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shatten22 · Jan 21, 2003, 01:44 AM

I have read almost every post concerning hard drives and firewire enclosures and none of them answered this question:

What is the difference between them? I have found $50 enclosures and I have found $300 enclosures, all of them using the Oxford 911 chipset. OWC and Transintl have them for about $100. Same with fwdepot. Compgeeks has one for $47 that someone on these boards tipped me off to.

I am buying a WD 120gb Caviar SE drive and I will be doing video work. Is there any reason why I should spend $50 more? I don't really want to. And in this *case* looks do not matter to me.

thanks,

g

(oh, if there was a thread I missed that dealt with this issue, I apologize. I did spend a good hour reading the theads I felt were related.)

jaisun · Jan 21, 2003, 09:59 AM

I'm not sure I can answer your question directly (I'm not certain of the technical differences), but I can provide you with a comparison.

I recently purchased a generic FW case/HDD combo for $125 from some online store. The enclosure has the Oxford 911 chip set and the HDD is a Western Digital 40Gb 7200RPM unit.

In comparing my generic unit to a 10Gb VST (which I'm assuming cost MUCH more than mine) there doesn't seem to be any difference in speed or reliability.

Back to your question, again I'm not certain of the differences, but my guesses would be:

1. The dealer may not buy large quantities therefore increasing the price per unit.

2. Perhaps the more expensive units are able to recognize/utilize larger HDDs? Dunno 'bout this one...

3. The lower cost units may consist of generic components or assembled "in-house" or both.

4. Cheaper units tend to require the use of an AC adapter vs. being FW bus powered. I'm assuming the technology required to allow a unit to operate on bus power only is a bit pricey. BTW my FW unit requires the adapter

But hey, the price was right

Anyway, I hope that helps. If not, I'm sorry to have wasted your time

Good luck!

JB72 · Jan 21, 2003, 11:33 AM

Some of the cases are more expensive because they also offer USB2. Most with the Oxford 911 are pretty similar, but for video I wouldn't take any chances. I'd suggest something around $100.

shatten22 · Jan 21, 2003, 04:13 PM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jaisun:

2. Perhaps the more expensive units are able to recognize/utilize larger HDDs? Dunno 'bout this one...
[QUOTE]

Some newer enclosures offer this, but even the older enclosures (ones that don't support the WD or IBM drives over 128gb) are still $100.

4. Cheaper units tend to require the use of an AC adapter vs. being FW bus powered. I'm assuming the technology required to allow a unit to operate on bus power only is a bit pricey. BTW my FW unit requires the adapter But hey, the price was right

Anyway, I hope that helps. If not, I'm sorry to have wasted your time

Good luck!

The bus powered FW drives (3.5 inch) are just coming out now. They are a good $30 more expensive. Thanks for your results with your firwire enclosure. $125 is still too expensive. I am not of the mind that you get what you pay for in computer-electronics. Alot of times the mark-up some of these online retailers put on are really high.

thanks,

g

jaisun · Jan 21, 2003, 07:11 PM

Sorry...I meant that the total price for the case and HDD was $125. I'm not sure what the case would have been on its own.

JB72 · Jan 21, 2003, 10:22 PM

I am not of the mind that you get what you pay for in computer-electronics.

I agree. But I have had a cheap enclosure that worked fine, but the fan went all whacky after just a couple months, requiring me to get my hands dirty with it, and suffer down time. Also, the performence of the various enclosures, even given the exact same chipset basis, varies. Check out www.barefeats.com for some general results.

PS - Check out the thread on the exploding firewire enclosure. Only $44, but still not a very good deal in that case (pun intended

.) Again, there's actually more to an enclosure than just the chipset.

wg2499 · Jan 22, 2003, 03:33 AM

hey there I have the same drive as the one that exploded and it is fine thus far....I think that most of the components are possibley made by the same people.... (really just an idea)anyway.. I shopped around alot before purchasing.. my advice is get the best deal from the place with the best return policy, customer service and reputation.. good luck!!

Eug · 04:02 PM

Originally posted by JB72:
I agree. But I have had a cheap enclosure that worked fine, but the fan went all whacky after just a couple months, requiring me to get my hands dirty with it, and suffer down time. Also, the performence of the various enclosures, even given the exact same chipset basis, varies. Check out www.barefeats.com for some general results.

PS - Check out the thread on the exploding firewire enclosure. Only $44, but still not a very good deal in that case (pun intended .) Again, there's actually more to an enclosure than just the chipset.

I have never purchased a name brand enclosure, and here are my results.

1) 3.5" ice case from Transintl.com. Works fine. I recently put a different drive in.
2) 5.25" translucent ugly stackable case from CompGeeks.com. Works fine. No fan though.
3) 5.25" translucent ugly stackable combo USB/Firewire case from CompuVest.com. Firewire works fine. I never bothered to install the USB drivers. However, the fan is terrible so I took the thing apart and disconnected the fan. Still works fine. It does NOT use an Oxford 911 chipset though, but it doesn't matter since I have an optical drive in it.
4) 5.25" sleek silver case from CompuVest.com. Works fine, and fan is quiet. Not very stackable though.
5) 2.5" laptop exploding case.

CompGeeks.com says they'll give me a refund.
6) 2.5" laptop transparent case from FWDepot.com. Has not yet arrived, but it only took them 1 hour from order time to giving me a UPS tracking number.

So basically, it seems to me that the QA might not be as good with the cheap cases, but when they work, they work fine. Performance with my Oxford 911 cases is great.

The one thing I have never had be a problem is incompatibility. All of my drives are properly recognized in both OS X and Win XP. The same can't be said for some of the older name brand cases though.

The bus powered FW drives (3.5 inch) are just coming out now. They are a good $30 more expensive.

I'm not sure I see the point of that. A Firewire port usually can put out something like 12Vx1.25A = 15 Watts. That's more than enough for laptop drives, but desktop drives at peak use more than 30 Watts. At best some drives may work on some machines, and at worst I wonder if you could fry a Firewire port on a laptop or something.

The other thing I've noticed that has bugged me though is with ALL of my desktop enclosures, if you turn off one machine in a chain, all subsequent devices in that chain are disconnected. Very irritating. I dunno if other cases overcome this limitation. I finally gave up and bought a $25 6-port hub from CompGeeks.com (sold out).

mdcarter1 · Jan 24, 2003, 10:14 AM

Originally posted by Eug:

2) 5.25" translucent ugly stackable case from CompGeeks.com. Works fine. No fan though.
3) 5.25" translucent ugly stackable combo USB/Firewire case from CompuVest.com. Firewire works fine. I never bothered to install the USB drivers. However, the fan is terrible so I took the thing apart and disconnected the fan. Still works fine. It does NOT use an Oxford 911 chipset though, but it doesn't matter since I have an optical drive in it.

Eug,

I have a big Pyro 1394 Drive Kit with a 100 Gig desktop drive in it. The fan on that thing is loud, are you saying it might be safe to turn it off?

Eug · Jan 24, 2003, 10:38 AM

Originally posted by mdcarter1:
Eug,

I have a big Pyro 1394 Drive Kit with a 100 Gig desktop drive in it. The fan on that thing is loud, are you saying it might be safe to turn it off?

I dunno. YMMV. Maybe it might make more sense to replace it. Depends on the enclosure and the drive I guess.

shatten22 · Jan 24, 2003, 12:00 PM

So I ordered a Western DIgital Special Edition Caviar 120gb Hard Drive for $150 (shipping included) and a "silver" firewire enclosure from Compgeeks for $50 (also with shipping inclusive).

I don't think the fan will be the problem, since there isn't one because the power brick lives outside of the case. It's Oxford 911 and I figured with a new bridge comign out soon (for FW800), why spend $100 for old technology? Looks aren't worth a 100% price increase.

I'll let you guys know.

g

BTP · Jan 25, 2003, 12:27 AM

I have bought 3 FW HD's. I have had great results on all.

I bought a 2.5" clear case from coolmacstuff.com and a seperate HD from Dell, who had a really good deal ($107 for a 40GB). The case has the 911 chipset.

I also bought 2 3.5" FW drive, one a 911, the other not.

The 911's are quite fast, I tested them all a while back and the 911's were faster, especially on longer/bigger transfers. The non-911 *is* slower, but not noticeable on shorter transfers/smaller files, My 2.5" FW HD is bus powered and that is very convienient. The others are much bigger and have the power brick. While they are 5 times the capacity of the 2.5, I can fit the 2.5 in my pocket.

Look on dealmac for FW HD's and you'll find a deal for $59 ADS Pyro case (has the 911), quite a deal, IMHO.

FYI, the 912 is coming out, if it hasn't already. I'd spring for the 911 if you are going to use it regualry and the extra speed is worth it.