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ghporter · Jan 25, 2009, 05:32 PM

I need to put a couple of SATA drives in one case to reduce desktop clutter, and I'd like to continue accessing these drives separately, rather than conglomerating them into one chunk. Noise is an issue; I like it quiet. I also don't want to spent too much money.

I'm not stuck on any particular brand, but it would be good if it were not terribly ugly. Any suggestions?

Oh, and I don't have eSATA (I have a year-old iMac...), so USB and/or Firewire is the way I need to connect it, preferably USB.

Big Mac · 06:10 PM

I had one in mind, but externally it's only eSATA. It's pretty quiet and matches the G5/Mac Pro case. I'll see if I can find a USB or Firewire version when I get some time.

CharlesS · Jan 25, 2009, 06:14 PM

What size are the drives? 2.5" or 3.5"?

ghporter · Jan 25, 2009, 08:00 PM

3.5" drives. One is 250GB and the other 300GB (nominal, of course). I forgot to mention that above; I guess spending a while searching without any "good" results (lots of low priced, poorly reviewed results) wasn't good for me.

CharlesS · Jan 25, 2009, 08:24 PM

There are a ton on Newegg that are cheap - just go to Computer Hardware -> External Enclosures, then click on "3.5" and "SATA" on the left-hand column to narrow the results, and finally type "Dual" into the "Search Within" field to get a large list of options.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ual&Page=1

A lot of the Newegg enclosures are plastic though, which can cause the drive to need a noisier fan than normal in order to cool the drive. They do have the Macally though, which is made of aluminum and looks pretty nice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817347021

I'm a bit partial to OWC for drive enclosures - I've got one of their single-drive enclosures and really like it. They have a dual-drive USB 2.0 enclosure that's a little pricier than the others, but includes a USB 2.0 hub:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other...ng/MEFWU2HAL2/

Simon · Jan 26, 2009, 02:07 AM

Get a dock. It's the most flexible solution. It will take all your 3.5" drives, but also a 2.5" notebook drive if you're ever tinkering around with one (cloning, repairs, etc.). It will give you access to all your old SATA drives and it will work also with new drives when you upgrade in the future.

There are a lot of different flavors. I'd get one with USB and eSATA so you can connect it through USB now, but you have the much faster eSATA option in the future.
Here's a two-drive dock for $65.

USB-only is cheaper of course. Here's one for $50.

ghporter · Jan 26, 2009, 08:09 PM

The dock is an interesting idea. I have a bit of a dust issue (my desk is in a corner that seems to collect it) and I'd thought that a regular enclosure would be easier to keep clean. But the dock shows promise... Thanks for the suggestion.

Simon · Jan 27, 2009, 01:53 AM

I just started using docks a short while ago. So far I have been totally convinced. I find it a huge advantage to be able to pretty much hot swap any type of SATA drive I have lying around.

I was worried about dust, noise, and the whole thing toppling over. Fortunately noise isn't an issue at all and the base is weighed down so it's very stable. I'm still not sure about dust. There is a flap to cover the slot. I have my docks in pretty clean environments and I swap disks fairly often, so I can't see much dust collecting. But I'm not sure I'd use the setup in a workshop or other dusty environment.

CharlesS · Jan 27, 2009, 03:33 AM

The dust thing seems like an issue to me. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but that thing looks like it would get like an old Super NES game console after a while.