[FTrain]

I hope this doesn't seem like a ridiculous post, but I'm not extremely knowledgeable about these technologies, but have read enough to think I'd like to build my own external hard drive rather than buy one already pre-packaged.

I have an iMac G4 700, so will have to use firewire. I had just about decided to buy the following combination of HD and enclosure from newegg.com, but then realized the enclosure may not be compatible with the HD, but I honestly can't tell. The enclosure says its interface is IDE. Will that work with this HD?

I'd love any advice on if this will work, but also if you think it's a good buy or if I could do better? I want to use this to hold all of my iTunes music and iPhoto pictures and as the place I will continue to run both from (freeing up my now-full internal hard drive). What do you think?

HD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148105

Enclosure:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817145657

[hickey]

you need to get an SATA enclosure to work with that hard drive. Or get a different hard drive to go with that IDE enclosure.

[mduell]

FW<->SATA enclosures are crazy expensive; buy an IDE drive instead.
The enclosure you linked to looks good; a high review at Newegg is always a good sign.

160GB is a bit "behind the curve" in terms of capacity/price, although not too far. For an extra $40 (less than 30% of the drive+enclosure price) you can double the capacity to 320GB.

320GB IDE for $105
160GB IDE for $64

[FTrain]

Originally Posted by mduell

FW<->SATA enclosures are crazy expensive; buy an IDE drive instead.
The enclosure you linked to looks good; a high review at Newegg is always a good sign.

160GB is a bit "behind the curve" in terms of capacity/price, although not too far. For an extra $40 (less than 30% of the drive+enclosure price) you can double the capacity to 320GB.

320GB IDE for $105
160GB IDE for $64

Well, my hesitation about the larger drive I guess would be that I just don't think I need the space, even if it is more economical. I have about 20GB of music and maybe 10GB of photos (which will both grow in the coming years, but only so quickly). Plus, from what I've read, I guess I have to buy IDE because I have to use FireWire 400. And given that it sounds like IDE is a technology that is becoming obsolete, it doesn't sound like I'm going to be able to use whatever device I get with my next computer.

So, I sort of think for space reasons that I would buy an 80GB drive if I could find one, but they are pretty rare and even more pricey. So 160GB or 250GB seems like it.

But let me know if I have a misconception about where the technology is going, and if I am more likely to use the IDE drive with my next computer than I realize.

I appreciate your feedback.

[mduell]

FW400<->SATA can be done, but it's expensive and not any faster since FW400 is the bottleneck.
IDE is deprecated, but still very much alive; it only loses out to SATA in cabling convenience and marginally in performance.
With a FW400<->IDE enclosure you've got an upgrade path to at least 750GB (available today) and probably higher.

[Cadaver]

OWC now has a FireWire 400/800, USB2.0, and eSATA external hard drive. You can buy it with a drive preinstalled or without. It takes an SATA internally, so you still have the potential to pull the drive and use it in a future desktop.

The bare case however is about $110, so as said before, SATA to FireWire ain't cheap.

Link to case + HD
Link to case only

[kikkoman]

I've had great luck with this MacAlly USB/Firewire case...

http://tinyurl.com/r25yz

I have it paired with a Western Digital Cavier drive and it runs cool and quiet. One thing to look out for when shopping for hard drive cases is to make sure that it properly spins down the hard drive when your Mac goes to sleep. There are some cases that do not do this, leaving the drive spining unneccesarily, which could lead to premature wear. The MacAlly definitely spin down the drive.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by kikkoman

I've had great luck with this MacAlly USB/Firewire case...

http://tinyurl.com/r25yz

I have it paired with a Western Digital Cavier drive and it runs cool and quiet. One thing to look out for when shopping for hard drive cases is to make sure that it properly spins down the hard drive when your Mac goes to sleep. There are some cases that do not do this, leaving the drive spining unneccesarily, which could lead to premature wear. The MacAlly definitely spin down the drive.

Debateable.
Have you ever had a hard drive fail? I have.
Did it fail after spinning for 100 hours, or while spinning up? For me, it's always the latter.

The MBTF for current hard drives is in the hundreds of thousands of hours; they're not specificly rated for cycles, but I think leaving it always spinning is better than spinning up and down a half dozen times a day.