[vja4him]

Which Enclosure and HD for my iBook G4?

I need to find a good enclosure and HD to use with my iBook G4. I'm running Tiger, OSX 10.4. I'd like to get a larger HD to use with an enclosure though, probably either 500GB or 640GB.

I need to use the external HD to boot the computer, and also need two Firewire and one USB connections, so I can connect other external drives.

Any suggestions?

I've been using this enclosure:

Rosewill RX30-U2FA Aluminum 3.5" USB 2.0 (USB1.1) 1 port (4pin) FireWire 400 (1394a) 2 ports (6pin) External Enclosure

with this HD:

HDD 300GB MAXTOR 16M ATA133 7L300R0

for over four years, with no problems until yesterday afternoon ....

I need a new external HD, because our neighbor was messing around with the circuit breakers and flipped the switches, which cut our power and damaged my external HD!

Any suggestions? Thanks!

[EndlessMac]

Do they no longer sell your enclosure or an updated version because you can get the same one again if it has worked well for you in the past. I have a Macally enclosure and it works well for me. It has what you are looking for which is 2 Firewire and one USB connections. Try going to places like Newegg.com and read up on the user reviews of each product. As for your current hard drive have you tried a hard drive repair software?

[mduell]

Given how little capacity you're looking for, and that it's going to be connected to a laptop, consider a 2.5" (laptop) hard drive instead of a 3.5" (desktop) hard drive. That way it's bus powered so you don't need an AC adapter, and much smaller.

2.5" macally USB/FW enclosure + 2.5" 500GB drive = about $120 with tax/shipping
Or 640GB for about $160 total.

3.5" macally USB/FW enclosure + 3.5" 500GB drive = about $100 with tax/shipping
Or 1TB for about $125 total or 1.5TB for $160 total or 2TB for $220 total.

[vja4him]

Originally Posted by EndlessMac 

Do they no longer sell your enclosure or an updated version because you can get the same one again if it has worked well for you in the past. I have a Macally enclosure and it works well for me. It has what you are looking for which is 2 Firewire and one USB connections. Try going to places like Newegg.com and read up on the user reviews of each product. As for your current hard drive have you tried a hard drive repair software?

I used both Disk Warrior and Disk Utility to repair the internal HD (two partitions), and the external HD (two partitions). Repairs were somewhat successful, but some problems were not fixable.

I also reinstalled Tiger on the external HD. I don't have enough space on the internal HD to reinstall Tiger.

Still have the same problem ....

[vja4him]

Originally Posted by mduell 

Given how little capacity you're looking for, and that it's going to be connected to a laptop, consider a 2.5" (laptop) hard drive instead of a 3.5" (desktop) hard drive. That way it's bus powered so you don't need an AC adapter, and much smaller.

2.5" macally USB/FW enclosure + 2.5" 500GB drive = about $120 with tax/shipping
Or 640GB for about $160 total.

3.5" macally USB/FW enclosure + 3.5" 500GB drive = about $100 with tax/shipping
Or 1TB for about $125 total or 1.5TB for $160 total or 2TB for $220 total.

I think I'll have to go with an external HD that has it's own power supply. I only have two USB connections, and I need three! One for mouse, one for keyboard, and another for iPod, or digital camera.

I don't take my iBook anywhere, so it is really no trouble.

[mduell]

Huh? Why would you use USB for external storage on an iBook? Firewire is way faster on a G4 and can provide bus power.