Recommend me an external drive enclosure

A

Asgorath

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 12, 2004
Messages
1,253
Right now I'm using the metalgear enclosure I bought off newegg awhile back. It is built well except the damn power connector. That power connector is flaky as all hell.

Please recommend me a good quality enclosure. I don't want to pay the full price of a name brand external drive, but I also don't want a crappy enclosure giving me a hard time.

Thanks
 
Look for an enclosure with an oxford chipset, I have one with a prolific, and it loves corrupting data.
 
serbiaNem said:
Look for an enclosure with an oxford chipset, I have one with a prolific, and it loves corrupting data.
Click to expand...
How would you know what chipset it has? I'm in the market for one too...
 
Dont get any of the Penguin Smartdrives off newegg.
Sure they look pretty but they have the PL Chipset. The rear fan is noisy as hell. Installing a drive is annoying
 
I am in the market too, and when my friend had a problem with her AMS Venus, I could only offer suggestions as to how to fix it (had no clue about chipsets or whatnot). Anyway, I did some digging and found this thread over at CDFreaks. Those guys love their drives. :)

It's a thread that consolidates a lot of threads about external enclosures together. Hope it helps people.

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=119149
 
So the general consensus is to get something with either a Cypress or Oxford chipset. Time to start looking...

edit: If you stumble across something with a Cypress or Oxford chipset (USB and/or Firewire), do post it up!
 
i have a maxtor onetouch II 300gb for my backup purposes of my entire PC. its nice, the software is a bit fucked up. the enclosure is high quality and really good looking has a blue light that blinks when its idle, yada yada, theres like 300 reviews on it.
so if you have the cash to buy a maxtor enclosure, get one. i has the drive in it, so no headache. i have not lost any data off this drive and i took it with to russia, then to canada and then back to the states. nothing was lost.


Asgorath said:
how about the maxtor externals on newegg? any opinions on those?
Click to expand...
 
I'd rather just get my own enclosure and drop (not literally, heh) a Seagate drive into it. More shock resistant (not like I want to test this fact), and I can get the enclosure that meets my needs.
 
_Korruption_ said:
I'd rather just get my own enclosure and drop (not literally, heh) a Seagate drive into it. More shock resistant (not like I want to test this fact), and I can get the enclosure that meets my needs.
Click to expand...


But that is the whole point of my thread. Recommend an enclosure. If you get your own, what kind of enclosure do you get? They vary wildly in quality and reliability.
 
Newegg has a ton of enclosures.

I've never owned an enclosure before but these are the qualities/requirements I want.

* Standard 3.5" IDE compatibility
* Keeps drive cool
* Easy install of drive
* External power adapter
* Shock resistant
* Durable and tough. Not made of cheap plastic.
* USB 2.0 (required), IEEE 1394 a plus but not instead of USB 2.0
* Quiet operation
* Fast data transfer
* Reliability - no unexpected diconnections or other flakyness.
* Good looks are not a requirement

That's all I require :D
 
LordBritish said:
Newegg has a ton of enclosures.

I've never owned an enclosure before but these are the qualities/requirements I want.

* Standard 3.5" IDE compatibility
* Keeps drive cool
* Easy install of drive
* External power adapter
* Shock resistant
* Durable and tough. Not made of cheap plastic.
* USB 2.0 (required), IEEE 1394 a plus but not instead of USB 2.0
* Quiet operation
* Fast data transfer
* Reliability - no unexpected diconnections or other flakyness.
* Good looks are not a requirement

That's all I require :D
Click to expand...


exactly. And I have not met an enclosure so far that meets all those requirements except for pre-built ones that include the hard drive. The aftermarket ones are usually cheap pieces o' crap.
 
my friend bought a enclosure from ebay which was aftermark POS, it f*ked up his HDD, and gave a em a huge headache to figure out that the 1 of the chips inside the enclosure was wably and not even properly soddered on.

i for one rather buy a maxtor external box or something. it may cost a few bucks more but will be worth it in the long run.
 
I posted the same question a couple months back and this was the reply I recieved and took action on.

extreme4377
Ive got an enclosure up for sale. Its a real nice one. It even has a very quiet fan to keep the drive cool. 25 bucks shipped in the US http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=929805
Click to expand...

It's been a good drive enclosure for doing back-up of my media which I do about every 3 weeks. And it seems to take about 5 hours to accomplish, but this drive rarely gets hot because of the fan which is a good idea. The only issue that could be a problem is that there is no option to make the drive run off the USB power, but not a deal for me.
 
17-146-312-02.JPG


that is the type of power connector that is good. mine has like 6 pins and it sucks. These basic connectors are way better.

There's more to picking a good one than that, but that's a start.
 
Asgorath said:
http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/17-146-312-02.JPG

that is the type of power connector that is good. mine has like 6 pins and it sucks. These basic connectors are way better.

There's more to picking a good one than that, but that's a start.
Click to expand...
http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/17-145-125-08.JPG

My current enclosure has a four-pin connection. Pretty secure. I'm just looking for another one because the AC adapter is starting to fail and I'm tired of using jewellery screwdrivers to mount the aluminum covers.
 
Asgorath said:
17-146-312-02.JPG


that is the type of power connector that is good. mine has like 6 pins and it sucks. These basic connectors are way better.

There's more to picking a good one than that, but that's a start.
Click to expand...
That's the one I got, and it works great.
 
I've had 3 different AMS Venus enclosures and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. The case is essentially made out of plastic and the fan on each unit would become progressively louder as every day passed.

I'm in the market for a new one as well. So far the only one that looked good was the Rosewill but that was >$50 so I passed.
 
LordBritish said:
How about this one:

http://www.pcmicrostore.com/PartDetail.aspx?q=p:10502099

It has USB 2.0 + firewire. It has an on/off switch.
It has pretty LED lights :p

Really, it looks OK but I haven't read any reviews.

It does have the IEEE 1394 Oxford chipset which is good.
Click to expand...
Oxford 911 for 1394 and Cypress AT2 for USB... that's a good combination, go for it! 5.25" is a little big though.
 
Well, just a warning to you guys.

I went to frys and bought a Vantec Nexstar 2. It lasted me 2 days and now its dead, and killed my hard drive with it.

It was on for about 2-3 hours, and I was just starting to backup my files, then it said my files were corrup, then the disk. Thank god for seagate's 5 year warranty.

What should I replace the nexstar with?
 
I got this one, really really good. Is SATA aswell, hard to find SATA external enclosures...

Have a look for this one http://www.techbuy.com.au/products/52061/HDD_EXTERNAL_DRIVE_CASES/Laser/CASE-3S_New!!/CASE-3S_External_3.5_Serial_ATA_Hard_Drive_Case_-_USB2.0.asp

P52061.jpg


I havent had one problem with mine. Anyway, it uses a standard 3 pin female (like the one for your monitor or computer) that plugs into a switching adapter, the good thing about it is (i do this). I have 2 computers right, i use the enternal hardrive to switch data between the computers sometimes, so i just leave a 3 pin power cord (plugged in) next to each computer so when i move my external hardrive between computers, i dont need to plug it into the wall everytime.

Anyway, its a really good enclosure, i recommend it

thats in aussie dollars aswell by the way, just look for the enclosure on american sites
 
i went through the same thing already.. wound up getting 2 ams venus with firewire.. one for me, one for my dad..

i like mine.. its quiet, i haven't had any of the fan problems that someone mentioned, i have taken it on an airplane with me 2 times, taken it with me other places in my backpack with no problems.. the only downside is the price.. if i get another one, it will be just a usb one to save $$

oh, it has an oxford chip for the firewire at least.. i don't feel like digging out my usb cable to see if that one is oxford too.. but i assume they are the same.. i could be wrong though..

if it matters, i have had it for a good 6 months. . used it with both a samsung 160gb and now a maxtor 160gb.. and i have used it both vertically and horizontally..
 
EnforcerGT said:
Well, just a warning to you guys.

I went to frys and bought a Vantec Nexstar 2. It lasted me 2 days and now its dead, and killed my hard drive with it.

It was on for about 2-3 hours, and I was just starting to backup my files, then it said my files were corrup, then the disk. Thank god for seagate's 5 year warranty.

What should I replace the nexstar with?
Click to expand...

I also have a Nexstar2. It is a total POS. Nexstar dirve corruption is thy name. I've just wrote Macally to find out what chips are in their PHR 100-AC. I've got the PHC 500BC and it works really well with my cd burner. My only complaint is that they don't sit on their sides though they do stack.

This is what Macally wrote when I asked what chips they use.

We use Initio for firewire and Cypress for USB
Click to expand...


PHR 100AC

PHR 500BC
 
Hate to bring up an old thread, but for those who are looking for more than just a generic external HDD enclosure, read this thread. Lots of info and a huge list of enclosures with their controller chips noted!

http://www.fatwallet.com/t/28/496281/

I'm getting the NSpire 352C (USB2.0 + 1394, Cypress AT2/Oxford 911 based).

Hope this helps you guys out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top