[bbales]

Comp USA has a 250 GB ATA/100 (internal) drive on sale for $70 or $80. I have become so confused with all the various initials on hard drives that I'm just making sure. You could throw that drive into a firewire case and it would work just fine with a pre-Intel Mac, right? For that matter, it will work with an Intel Mac, right?

Thanks.

[BLAZE_MkIV]

As long as the case is the same as the drive, ATA vs SATA.

[mduell]

The "everyday" price for 250GB drives is down to about $65-75 (depending on length of warranty), so that CompUSA "sale" isn't terribly good. You may want to consider going with 320GB instead of 250GB; they're only $95 with a 5 year warranty.

But yes, you can put an ATA/100 drive in an external FW/USB enclosure and use it with PPC and Intel Macs. Lots of options here in the $20-60 range.

[Big Mac]

If you want good drive deals, subscribe to the hard drive deals list from dealmac.com.

[bbales]

Originally Posted by mduell 

The "everyday" price for 250GB drives is down to about $65-75 (depending on length of warranty), so that CompUSA "sale" isn't terribly good. You may want to consider going with 320GB instead of 250GB; they're only $95 with a 5 year warranty.

But yes, you can put an ATA/100 drive in an external FW/USB enclosure and use it with PPC and Intel Macs. Lots of options here in the $20-60 range.

I started doing the math and you are so right. But at least I have a better idea of what I'm doing and what I'm looking for. I think the store also had a Mad Dog enclosure for $10, after rebates. I'm not sure if that's a good enclosure or not, though.

[mduell]

Does this $10 Mad Dog enclosure have Firewire, or just USB?

[bbales]

I thought it was both (which was why I was interested), but I just checked and the sale drive ($9.99) is USB 2.0 only; the enclosure that also includes firewire is $49, I believe it was.

[mduell]

Figures, I didn't think CompUSA could beat my beloved NewEgg.