even every week. More like 2 weeks at the earliest probably.
 
If that's the case, then the Vantec is one that's not bad - I have one and it's relatively easy to swap the drive. I can't comment on heat problems, since I only use it for short periods of time as a backup.

I looked into these recently and found that most seem to be no more difficult to assemble that putting a drive into a computer case. Only a few get more complicated. All this based on the few reviews I found on the web.

At the price, these things are pretty basic - not sophisticated engineering. As such, they could be easier to swap a drive in. Occasional changes will be ok, but lots of changes might result in screws that no longer hold tight etc.
 
thanks michael. I was thinking about vantec or metal gear.. but vantec had this one red model that got a ridiculous number of reviews, and lots of people rated them very highly. Just wondering which model did you get? And does it stand up vertically or lay flat on a table/desk?
 
supremeone said:
vantec had this one red model
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They seem to have the same models in different colours. The one I got was available in black, blue or red.

which model did you get? And does it stand up vertically or lay flat on a table/desk?
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Since I have a SATA drive, I got the NexStar 3 as it has both USB and SATA. I haven't been able to get the SATA to work yet :(

It stands vertically with a base/cradle or lies on its side. The base just slips on - no screws etc.

I think there's an IDE version of the NexStar and the USB only version is cheaper.
 
Thanks a lot I'll start researching the nextstar models more ;) My needs are pretty basic atm
 
Btw I have one more question. What do you do with the harddrives that you take out? Like currently most of the harddrives I might use are in dead computers. Would I need to get those anti-static bags? Don't know where to get them ;o Seems internal hd's are very delicate once out of the computer

Oh and also, I'd want to get the IDE interface one right, instead of the SATA interface? Because I have all old drives which I'm pretty sure are IDE. Got them like 2-3 years ago. and probably were made older than that by atleast another year or 2.
 
i have 3 of these in red, blue and black
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817716004

they can't lay down horizontal unless you take the bases off, but then you loose the cool blue lights, i like having them vertical anyways

they show up instantly in OSX and windows xp/vista and they take up very little room

the metal sides are nice quality, and I leave mine on 24/7 with no overheating problems or anything. they are barely warm to the touch. all three have 200gb hard drives in them and I have had no problems.
 
Thanks compslckr I'll look into that. Metal Gear Box has some good ones too. The only thing that sticks out are the perforated holes on the sides. But still not sure if I'll be using a base or not. And I hear the metal gear box has plastic backing but aluminum sides. So might in the end balance out with the vantec cases when it comes to dissipating heat.

Yeah I'm going to go with the vantec one ;)
 
supremeone said:
Would I need to get those anti-static bags? Don't know where to get them
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They are a good idea. I think you should be able to find some at a decent computer shop.

Oh and also, I'd want to get the IDE interface one right, instead of the SATA interface? Because I have all old drives which I'm pretty sure are IDE.
Click to expand...

If they have a 40 pin connector, they are IDE. SATA has a very small connector - a tab with several contacts on one side.

I haven't seen an external enclosure that supports both IDE and SATA.
 
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