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action · Jul 17, 2007, 09:41 PM

hi gang,

i upgraded my white macbook 2.16 with a 160gb seagate 7200 rpm drive and 2gb's of ram.

so now i have the stock 120gb 5400 oem drive i'm not using.

can you guys recommend a drive enclosure i so i can use the oem drive for storage.

the main purpose of the external drive would be as a scratch drive to directly capture raw images from a canon 5d with capture one software.

i have purchased drive enclosures for ide laptop drives but never for a laptop sata drives.
a google search came up with a couple drives but does the chipset used matter or are they all the same.

i would prefer a stylish drive like a snow white enclosure or one that's as close to a porsche lacie enclosure

fyi: the computer is definitely snappier i.e. opening and using graphics intensive apps like photoshop cs3. is that a function of having more ram or the 7200rpm drive? i would assume both but is one upgrade better then the other? the stock setup was constantly giving me beach balls.

i'm switching from a macbook pro rev a 2ghz with a 256ram video card and stock 5400rpm drive.

thanks in advance for everyones input.

chung

ibook_steve · Jul 17, 2007, 10:39 PM

Newegg has a great selection of all kinds of enclosures. Go there and read people's reviews.

Steve

action · 01:18 AM

steve,

thanks for your pointing me to newegg. i have actually gone there prior to my post and found about a dozen such enclosures that would fit my drive. i have also googled what i was looking for but like newegg, google did not turn up much in terms of reviews etc. that was helpful.

as i'm sure your time is valuable so is mine and i would never burden anyone to do my research. therefore, i posted on this board for a recommendation, with the conotation that someone actually has done what i'm trying to do now.

it is because of reading this board, that i was confident enough to get a seagate drive over a hitachi drive as a replacement because i read the reviews and benchmarks as well as getting 2gigs of ram over 3 gigs of ram for better performance. since this is a public forum about macbooks, from which i have learned much, i wanted this thread to be a guide as well for anyone who's in the same position as i am because i have never read a thread about people's experience with external enclosures for laptop sata drives on this forum.

i hope my reply to you isn't coming off as harsh or nasty but i just want to reiterate to someone else who may read my post that i'm not trying to waste their time in looking something up for me because i have already done this and i'm looking for a user recommendation.

best,

chung

mduell · Jul 18, 2007, 07:35 AM

Unfortunately Newegg doesn't have an SATA internal/Firewire external enclosures. I'd go look at fwdepot instead; anything with an Oxford chipset should be great.

Macola · Jul 18, 2007, 11:43 AM

I've used a couple of these from OWC, but they may be priced a little higher than other brands.

action · Jul 18, 2007, 09:16 PM

thanks for the feedback, i will check them out and report back if i get one of the above.

best,

chung

ibook_steve · Jul 19, 2007, 01:44 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

Unfortunately Newegg doesn't have an SATA internal/Firewire external enclosures. I'd go look at fwdepot instead; anything with an Oxford chipset should be great.

Really?

Newegg.com - Buy Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!
And to the OP, you're right, but I don't want to waste your time either. So do a little research yourself.

Steve

mduell · Jul 19, 2007, 03:00 PM

Originally Posted by ibook_steve

Really?

Newegg.com - Buy Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

None of which will fit the 2.5" drive that the OP has...

ibook_steve · Jul 19, 2007, 10:09 PM

Oops...missed that.

Steve

action · Jul 20, 2007, 12:03 AM

hi gang,

Newegg.com - Buy Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

these were the drive enclosures i was looking at. the internal connections on the 2.5 inch enclosures say sata. i thought they would fit? however, even if they did fit i don't really trust these no names. i had a bad experience buying a cheap usb 2 enclosure i never heard of from newegg and it was garbage.

macola, i think i will go with your recommendation since i have purchased numerous items in the past with owc.

mduell, thanks for your confirmation on those drive enclosures not fitting.

steve, i'm not trying to pick a fight with you but as i stated in my reply to you, i already did my own research before asking the board for help because i was not confident in what i found. if you feel the need to continue feel free. you may have the last word.

i will continue looking around for another week or so then get the owc enclosure. i will report back with any impressions with whatever i get.

chung lee

post_break · Jul 20, 2007, 07:44 AM

I have also looked for a sata 2.5" enclosure and cant find a single decent one. Good luck finding one. I hope you find one because I could still use one.

The Milkman · 05:24 PM

OWC has some 2.5" sata enclosures.
EDIT: Sorry Macola, missed your post.

I got an Icy Box from the local computer shop. Not very stylish but cheap. One problem: I can only use it with my MBP with a powered USB hub or by plugging in the included extra USB cable. Not sure if this is caused by the enclosure or because the drive itself requires more power than others or because one USB port doesn't supply enough power.

action · Jul 20, 2007, 08:14 PM

looks like the laptop sata enclosure market is under served. i checked wiebetech, where i had purchased firewire enclosures in the past and they didn't have any.

as of now, owc looks like it's it.

fyi, i have purchased a usb 2 lacie laptop safe drive for travel storage and i must say the fingerprint recognition is implemented in an easy and useful way.

once you set it up, which is very easy, you just swipe your finger and then the drive mounts.

i wonder what would happen if you ripped the hard drive out of the case and tried to mount it?

cl

bobmoore · Jul 20, 2007, 08:42 PM

I bought a SATA drive enclosure for my old Macbook drive on eBay. It was inexpensive, but works fine. This guy delivered quick too.

USB 2.0 Enclosure Case for 2.5" SATA Laptop Hard Drive on eBay Drives for Laptops, Drives, Controllers Storage, Computers Networking

amazing · Jul 20, 2007, 11:17 PM

minixpress portable FireWire Hard Disk Drive

$99, either enclosure (empty)

post_break · Jul 21, 2007, 11:17 AM

Who pays almost $100 for just an enclosure?

CharlesS · Jul 21, 2007, 11:46 AM

That's not just any enclosure - that one has FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0, and eSATA on it, and the FireWire chipset is the Oxford 924. That's about as good as enclosures get - if you want things like FireWire 800 in a good quality enclosure, you need to be willing to pay a little more.

If you want something cheaper, I'd still recommend making sure it has the Oxford chipset if you're going for FireWire. The cheap FireWire enclosures often use the Prolific chipset, which has been reported on the Internet to have a tendency to corrupt hard drives.

Kenneth · Jul 22, 2007, 05:03 PM

Originally Posted by amazing

minixpress portable FireWire Hard Disk Drive

$99, either enclosure (empty)

miniXpress825 Enclosure (no drive): $85 - read from xlr8yourmac.com.
XLR8YOURMAC

BTW, I will go ahead and order that enclosure. The Transintl.com enclosure seems to be the same model as ToughTech mini from WiebeTech.

Macola · 11:33 AM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

If you want something cheaper, I'd still recommend making sure it has the Oxford chipset if you're going for FireWire. The cheap FireWire enclosures often use the Prolific chipset, which has been reported on the Internet to have a tendency to corrupt hard drives.

Seconded. I've had nothing but problems with the Prolific chipset myself. That's why I stick with OWC or MacAlly, as many other vendors make it difficult, if not impossible, to determine what chipset is used before purchasing.

action · Jul 26, 2007, 08:10 PM

ok,

i have decided not to get an enclosure for my oem macbook drive. the lacie portable drive is suffient for me for now.

i plan on upgrading as soon as a smaller form factor macbook pro or an updated macbook comes out so for now i will stand pat.

thanks for everyone's input at least i will have a starting point when i do need one and hopefully by then there will be more compelling options.

best,

chung lee

83caddy16v · Aug 12, 2007, 09:15 AM

<bump> good info in this thread.

I recently swapped to a 250gb hd in my Macbook Pro and need to boot from the original HD to get some info that was not part of the backups I made.

I've purchased from TransInt in the past and it looks like that's a good enclosure.

Silky Voice of The Gorn · Aug 21, 2007, 08:41 AM

I posted this thread about a problem I'm having with an iBook HD put into an external USB2 enclosure. I've read around that there are some known issues with this scenario, and that a firewire enclosure might work fine. Can anyone confirm before I waste money on a second enclosure?

SpencerLavery · Aug 21, 2007, 09:15 AM

I have the Omata 2.5 USB enclosure and it works perfectly with the old HD from my mac. I picked it up from ebay for about $20. It's USB Bus-powered and comes with the cable, a case, and even a screwdriver for fitting. It's pretty nice looking too. I couldn't be happier. Well I could, it could use FW400 instead. But the USB proved fast enough even for replicating my entire 80GB HD (full) onto the new internal drive. I can't remember how long it took exactly but it was a darn site quicker than an OSX install.