[FE05]

Hey all,

Im going to make the switch to Mac soon ( looking at the Macbook Black) from PC, and I was looking for an external enclosure for my 3.5 inch Maxtor 320gb IDE hard drive. I want to be able to access files on the PC and and eventually the MB, so I was looking for a combo ext. enclosure. USB 2.0 for PC, and Firewire for Mac. I was leaning towards something like the Macally PHR-100AC (Newegg.com - macally PHR-100AC Aluminum 3.5" USB2.0 (type B) + IEEE1394 External Enclosure - Retail ). It got good reviews, and the price isnt bad either. I just wanted to see if theres any other combo enclosures that anyone else can suggest before I put in my order. Thanks in advance.

FE

[mduell]

These other 4 are worth looking at, but in the end it comes down to aesthetics. Take whatever you like the look of.

Newegg.com - AMS VENUS DS-2316CBK Aluminum 3.5" USB & 1394 Black External Enclosure - Retail

Newegg.com - Galaxy METAL GEAR 3507UEP-Black 3.5" USB 2.0 & 1394 External Enclosure - Retail

Newegg.com - VANTEC NST-360UF-BK Aluminum 3.5" USB & 1394 External Enclosure - Retail

Newegg.com - Mapower KC31C1 Aluminum 3.5" USB 2.0 & 1394 External Enclosure - Retail

[FE05]

Thanks for the links mduell. I checked out all the links and read some reviews. Reviews were good for all. Which makes it harder to choose. One more question for you all, does anyone have any suggestions based on personal experience (mainly on Macs) since that is what I will be using as my main platform? Are there any enclosure brands that tend to work better on the Mac OS and not in Windows, and vise versa? Has anyone used the Galaxy Metal Gear or Vantec NST enclosures, that mduell mentioned, on a Mac? If so, how did they work for you?

[Clive]

Two things to bear in mind:

1 You don't need Firewire - all new Macs have USB2. So, while it's nice to have the flexibility, Firewire isn't essential.

2 Don't buy a drive enclosure with an external power supply unless you really have to, there are usually options with internal power supplies - buy the latter if you can.

I don't know why manufacturers do this thing with external power supplies - to me it's just more junk and trailling wire and bits and pieces you don't know what plugs into what. It was much easier in the ‘old days’ when you just plugged a mains cable into the device. Now even Apple is doing the same thing - their screens and Mac minis have external power.

Which means I wouldn't buy any of the enclosures listed above.

But: Newegg.com - BYTECC ME-320U2FB Aluminum & Plastic 5.25" USB & 1394 Black External Enclosure - Retail

Which is big, black and ugly, but at least it has internal power (I've seen some nicer looking enclosures with internal power, you'll have to shop around).

[cgc]

This thread has a similar discussion and may be of interest.

[shifuimam]

If you're going to be travelling with an external drive a decent amount (like more than a few times a year, IMO), look at a 2.5" external drive (laptop hard drive size) enclosure. They're smaller, lighter, more portable, and generally don't require an external power adapter - most are powered by a USB Y-cable or a single FireWire cable; I believe the newest WD Passport drive uses one USB port.

If you buy an enclosure and put in your own drive (which is what I'd recommend doing), get a Seagate or Toshiba drive - five and three-year warranties, respectively.

[Aegis]

I would reccomend Firewire for sure. USB2 on OSX seems to only get ~10mb/s. Fw400 gets about ~35mb/s. USB is only nice if you're trapped somewhere with Windows being the only option. I have a friend with the Macally enclosure you first listed and it seems to work very well.

[Macola]

I've been using the MacAlly enclosure listed in the OP for several months now, and I like it better than the OWC enclosures that I have sitting next to it..

[FE05]

I didnt mean to leave you all hanging....

Aegis, the speed of firewire is the one reason why I'm looking for a combo enclosure and not just a USB enclosure. Thanks for the actual numbers.

Macola, it looks like the MacAlly PHR-100AC is the one I'm going to get... but I also found this one on the MacAlly site ECO-350UA (Macally.com)

I like the clean look of it without the large logos and all that jazz on the top. What I dont like though is the physical size of the enclosure. Its listed on the site as being: Product only : (W) 2.5 " x (L) 9.5 " x (H) 11 ". Why would it need to be that big? It's a case for a single 3.5" HD. Am I missing something here? Has anyone had any experience with this one? Thanks.

[Aegis]

I've no experience with it but I don't see why it should be so large. You can see in their pictures, it's pretty sizable in that guys hand. I like how they even go out of their way to add "only" to it's dimensions.

[JoshuaZ]

I would love to get a nice 1 TB external hard drive. Any ideas?

(For the record I currently have two 250 GIG externals, but video editing takes up a lot of room.)

[mduell]

Originally Posted by JoshuaZ 

I would love to get a nice 1 TB external hard drive. Any ideas?

(For the record I currently have two 250 GIG externals, but video editing takes up a lot of room.)

Buy a 1TB drive and a nice enclosure?

There's only one choice for the drive, and the enclosures have already been discussed/posted in this thread.