[Hamamac]

Hi,

I bought a $25 external hard drive enclosure from CompUSA last night and I want to be sure
it's ok and won't damage the HD inside it or harm my ibook.

The brand is Norwood Micro, 2.5" USB 2.0. It's made of white plasitc, kind of the material of the ibook. It doesn't have any buttons, just a blue light that comes on.

I feel pretty good for a newbie for succeeding in putting the HD in from an older powerbook that failed a few years ago and it appears that my old stuff (done in OS 9) is there.

So can anyone tell me if this enclosure will be ok or should I get something better which would be what? Aluminum?

Or should I return it and put the refund towards this 80g HD that is on CompUSA's website:
http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...2&pfp=cat3

which nets down to $66.98 after rebates?

Any thoughts anyone?

Thanks,

Hamamac

[SpaceMonkey]

Never heard of it. Does it say what chipset it uses for the USB bridge?

[mduell]

The case material has nothing to do with the chips on the inside. The enclosure should have no problem working. If it has a cheap chipset on the inside then it may be slow; if it's slow then return it and get a better one.

[Hamamac]

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey

Never heard of it. Does it say what chipset it uses for the USB bridge?

Chipset? USB bridge? Where would I find that info?

This is what I found in the manual:

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

Windows® 98SE, ME, 2000, XP
Mac® OS X or above
Mac® OS 9.1 to 9.2.2 (supports USB 1.1 only)
An available USB Port
CD-ROM Drive for driver installation

SPECIFICATIONS:

Compliant with both USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 standard specifications.
USB 2.0 supports data transfer rates up to 480 Mbps (backward compatible with USB 1.1).
Complies with ATA/ATAPI-6 specification revision 1.0.
Supports 8-bit/16-bit standard PIO mode interface.
Supports 16-bit multi-word DMA mode and Ultra DMA mode interface (Ultra 33/66/100).

If I can use the old HD in the enclosure as an intermediate back up until I decide on what external HD to get for everyday needs then I'll be fine with this enclosure as long as it doesn't fry my ibook.

Any recommendations for a good external HD? As you can see from my ignorance about chipsets and usb bridges I wouldn't have a clue as to what to look for when purchasing one, so I could sure use the help as to what features to be sure and get.

thanks again
Hamamac

[mduell]

The one you have won't fry your iBook.

I'm not a fan of the pre-built external hard drives, espically the bargain basement ones that won't tell you what bridge chip or drive manufacturer they're using. Before I make any recommendations I have two questions for you.

First question is do you want a 2.5" or 3.5" external drive?
2.5" drives are smaller/lighter, you can get them bus powered (so you only need to connect them to the computer, no additional power cable), have a maximum capacity of 120GB, and cost $1.2-2 per gigabyte.
3.5" drives are a bit bigger/heavier, need a power cable to the wall, have a maximum capacity of 500GB, and cost $0.4-.65 per gigabyte.
This question is pretty straightforward depending on size, capacity, and cost preferences.

Second question is do you want Firewire or USB2?
Firewire can be faster than USB2 (espically if using a 3.5" drive) and is generally more expensive.
USB2 is usually slightly slower than Firewire (espically with Macs) and is a bit cheaper than firewire.
If your iBook doesn't have USB2 (if you're not sure then just tell me which model iBook it is), then get Firewire; USB1 works, but it's sooooooo slow.
If you have both, then another consideration is which ports you have open; some people have all their FW ports used, while others have lots of USB devices.
If you want to use the drive to copy files to/from a friends computer, keep in mind that more Mac users have Firewire than USB2 while more PC users have USB2 than Firewire.

I'll make some suggestions as to enclosures/drives to buy with the answers to those two questions.

[SSharon]

mduell has some good pointers up there. Once you can answer his questions I recommend a trip to newegg.com to see the different styles of enclosures available. Read the reviews too since they often point out little details that are not in the product description. For example, do you need a screwdriver? I have one enclosure that I use to swap drives in and out to help friends and its much easier since it only has two thumbscrews.

[Hamamac]

Originally Posted by mduell

The one you have won't fry your iBook.

I'm not a fan of the pre-built external hard drives, espically the bargain basement ones that won't tell you what bridge chip or drive manufacturer they're using. Before I make any recommendations I have two questions for you.

First question is do you want a 2.5" or 3.5" external drive?
2.5" drives are smaller/lighter, you can get them bus powered (so you only need to connect them to the computer, no additional power cable), have a maximum capacity of 120GB, and cost $1.2-2 per gigabyte.
3.5" drives are a bit bigger/heavier, need a power cable to the wall, have a maximum capacity of 500GB, and cost $0.4-.65 per gigabyte.
This question is pretty straightforward depending on size, capacity, and cost preferences.

Second question is do you want Firewire or USB2?
Firewire can be faster than USB2 (espically if using a 3.5" drive) and is generally more expensive.
USB2 is usually slightly slower than Firewire (espically with Macs) and is a bit cheaper than firewire.
If your iBook doesn't have USB2 (if you're not sure then just tell me which model iBook it is), then get Firewire; USB1 works, but it's sooooooo slow.
If you have both, then another consideration is which ports you have open; some people have all their FW ports used, while others have lots of USB devices.
If you want to use the drive to copy files to/from a friends computer, keep in mind that more Mac users have Firewire than USB2 while more PC users have USB2 than Firewire.

I'll make some suggestions as to enclosures/drives to buy with the answers to those two questions.

Wow, thanks for the thorough reply. Sorry I was away from this site for a few days due to some heavy deadlines, so don't think I don't appreciate the help--I do.

Here is info on my ibook:


Machine Model: iBook G4
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (3.3)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 800 MHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB
Memory: 640 MB
Bus Speed: 133 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.7.7f0


FireWire Bus:

Speed: 400 Mb/sec Speed

I didn't know I had an option to use a 3.5 external drive which certainly opens up greater possibilities. (Just to be clear the reason I got the cheapo enclosure is I had an extra HD that I had removed from an old Lombard powerbook, so I wanted to get an enclosure to a) see if the HD was still good and if so b) use it for an intermediate back up.) But I'm really seeking a good quality external HD for backing up files for financials, documents, records, maybe some photos. I'm not a "heavy" user as yet, ie videos, music--but could grow into that. I'm not swapping files from other people's computers either.

So for question number one I think I'd like the convenience of not having to plug into an outlet so I'm inclined toward the 2.5.

For the second question it might be dependent on the types of files I'm saving, right? Again pretty basic stuff, financial records, project management, contacts, documents.

Thanks mduell . . .SSharon. I look forward to going shopping once I get clear.

Hamamac

p.s. Just to confuse the issue further I just got the gift of the new video ipod--can that be used as a back up, as an external drive?

[mduell]

Your iPod can be used as an external hard drive, but it's slower due to the size of the disk (1.8"). Since it doesn't sound like your current needs include any large files (or high speeds to access them), I think that will do you just fine. I don't see a 2.5" drive giving you much of an advantage over using your iPod.

If you find yourself slinging around hundreds of images and 10GB video files in the future I'd think about getting an external USB2 or Firewire 3.5" disk.

[amazing]

MacOS won't startup from a usb drive, so that's the primary disadvantage. You'd be better off with a firewire drive (fw-400 or dual fw-usb drive). If you've got an old laptop drive, using it as a backup for your internal drive is a good idea (provided it's big enough.)

[Fyre4ce]

I have a related question.

Background: I have a 12" PowerBook G4 (1 GHz) and the 40 GB internal hard drive is getting very full. I just ordered a bare Hitachi 7K100 drive based on the review at Barefeats.com. I would like to also buy an enclosure for my current drive, so I will have a way to copy files, and also so I can use my existing drive in the enclosure as a secondary drive.

My question: what enclosure should I get? My machine has USB 2.0 and FW400 but not FW800. I would be willing to pay a bit extra (but not get raped) to get FW800 capability, in case I ever want to plug it into a FW800-equipped machine. I'm not necessarily looking for the most expensive drive but I don't want to get something cheap and slow, and I'd like a decent case too.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Fyre4ce

I have a related question.

Background: I have a 12" PowerBook G4 (1 GHz) and the 40 GB internal hard drive is getting very full. I just ordered a bare Hitachi 7K100 drive based on the review at Barefeats.com. I would like to also buy an enclosure for my current drive, so I will have a way to copy files, and also so I can use my existing drive in the enclosure as a secondary drive.

My question: what enclosure should I get? My machine has USB 2.0 and FW400 but not FW800. I would be willing to pay a bit extra (but not get raped) to get FW800 capability, in case I ever want to plug it into a FW800-equipped machine. I'm not necessarily looking for the most expensive drive but I don't want to get something cheap and slow, and I'd like a decent case too.

I suggest this Mac-friendly USB+FW case. It's bus powered on either bus (and includes a 2nd USB cable for power so it can support the faster 2.5" drives) and reasonably priced.
I don't see much sense in accepting a limited selection of enclosures and paying a premium for FW800 when the drive can only exceed the practical bandwidth of FW400 in some cases (53MBps best case for the drive vs about ~40MBps for FW400).

[Fyre4ce]

Originally Posted by mduell

I suggest this Mac-friendly USB+FW case. It's bus powered on either bus (and includes a 2nd USB cable for power so it can support the faster 2.5" drives) and reasonably priced.
I don't see much sense in accepting a limited selection of enclosures and paying a premium for FW800 when the drive can only exceed the practical bandwidth of FW400 in some cases (53MBps best case for the drive vs about ~40MBps for FW400).

Haha, when I saw the "250CC" I thought they were talking about two-strokes.

Sold.