[Dazed]

Hi,

Will be getting an imac in a few months (probably after WWDC) and since my 2 SATA2 hard drives in my windows machine will no longer be needed im thinking of getting some enclosures so i can still use them on the new mac.

Can anyone recommend some decent enclosures. I was looking at this one from vantec which seemed ok

Also is it ok to add more than 1, either via a USB hub or even daisy chained together ?

They will mostly be used for backups as well as image/music storage (for itunes and maybe apple tv eventually)

Thanks

[Klipse]

hmm you can try www.cooldrives.com
they do some pretty good firewire enclosures.

[mduell]

Yes, you can add as many as you want, either hubbed (USB or FW) or chained (FW only).

If price is more important, go with USB (~$30 and ~20MBps). If performance is more important, go with FW (~$60 and ~35MBps).

Enclosures with SATA on the inside are generally more expensive than those with IDE/ATA on the inside, but since you already own the drives you're pretty much stuck.

USB options:
$36
$25
$29
$30
$40

USB + Firewire (actually cheaper/more available than Firewire only) options:
$50
$75

[Dazed]

Is USB 2 faster than FW 400? if so then I guess for max performance i would need a FW 800 enclosure ?

I was thinking of getting a 24" Imac which has one of these although wouldnt USB be fast enough for my proposed uses (backup drive and itunes/apple tv media storage) ?

Thanks

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Dazed 

Is USB 2 faster than FW 400? if so then I guess for max performance i would need a FW 800 enclosure ?

I was thinking of getting a 24" Imac which has one of these although wouldnt USB be fast enough for my proposed uses (backup drive and itunes/apple tv media storage)?

As I said in my previous post, FW is faster than USB. It's also quite a bit more expensive. The iMac doesn't have FW800, so that isn't really an option for you.

Yes, USB is fast enough for what you want to do.

[serphium]

Actually, the 24" iMac does have one FW800 port.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by mduell 

As I said in my previous post, FW is faster than USB. It's also quite a bit more expensive.

Quite a bit? I paid 35 € for my IceCube enclosure with FireWire (vs. 33 for the one without FireWire).

[Kenneth]

I have a FireWire 400 + USB 2.0 enclosure by OWC for sale. Fan-less design, so it's silence besides the hard drive itself. I rarely used it since my LaCie d2 HDD has a FW800 connection.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

Quite a bit? I paid 35 € for my IceCube enclosure with FireWire (vs. 33 for the one without FireWire).

Does the IceCube have SATA or ATA on the inside? I'm only talking about internally SATA enclosures in this thread.

If you are talking about enclosures that are internally SATA, 33 € is $44.6, which is very expensive for an externally USB enclosure; most are $25-35, see my post above. And 35 € is very cheap for an externally FW enclosure.
Enclosures with ATA internally show the same trend, just with the prices shifted down slightly.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by mduell 

Does the IceCube have SATA or ATA on the inside? I'm only talking about internally SATA enclosures in this thread.

If you are talking about enclosures that are internally SATA, 33 € is $44.6, which is very expensive for an externally USB enclosure; most are $25-35, see my post above. And 35 € is very cheap for an externally FW enclosure.
Enclosures with ATA internally show the same trend, just with the prices shifted down slightly.

Don't forget the VAT (which is 19 %), the weak dollar and the fact that most products are simply more expensive in Europe. (I bought it a few months ago, I checked, and the prices have indeed gone down.) There's a phletora of models (external and internal interfaces, fans, colors, etc.), so the situation changes rapidly. I checked today, SATA enclosures start at 39 €.

Although I must say, like it or not, that my LaCie d2 enclosure is much more robust and has a feature that I really miss: it allows the hd to spin down. Somehow that doesn't work with my new enclosure. Plus, it's basically open (somebody in the design department thought it's cool to add funky neon lights behind grills which I didn't notice until I turned it on). My Lacie case is solid metal (which also acts as a natural heat spreader which was useful and necessary in Japan) that shields the sound much better.