Though it's been a while, last I checked a USB enclosure + HD were cheaper than an external HD of the same size.
Any advantage of one over the other?
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Anonymous2006-05-18 17:09
What do you mean by external? A USB enclosed HDD is also external.
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Anonymous2006-05-18 17:14
You mean it's cheaper to build your own external hard drive out of a normal HDD and USB enclosure than buying a ready-made one, right? Yes, this is true (and you also know you're not getting some POS hard drive in it - you choose what brand to buy).
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Anonymous2006-05-18 21:07
External = more easily portable, slow, not for installing an OS in
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Anonymous2006-05-18 23:18
External HDs are slower than the USB Enclosure type?
And, wait - it matters? USB2.0 is faster than either rate?
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Anonymous2006-05-19 0:51
Most drives sold as being external are the same as if you were to slap an IDE/SATA one into an external enclosure with Firewire or USB. This thread is confusing.
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Anonymous2006-05-19 1:02
a usb enclosure + hdd is great because you can take an old hd lying around, plug it in the enclosure, and see what's on it without having to put it in a computer. great if you run into old hd's on occasion and want to check out what's on them, or for troubleshooting/data recovery.
furthermore, all hd's will fail at some point and it's nice to be able to replace them.
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Anonymous2006-05-19 5:27
USB enclosure tends to overheat if you put any big HD in it. (meaning 160+GB) Even if they have a complete alu casing. I don't know it those lil vents they put in some help, but I doubt it.
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Anonymous2006-05-19 5:37
I'm so goth I just hot plug IDE hard disks and leave them lying on my desk.
Vantec makes some of the best enclosures IMO Because they not only have a fan in them, but they're made almost entirely fom aluminum, so the entire case acts kinda like a heat sink. And, you can pick one up online for around $25
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J3ph422006-05-19 15:30
So does Silverstone. Silverstone is usually pretty solid.
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Anonymous2006-05-20 3:45
I just got a couple of Lacie 'Brick' external HDs. 500gb each, fairly fast, look like big lego bricks, a bit noisy but just as cheap as buying the bare Seagate drives.
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Anonymous2006-05-23 15:03
I've found it comes down to portability. My Lacie 160GB external HD, I've had for over a year now and it's still going strong. I carry it around with me a lot. It's reading and writing speed is about the same as a standard ATA133 IDE 5400RPM drive.
I have a few friends who use external enclosures with Western Digital and Maxtor hard drives and they have both failed once within the last year and they don't carry theirs around nearly as much as I do mine.
I use a firewire drive and they both have USB2.0 drives. Technically speaking, firewire has a lower peak transfer rate than USB2.0 which is what I find most funny. Mind you, if I'm not mistaken, a HD doesn't even come close to maxing out the transfer rate of either specification.
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Anonymous2006-05-23 20:41 (sage)
>>16 a HD doesn't even come close to maxing out the transfer rate of either specification.
Correct. True of IDE interface, even. (UDMA100/133/150)
But I hope you're not trying to imply that your friends' choice of interface has any bearing on the failure of their drives, rather than the brands they chose. Firewire consistently performs better than USB2.0 in real-world performance, but that doesn't mean it'll keep your drive from dying. Their drives have failed because Maxtor fails and WD sucks (to a lesser degree).
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Anonymous2006-05-23 23:51
>>17
No I wasn't implying that the failure was on the part of the interface. A similar firewire style enclosure would probably have re-produced similar effects. What I was trying to state is that although USB2.0 is specified to be faster than firewire, my firewire drive still outperformed them.
It was sort of a poke at the *so-called* higher transfer rates of USB2.0 over firewire. (firewire has higher sustained rate of transfer, for those who haven't already figured this out.) Of course, it doesn't matter because as we've established, the speed of the drives isn't being limited by the chosen interface. Even I admit that it kind of fails.
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Anonymous2006-05-24 0:01
Also, chances are, failure within a year is more likely attributed to the fact that they were still carrying around IDE drives in an external enclosure that are designed to be sat in a still PC case for only as long as the warranty lasts. There is extra wear and tear on drives that are moved around a lot.
A certain amount of abuse is sort of expected on an external hard drive. This is taken into account when the drive is designed, so it doesn't need to go back before the warranty is up.
Now I did say they didn't take theirs around as often as I did, but I usually take my drive around with me religiously. In comparison, they only take their drives around with them about once a week. That is still considerable wear and tear on a drive that is designed to sit in a still computer case for 12 months.
That would probably have the most bearing on their failure.
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Anonymous2006-05-24 2:14
>>19
as long as you are not moving it around while it is on i fail to see how it sustains more wear and tear unless you are constantly bumping it.
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