[unix]

so far all the enclosures that i've seen reviews for dont have much good to say. (firewire 400 or 800). does anyone have a firewire enclosure that's worth getting ? something that doesn't suck and doesn't cost more than my hard drive ? seen a few that cost around 50 bucks before tax. my 500GB caviar blue was only 60 bucks. lol. or is usb sufficient for most people here ? just thought i wanna take advantage of the firewire port on my macbook pro. thanks!!

[CharlesS]

Unfortunately, the cheaper FireWire enclosures tend to have sketchy chipsets. For FireWire 800 you generally want an Oxford chipset, which can end up making the enclosure in the $50-$100 range. If you want something cheaper, it's best to go with USB or eSATA (assuming you have an older MacBook Pro with an ExpressCard slot).

[EndlessMac]

Macally Firewire 400 & USB combo enclosures are about $40. I have one myself and I like it. From what I've noticed Firewire is faster than USB 2 so I say it's worth it since some of my files are huge. Any speed increase is a welcomed feature. I haven't checked prices for Firewire 800 so I don't know about that.

[Eug]

FireWire 800 makes a huge difference in speed vs. FireWire 400.

For example, I clocked my 1.5 Terabyte FW 800 FreeAgent Desk for Mac at 688 Mbps. I got only 320 Mbps with FW 400. USB 2 gave me all of 286 Mbps.

ie. FW 400 is faster than USB 2, but the difference is not mind-blowing. FW 800 on the other hand is in a completely different league.

I don't own any separate FW 800 enclosures since they're pretty expensive. (My FW 800 FreeAgent Desk for Mac was cheap, as it was a refurb.)