i hope this isnt a dumb question, but i want to put a sata
2 seagate barracuda 7200.10, 16 mb hdd into and
external enclosure for use with my macbook with firewire
400. will it work with this (sata1?) enclosure on this page:

http://www.pctradestore.com/code/ui...
product.aspx?catid=8&subcatid=0

(it the 2nd colum, 7th one down, should have the title
"3.5” SATA / IDE TO ESATA / USB 2.0 & Firewire Combo
Aluminium Caddy with Fan")

do you think this is a good enclosure?

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU TO ANYONE WHO
HELPS ME :) :) :)

It appears there is no differentiation between SATA I & SATA II with external enclosures. Does your SATA II drive have a jumper on it to make it SATA I compatible? Some drives have that, although it doesn't seem to be necessary.

The specs state there is a provided data cable but doesn't specify if it a USB or Firewire cable. Both interfaces are available.

Looks to be a decent enclosure, even has a fan. I have a 5 1/4" enclosure that I have a 3.5" HD in. doesn't get hot, but lots of room in there.

THANKS ALOT!!!! :) :) i finally got a response for a
question i posted in a forum :) hahaha ...im lame :) but
back to the question...

what benifit does the jumper have? ive never herd of that.

if the cable's usb, i could just buy a firewire cable right?

that's a good thing to know- i didnt know you could put a
3.5 in drive in a 5 in enclosure (i guess i figured the
connections were diffrent sizes)

...and just to make sure, this line of seagate is the good
ones to get right?
and should i really worry as to wether the drive i get is
sata or ide? since the case is compatible to both

thanks again :)

If you are buying ALL the parts and assembling them as a unit why aren't you just buying a preassembled unit. Might be cheaper and then the warranty covers the entire unit. The main advantage of using Fireware IMO is that it will probably be the only device using the allowcated resources. USB shares resources. In testing, firewire 400 has proven to run faster than USB 480.

I am not up to speed on eSATA but I believe that type of connection should be the fastest of the three. I think the connecting cable must be very short to work though. You might want to check into it.

The enclosure I have is designed to accept either an IDE optical or harddrive. Both use the same connections. Adapter brackets are necessary.

im assembling the hdd in this way becuse i have found the
parts cheaper than a preassembled one, and an enclosure
preassembled typically can't be opened and have the hdd
switched. plus they didnt have the connection methods i
was looking for
i didnt think my macbook could connect to the drive with
esata. can it? ive been trying to figure out esata, and all i
think i know is the drive can connect to the enclosure via
e sata, but my macbook doesnt have an esata plug in to
connect the "enclosure" to the computer, or have i
misunderstood?

i dont necessarily need this drive to be extremely fast, i
want this seagate because i heard it was reliable, and had
a good capacity, and the price is good. (if you know of
another good, reliable, and well priced hard drive, it could
also be an option- i just dont want it to fail on me) i want
the hard drive to store music, photos, moives, and
photoshop documents.- primarily, i want it to serve as a
backup storage unit so i can clear up room on my
macbook. -although i dont know if i really need firewire
for this purpose, but i thought it would be good to go
ahead and use that feature.

I know next to nothing about macs. Firewire is faster in real tests, as I stated.

That enclosure looks to be very flexible in the configuration options. Hope that doesn't impact performance. Even USB 2.0 works pretty good though.

im sorry to keep bugging you, but why do fire wire drives
have 2 firewire ports?

thanks for all your help :)

I don't know why. Check with the manufacturer. Could be to connect a pass thru.

ok thanks for all your help :) :) :) :) :)

You are welcome

TD

I think I figured out why there are TWO firewird ports. I think it is to supply DC current to run the drive motor if you don't have AC current available The drive could be used on a laptop in the field then.

ok =) i also read that they could indeed be used to daisy
chain devices, but NOT other hdds. and something like
the oxford cards are the best for this- others have issues
or something.

if you are still around, i just got a seagate baraccuda 3.5
in 7200.10 sata 2 400 gb hard drive

do you know if a metal gear box enclosure will work with
this? or any other enclosure that converts sata2 to firewire
400 (and usb if possible)
- i just have to look for a "sata enclosure" and its
compatible with sata 2 right- is that what you have said
earlier, or have i misunderstood?

i got the drive for 73. 00 new -thats a good deal right?

thanks again :)

that is what I said based on research for SATA enclosures. No one has anything specifically made for SATA II. Both firewire and USB 2.0 are much slower than the transfer rate of native IDE or SATA so there is no advantage in trying to run at SATA II speeds in an external enclosure.

I am located in the USA so I don't know what good prices are in the UK.

i guess ill have to settle for a metal gear box usb :\ ahh well
- hahaha, i live in the us too :)

At one point the link you posteed worked. It was for a vendor in the UK.

For an excellent online vendor in the USA try Newegg.com. You will find many external enclosures available there.

yeah, i realized it was a uk vendor, i found another hdd
enclosure similar to it, but they're all uk :\

i looked up newegg, but they didnt really have what i was
looking for, at the price i was looking at.

Try pricewatch.com , if you find a vendor with something you are interested in then check the vendor out at resellerratings.com. Don't use one with no, or bad rating.

ok thanks:)