External hard drive/DVD-burner enclosures

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Hallvard Tangeraas - 20 Apr 2005 09:29 GMT

I'm planning on getting an external hard drive and an external DVD
burner for a 15" Powerbook G4.
The external hard drive because I'll be doing video editing and music
recording, and the external DVD-burner because I don't think buying the
Powerbook with the "Superdrive" in it is worth it -you can get better
spec DVD burners for less elsewhere, so external it'll be.
I have a few questions:

1) Should I go for USB or Firewire, or even both interfaces?

2) Any good recommendations for external enclosures?
They have to look good, match each other and let me stack one on top of
the other. Another important issue for me is noise-levels as I'm sick
and tired of working with "vacuum cleaners" as in noisy hard drives and
fans.

I believe buying the enclosures for themselves is a better idea than
buying a complete "external hard drive" -the same for the DVD-burner as
that way I get to choose any drive I want. And again I'm going to choose
a very quiet hard drive (recommendations anyone?).
I believe noise isn't such an issue with DVD-burners as they're not
spinning constantly like hard drives.

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Hallvard

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John Johnson - 20 Apr 2005 14:49 GMT

> I'm planning on getting an external hard drive and an external DVD
> burner for a 15" Powerbook G4.
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> 1) Should I go for USB or Firewire, or even both interfaces?

The most recent iteration of the USB vs FireWire thread happened here
maybe a month or so ago. Check the archives for all the gory details. I
posted to that thread so maybe that will help.

> 2) Any good recommendations for external enclosures?
> They have to look good, match each other and let me stack one on top of
> the other. Another important issue for me is noise-levels as I'm sick
> and tired of working with "vacuum cleaners" as in noisy hard drives and
> fans.

I've been happy with my WiebeTech case, though they tend towards being
pricey. If you are going with 3.5" drives, Granite digital makes some
nice cases as well. I cannnot compare thee cases to others because
that's about the limit of my case experience.

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Hallvard Tangeraas - 22 Apr 2005 10:16 GMT

>> 1) Should I go for USB or Firewire, or even both interfaces?
>>
> The most recent iteration of the USB vs FireWire thread happened here
> maybe a month or so ago. Check the archives for all the gory details. I
> posted to that thread so maybe that will help.

I've tried searching using Google-groups, but there's just too much to
look through. It would help if you can remember the subject name.

>> 2) Any good recommendations for external enclosures?

> I've been happy with my WiebeTech case, though they tend towards being
> pricey.

Found it, here (in case others are wondering):
http://www.wiebetech.com/products.php#desktopstorage

Yes, they're not cheap, and I don't like the fact that they use external
power adapters (or "wall warts" as they're most likely to be).
Also, I want matching cases for the hard drive and the DVD-burner.

> If you are going with 3.5" drives, Granite digital makes some
> nice cases as well. I cannnot compare thee cases to others because
> that's about the limit of my case experience.

It'll have to be 3.5" drives, because that's the reason I need to go
external in the first place: there aren't (currently) any 2.5" laptop
drives bigger than 100 Gbytes, and I need more than that to do serious
video editing (or so I've been told).
If I could get a 300 GB 2.5" drive I'd simply exchange it with the one
inside the Powerbook.

These were the Firewire cases I found at Granite digital:
http://www.granitedigital.com/catalog/pg23_firewireidecasekits.htm

Not exactly my cup of tea -a bit too strange and old-fashioned looking
for my taste.
Maybe I'm too particular about designs. I want something modern, but
simple at the same time. And I don't like solutions where the power
supply is external. Simple, clean and practical is what I'm looking for.
And like I said, I also need a case for a DVD-burner with the same design.

Are there any websites showing a variety of solutions? I've done
web-searches, but not come up with something that shows more than a
couple of different cases.

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Hallvard Tangeraas - 22 Apr 2005 12:51 GMT

I've been searching the web a bit more, and even though I haven't found
exactly what I need, I do have some more details.

This is more what I'm looking for design-wise:

http://binarybonsai.com/archives/2004/06/10/external-firewire-drive/

Unfortunately there's no mention of which manufacturer is behind it, but
the case looks clean, modern and there's no silly "coolcase superdrive"
writing on it, and (at least if you put it horizontally I guess) you can
stack another unit on top of it (I don't like the curved cases which
prevent this).

Anyone know which company makes/sells the case pictured at that website,
or something similar?

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Hallvard

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Neill Massello - 23 Apr 2005 06:37 GMT

> I've been searching the web a bit more, and even though I haven't found
> exactly what I need, I do have some more details.
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> Anyone know which company makes/sells the case pictured at that website,
> or something similar?

The closest to it I've seen (from a US source) is the G-Drive line ---
with hard drives only -- sold by FireWire Depot
<http://fwdepot.com/thestore/default.php/cPath/1_4>.

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Hallvard Tangeraas - 23 Apr 2005 16:35 GMT

>> Anyone know which company makes/sells the case pictured at that website,
>> or something similar?
>
> The closest to it I've seen (from a US source) is the G-Drive line ---
> with hard drives only -- sold by FireWire Depot
> <http://fwdepot.com/thestore/default.php/cPath/1_4>.

Yes, I found that page a couple of days ago when searching for external
enclosures, but unfortunately none of them are sold without drives, and
I'd like to pick any drive I want (the noise level being the most
important factor for my choice).

These enclosures don't carry their own power-supplies either :-(
It looks like I may have to design my own case from scratch ;-)

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Fred Moore - 23 Apr 2005 18:15 GMT

To respond to several points mentioned in this thread:

** From a previous thread about two weeks ago, the consensus was that 3.5"
drives cannot be buss powered. They require more current than the buss
can supply, therefore, any enclosure for such a drive must have either a
powerbrick or an internal power supply. Anyone with a 3.5" buss powered
drive, please correct me.

** I have had excellent experience with Wiebetech enclosures. Good quality,
durability, and tech support.

** IBM/Hitachi makes 2.5" drives over 100GB. I bought a 160GB about 9 months
ago. They go up to at least 250 GB if not higher and have 3yr warranties.
ZipZoomFly.com has good prices.

hth

--Fred

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John Johnson - 23 Apr 2005 22:46 GMT

> To respond to several points mentioned in this thread:
>
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> powerbrick or an internal power supply. Anyone with a 3.5" buss powered
> drive, please correct me.

Wiebetech offers a Bus-powered 3.5" enclosure:
http://www.wiebetech.com/products/ultragbplus.php

> ** I have had excellent experience with Wiebetech enclosures. Good quality,
> durability, and tech support.

I've had good experiences with mine (MicroGB). I've heard of some people
having problems, but nothing that I can actually describe or quantify:
just reports like "I had problems with Wiebetech...". FWIW

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Neill Massello - 26 Apr 2005 00:09 GMT

> Wiebetech offers a Bus-powered 3.5" enclosure:
> http://www.wiebetech.com/products/ultragbplus.php

Wiebetech doesn't sell the UltraGB+ bus-powered enclosure without a
drive installed. The price starts at $360 for a 120GB drive. Replacing
the included drive with a different model might not work if the
replacement drive draws too much current at spinup. Check the recent
thread in comp.sys.mac.hardware.misc on "External FW-drives".

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John Johnson - 26 Apr 2005 01:59 GMT

> > Wiebetech offers a Bus-powered 3.5" enclosure:
> > http://www.wiebetech.com/products/ultragbplus.php
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> replacement drive draws too much current at spinup. Check the recent
> thread in comp.sys.mac.hardware.misc on "External FW-drives".

Well, the link was in response to the statement that nobody offered a
bus-powered 3.5" enclosure. I did not intend it to be a recommendation
of that case for any particular application (in particular the
application of the OP). I was aware of the power issues, and I believe
that WiebeTech has aknowledged them (and perhaps this is why they don't
offer it bare? I'm speculating here) in other places. Perhaps I should
have written more about it, but that's water under the bridge. Thanks
for the clarification and additional info.

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John Johnson - 22 Apr 2005 15:34 GMT

> >> 1) Should I go for USB or Firewire, or even both interfaces?
> >>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> I've tried searching using Google-groups, but there's just too much to
> look through. It would help if you can remember the subject name.

The thread title is: iPod - Is USB 2.0 or Firewire faster?
Date of first post: Mar. 25 2005

Without meaning to be self-serving, the only article in that thread to
post links to tests is one of mine, and here are the links:

> time, so to be fair:
> From 2002 (and posted by another contributor to the thread):
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> http://www.barefeats.com/fire2 6.html
> http://www.barefeats.com/usb2. html

That said, if the case comes with USB ports that you don't plan on using
(or FW ports, should you go that way) who cares?

> >> 2) Any good recommendations for external enclosures?
>
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> Yes, they're not cheap, and I don't like the fact that they use external
> power adapters (or "wall warts" as they're most likely to be).

Which products? I know that some of their products use wall-warts, but
some are bus powered, and some (possibly only their
Baydock/raid/multiple drive enclosures) do use internal power supplies.

> Also, I want matching cases for the hard drive and the DVD-burner.

Ah.
[snip]

> It'll have to be 3.5" drives, because that's the reason I need to go
> external in the first place:

Well, for video there's other reasons to go external, but this is
neither the time nor place.

> These were the Firewire cases I found at Granite digital:
> http://www.granitedigital.com/catalog/pg23_firewireidecasekits.htm
>
> Not exactly my cup of tea -a bit too strange and old-fashioned looking
> for my taste.

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend them as style mavens, but the cases are
solid, functional, and provide good information (e.g. SMART monitoring,
which IIRC the WiebeTech cases do not).

> Maybe I'm too particular about designs. I want something modern, but
> simple at the same time. And I don't like solutions where the power
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> web-searches, but not come up with something that shows more than a
> couple of different cases.

When I'm looking for things, I'll often check (but I haven't checked
them for this purpose):
http://www.macsales.com

http://www.cdw.com/

The above-linked barefeats.com does hardware reviews, so you might just
snoop around there to see if anything that they've covered strikes your
fancy.

Another option is to get ahold of an old tower case and use it as your
drive enclosure. You don't even necessarily need the logic board,
provided you've got the right cabling. This is definitely a DIY kind of
project and therefore perhaps not up your alley, but it is an option.

and from the next post:

> This is more what I'm looking for design-wise:
>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> stack another unit on top of it (I don't like the curved cases which
> prevent this).

The case in that article is from:
http://www.streetwise.com.au/product_info.php?products_id=2363

I'll note that it uses an external power supply. I do not know whether
it's available elsewhere in the world. HTH

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Mac Forum / General / Portable Macs / April 2005

External hard drive/DVD-burner enclosures