Does the hard drive being put in the enclosure need to be of a certain transfer format like SATA or IDE, or does it not matter? If it's IDE, how does it work with the enclosure? Do you connect the IDE cable to some part of the enclosure, which turns it into a USB 2.0 connection?

Help?

I have a couple.

You just need a regular IDE hard drive. Inside the enclosure is an ide cable and a 4 pin molex cable for power.

Plug it all in and close it up.

Then you plug in USB & the pwoer supply to the enclosure.

XP should recognize it automatically as a mass storage device and you're good to go.

Small PCB in enclosure hooks to the HDD. Back pael will have all or a combination of some. IEEE 1394 (firewire) and is the fastest, USB 2.0 or 1.0 and SATA, that hook to the PC.

Quoted: Small PCB in enclosure hooks to the HDD. Back pael will have all or a combination of some. IEEE 1394 (firewire) and is the fastest, USB 2.0 or 1.0 and SATA, that hook to the PC.

Awesome. And with Firewire you can Daisy-chain along a ridiculous number of devices, right?

Quoted: Quoted: Small PCB in enclosure hooks to the HDD. Back pael will have all or a combination of some. IEEE 1394 (firewire) and is the fastest, USB 2.0 or 1.0 and SATA, that hook to the PC. Awesome. And with Firewire you can Daisy-chain along a ridiculous number of devices, right?

Yup.

-Foxxz

Another quick stupid question about HDDs.....this time about cooling.

I don't know if such a thing exists, but is there some kind of a fan I can mount in a spare hard drive space in my tower? I'm worried about cooling for the two HDDs that I have and was wondering if there is such a fan that has the proper brackets to slide into a space where a HDD would normally go, and would be successful in cooling down my drives.

Ya, just take a look around Roboman i've seen fans that fit in the HD slots..

Ummm,,,,,
The enclosures either support 2.5" drives (laptop-sized drives) or 3.5" drives (desktop-sized drives).
.....
Of the desktop 3.5" enclosures, they usually ONLY either take a IDE or a SATA hard-drive, so you need to make sure the enclosure and the hard-drive are the same types. Also--some of the cheaper enclosures have a size limitation; 300Gb is the limit of the cheaper one I have. It might be possible to create and/or access different partitions on the same external hard-drive, but I don't know. Never heard of anyone trying.
....
The enclosure-to-PC connections are USB (either 1 or 2) and FireWire.
....
Important Note: hard-drives in external enclosures run very hot if used hard. That is--if they are thrashed a lot. It's best to avoid defragging external hard drives, especially if you have a cheaper-brand of drive. Overheating drives will cause data corruption. I've seen at least one external enclosure that had a built-in fan.  
...
Regarding hot hard-drives (inside the PC case):
Many PC cases with regular HD mounting have a spot in front of the hard-drives for a fan, but it's best to just make sure there's enough holes in the case to get decent air flow where you need it. Many cheaper cases really don't have good air flow, and the best/easiest/cheapest way to fix that is to cut strategic holes.  

How hot are your hard drives?
Two free HD temp monitoring programs are-
HDD Thermometer - http://www.rsdsoft.com/hdd-thermometer/index.php (requires free registration)
SpeedFan - http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
?
....I don't know if monitoring programs will read temperatures on the external drive enclosures.
I have two HD's on a controller card (that runs them as SCSI devices) and no HD temperature-monitoring program I ever found could read their temperatures.
For HD's connected normally to the motherboard, it shold all work automatically.
~

When I worked at Cypress semiconductor we had some of the adapters that went in the enclose that converted everything, someone kept them when the project left.

Quoted: Another quick stupid question about HDDs.....this time about cooling. I don't know if such a thing exists, but is there some kind of a fan I can mount in a spare hard drive space in my tower? I'm worried about cooling for the two HDDs that I have and was wondering if there is such a fan that has the proper brackets to slide into a space where a HDD would normally go, and would be successful in cooling down my drives.

www.xoxide.com/aoculhardriv.html

Thats one of ALOT.....

Cool thread. Anybody got any enclosure recommendations? I've been thinking of one for my laptop.

Quoted: Ummm,,,,, The enclosures either support 2.5" drives (laptop-sized drives) or 3.5" drives (desktop-sized drives). ..... Of the desktop 3.5" enclosures, they usually ONLY either take a IDE or a SATA hard-drive, so you need to make sure the enclosure and the hard-drive are the same types. Also--some of the cheaper enclosures have a size limitation; 300Gb is the limit of the cheaper one I have. It might be possible to create and/or access different partitions on the same external hard-drive, but I don't know. Never heard of anyone trying. .... The enclosure-to-PC connections are USB (either 1 or 2) and FireWire. .... Important Note: hard-drives in external enclosures run very hot if used hard. That is--if they are thrashed a lot. It's best to avoid defragging external hard drives, especially if you have a cheaper-brand of drive. Overheating drives will cause data corruption. I've seen at least one external enclosure that had a built-in fan.   ... Regarding hot hard-drives (inside the PC case): Many PC cases with regular HD mounting have a spot in front of the hard-drives for a fan, but it's best to just make sure there's enough holes in the case to get decent air flow where you need it. Many cheaper cases really don't have good air flow, and the best/easiest/cheapest way to fix that is to cut strategic holes.   How hot are your hard drives? Two free HD temp monitoring programs are- HDD Thermometer - http://www.rsdsoft.com/hdd-thermometer/index.php (requires free registration) SpeedFan - http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php ? ....I don't know if monitoring programs will read temperatures on the external drive enclosures. I have two HD's on a controller card (that runs them as SCSI devices) and no HD temperature-monitoring program I ever found could read their temperatures. For HD's connected normally to the motherboard, it shold all work automatically. ~

Alrighty, according to the second program I'm running at about 47 degrees Celsius. Does this warrant a fan?

I want this enclosure.....

www.xoxide.com/vantec-nexstar3-external-enclosure-grey.html

Quoted: Alrighty, according to the second program I'm running at about 47 degrees Celsius. Does this warrant a fan?

No, but it wont hurt anything.

Quoted: I want this enclosure..... www.xoxide.com/vantec-nexstar3-external-enclosure-grey.html store1.yimg.com/I/xoxide_1877_28610924

That thing is insane!

Another quick dumb question. Will an AGP8x card work in an AGP4x slot?

Quoted: Ummm,,,,, The enclosures either support 2.5" drives (laptop-sized drives) or 3.5" drives (desktop-sized drives). ..... Of the desktop 3.5" enclosures, they usually ONLY either take a IDE or a SATA hard-drive, so you need to make sure the enclosure and the hard-drive are the same types. Also--some of the cheaper enclosures have a size limitation; 300Gb is the limit of the cheaper one I have. It might be possible to create and/or access different partitions on the same external hard-drive, but I don't know. Never heard of anyone trying. .... The enclosure-to-PC connections are USB (either 1 or 2) and FireWire. .... Important Note: hard-drives in external enclosures run very hot if used hard. That is--if they are thrashed a lot. It's best to avoid defragging external hard drives, especially if you have a cheaper-brand of drive. Overheating drives will cause data corruption. I've seen at least one external enclosure that had a built-in fan.   ... Regarding hot hard-drives (inside the PC case): Many PC cases with regular HD mounting have a spot in front of the hard-drives for a fan, but it's best to just make sure there's enough holes in the case to get decent air flow where you need it. Many cheaper cases really don't have good air flow, and the best/easiest/cheapest way to fix that is to cut strategic holes.   How hot are your hard drives? Two free HD temp monitoring programs are- HDD Thermometer - http://www.rsdsoft.com/hdd-thermometer/index.php (requires free registration) SpeedFan - http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php ? ....I don't know if monitoring programs will read temperatures on the external drive enclosures. I have two HD's on a controller card (that runs them as SCSI devices) and no HD temperature-monitoring program I ever found could read their temperatures. For HD's connected normally to the motherboard, it shold all work automatically. ~

I forgot to ask....does anyone make external enclosures with built in fans to deal with potential overheating problems?

New question:  So I've been kicking around the idea of getting a new HD for my laptop.  The main thing stopping me (besides money) is the pain in the ass of re-installing everything.  Currently, the drive is 30GB, but I was thinking about 80GB or 100GB.  I had an idea and wonder if it would work:

Buy new drive and external case for drive.
Connect drive to USB port.
Copy entire contents of computer onto new drive.
Shut down computer
Swap drives
Turn computer back on.  Same as before but with more space.
Use old drive as backup or reformat and use as external drive.

Would this work?

Quoted: Another quick dumb question. Will an AGP8x card work in an AGP4x slot?

Yes, but will work at 4x speeds.

Quoted: I forgot to ask....does anyone make external enclosures with built in fans to deal with potential overheating problems?

If heat was that big of an issue they wouldnt be selling them without. Youll be fine. UNless your in like AZ, mid day in the sun.

Quoted: Would this work?

Not unless you use a drive copy program like Norton Ghost or something along those lines.

Quoted: Quoted: Would this work? Not unless you use a drive copy program like Norton Ghost or something along those lines.

Why not?  Some sort of boot sector shit?

Quoted: Quoted: Would this work? Not unless you use a drive copy program like Norton Ghost or something along those lines.

I did the exact same thing he's describing (except with my desktop) and if I recall, when I bought my replacement drive (which was a Seagate) it came with its own copying utility. It successfully mirrored everything on one drive over to the next. After I checked to be sure it was mirrorer safely, I just formatted the old drive and now use it as a backup.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Would this work? Not unless you use a drive copy program like Norton Ghost or something along those lines. Why not?  Some sort of boot sector shit?

Youll end up with MBR issues (master/main boot record) You need some sort of copy software.

Do you happen to know if a Radeon X800 is better than their 9550?

You'd think a Computer Science major such as myself would know this shit, but I engross myself in the programming and digital logic, not the mundane like external HDD enclosures

Hmmm...

Found a free one!

dawn.thot.net/cd/160.html

Quoted: Do you happen to know if a Radeon X800 is better than their 9550? You'd think a Computer Science major such as myself would know this shit, but I engross myself in the programming and digital logic, not the mundane like external HDD enclosures

x800 is newer than the 9550, so maybe. All depends on what you do. Gamer? Applications?????

.

Quoted: Quoted: Do you happen to know if a Radeon X800 is better than their 9550? You'd think a Computer Science major such as myself would know this shit, but I engross myself in the programming and digital logic, not the mundane like external HDD enclosures x800 is newer than the 9550, so maybe. All depends on what you do. Gamer? Applications?????

I'm not a hardcore gamer who needs the absolute bleeding edge at every second, but I've found that any game I try to play nowadays is choppier than shit.

Quoted: Another quick stupid question about HDDs.....this time about cooling. I don't know if such a thing exists, but is there some kind of a fan I can mount in a spare hard drive space in my tower? I'm worried about cooling for the two HDDs that I have and was wondering if there is such a fan that has the proper brackets to slide into a space where a HDD would normally go, and would be successful in cooling down my drives.

They are available at CompUSA, Fry's etc. cost about $10-15 mounting about 20-30 minutes. Besure that you have enough drive bays because they take up room in the lower drive bay.

Quoted: I'm not a hardcore gamer who needs the absolute bleeding edge at every second, but I've found that any game I try to play nowadays is choppier than shit.

Upgrade time

Ok, so I'm gonna do it.  Any recommendations on a HD enclosure running USB 2 for a 2.5" ATA HDD?  I looked around NewEgg for a while, found a bunch, but have no idea what's good.

Also, is $150 a good price for a Hitachi 100GB 5400 RPM Laptop HDD?  Thinking about that one.

ETA:  Old drive is ATA-5, new drive is ATA-6.  This is gonna work right?

Quoted: I forgot to ask....does anyone make external enclosures with built in fans to deal with potential overheating problems?

I thought I had seen one but cannot find it anywhere now. I may have been remembering a mobile rack with fans (which is something else).

The external drives do get quite hot if used a lot in a short period. You could aim a desk fan at it I guess....
~