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drnkn_stylz · Nov 26, 2007, 05:16 PM

Alright here's what I plan to do:

I have a 60gb HDD in my MacBook. I would like to upgrade to something around 160gb, then use the original 60gb as a portable drive.

I have heard of people buying a 2.5" external, then taking the HDD out of the case and putting it in their notebooks. This is what I would like to do as well, but I need help finding a external that is SATA.

I was looking at a LaCie 160gb Porsche USB drive, but I don't know if the drive within it will work with my MacBook.

Any help is appreciated! Cheers!

CharlesS · Nov 26, 2007, 06:28 PM

Just get an external USB enclosure, get a new internal hard drive for your MacBook, and put the old drive in the enclosure. If you get a FireWire enclosure, you want one with an Oxford chipset as some of the other FireWire chipsets have problems, but if it's just USB, you can just go get any old cheap USB/eSATA combo enclosure on Newegg (going with one that has eSATA will ensure that it takes a SATA drive, which your MacBook uses, and will be very handy once Apple starts making machines with eSATA ports on them). External enclosures tend to be much easier to open up and get to the internal hard drive than the pre-built enclosures, which are built under the assumption that you won't be opening them. Plus, this way you can get the full warranty on the internal hard drive (5 years if it's a Seagate).

At any rate, LaCie is to be avoided. Their drives have a bad reputation for failing and losing all the data on them.

mduell · Nov 26, 2007, 06:38 PM

New 160GB hard drive for your MacBook: Hiatchi for $85 or Seagate for $100 (longer warranty, better brand IMO).
Enclosure for your existing drive: any of these with 4 or 5 'egg' ratings. I wouldn't spend more than $25 unless you really like the design.

Originally Posted by drnkn_stylz

I was looking at a LaCie 160gb Porsche USB drive, but I don't know if the drive within it will work with my MacBook.

The drive inside may work, or may not. Also the enclosure may be difficult to disassemble or reassemble. And it's LaCie.

Originally Posted by CharlesS

but if it's just USB, you can just go get any old cheap USB/eSATA combo enclosure on Newegg (going with one that has eSATA will ensure that it takes a SATA drive

Au contraire.

edit: Oh damn, it's SATA externally not eSATA.

ghporter · Nov 26, 2007, 06:41 PM

Another vote for buying an empty external case and a bare drive to upgrade with. It is almost trivial (you do have to be able to use a small screwdriver) to install any drive in any external case. So why spend money for someone else to have put their idea of a good drive in a box, only to go on to pull it out of that box and swap your Mac's old drive into it? Cut out the middle man and a number of steps and do it yourself.

CharlesS · Nov 26, 2007, 06:44 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

Au contraire.

Huh, that's something I hadn't seen before. I stand corrected.

I wonder why someone would make such a thing as that - the whole advantage of eSATA is that there's no conversion going on like you have with USB or FireWire - it's just a plain, native connection to the SATA drive, so you don't need any bridge electronics, allowing the external hard drive to be both faster and cheaper. Bridging PATA to SATA seems to defeat the whole reason eSATA is desirable.

Oh well. About 99% of eSATA enclosures should take SATA drives, but I guess it's still not a bad idea to check just in case.

mduell · Nov 26, 2007, 06:46 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

Another vote for buying an empty external case and a bare drive to upgrade with. It is almost trivial (you do have to be able to use a small screwdriver)

And sometimes not even that.

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Huh, that's something I hadn't seen before. I stand corrected.

With a sufficiently pedantic reading, you were indeed correct originally.

ginoledesma · Nov 26, 2007, 10:58 PM

If you really don't care for looks, you can get one of those universal drive adapters. NewerTech makes ones such beast, as do many other companies.

slugslugslug · Nov 27, 2007, 05:47 PM

So, none of these enclosures can be powered by a single USB port, can they? I just picked up a MacAlly one for 20 bucks at my school computer store, and it needed 2 USB ports for full power. That's simply a limitation of USB, huh?s

ginoledesma · Nov 27, 2007, 06:10 PM

I'm unaware of 3.5" drives that can be powered by USB. However, I have seen FireWire bus-powered enclosures, though if I recall correctly, there are limitations as to what types of drives exactly can be powered (some use more power than others). The G-Drive Mini is one such enclosure. Here're some more products carried by OWC.

slugslugslug · Nov 27, 2007, 06:17 PM

Originally Posted by ginoledesma

I'm unaware of 3.5" drives that can be powered by USB...

Yeah, but we're talking about 2.5" drives (see thread title).

mduell · Nov 27, 2007, 09:11 PM

Originally Posted by slugslugslug

So, none of these enclosures can be powered by a single USB port, can they? I just picked up a MacAlly one for 20 bucks at my school computer store, and it needed 2 USB ports for full power. That's simply a limitation of USB, huh?s

It depends on the drive. Most current laptop hard drives are right around the 2.5W line, which is the maximum that a single USB port can provide. So try it with one and if it doesn't spin up then plug in the other one.