?how to shop for an external hard drive case?

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

<aotemp@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1118159709.552414.255520@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...

> I have a regular Hard drive that normally would fit nicely
> into my desktop PC (not laptop). However with Dell's
> new connections, the 40 pin connection is worthless to me.

You should be able to change the ribbon cable to an 80 wire cable.

> So Ive opted to buy a case for my new hard drive (160 gigs).

That approach has some real downsides.

> Unfortunately I don't know much about what Im looking for, all I know
> is that I want something affordable, worthwhile and compatible. Also
> I know that I want USB 2.0 because it's the fastest connection.

Firewire is actually a tad faster, but not enough to justify
adding a firewire port if you only have a USB 2 port.

> What I need help on is... Are there any real
> differences between the external hard drive cases?

Yes, the main difference is how well they cool the drive.

> Can I just buy the cheapest one that I can
> find on froogle and have it work well for me?

Nope.

> Is there something that I should pay specific attention to?

Yes, drive cooling.

> Do I want a 2.5", 3.5" or a 5.5" case?

3.5"

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

In article <3gm9d3Fd82r9U1@individual.net>, Rod Speed wrote:
> 3.5"

Are there any this size that have a cooling fan? I've been using 5.25"
external cases for hard drives in order to get this feature. A more
compact case would be nice if it had sufficient cooling.

--
Roger Blake
(Subtract 10 for email.)

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

Roger Blake <rogblake10@iname10.com> wrote in message
news:slrndac4kb.lva.rogblake10@moog.netaxs.com...
> Rod Speed wrote

>> 3.5"

> Are there any this size that have a cooling fan?

Yes, there are a few, but they arent very common at
all and fans that small have some real downsides too.

> I've been using 5.25" external cases for hard drives in order to get this
> feature. A more compact case would be nice if it had sufficient cooling.

The main downside is that fans that small have their own problems.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

In article <1118159709.552414.255520@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,
aotemp@hotmail.com wrote:

I found the NexStar 3 by Vantec that uses passive cooling to get quite
hot.

I bought a case by Venus. It is big and chunky (fits 5.5 inch drives as
well as 3.5 inch) but cools quite well. So if you do not mind a big
enclosure this might be fine (they make a combo firewire/usb enclosure
too with a 4 inch fan that appears to be mounted above the drive. I
have a smaller fan on mine. It also has an outlet for headphones if you
should connect a CD player/DVD player to it so is quite versatile.

I have a USB 2.0 card (via chipset). The Venus uses a cypress chipset.
I get transfer rates of about 10 MB/min. People report transfer rates
as high as 24 MB/min. I thought it was operating on USB 1.1 but when I
transferred the drive to a known 1.1 port on the machine Windows
immediately came up and told me I have faster ports available (2.0) and
should switch to those for performance. Practically the relatively slow
speeds are not too bad - I can watch a DVD off the USB drive no problem.
However, when I dump large amounts of data the write speed is slower
than I expected. The drive is a current Seagate 300 GB PATA drive. My
machine is an older A7V133/850 Athlon and do not know if this
contributes to the slowness. The USB 2.0 card is on the same IRQ as the
1.1 USB.

Roland