aysdf Posted June 30, 2005 Share Posted June 30, 2005 I'm a newbie trying to consolidate all my hard drives, and I'm looking into external USB enclosures. Can I get some clarifications?-) Do aluminum cases really not require fans?-) I remember it was extremely dangerous to hot-swap a IDE HD rack, but are USB enclosures really hot-swappable as many sites advertise?-) (legacy question) How painfully slow is transferring over USB 1.1? For instance, from your experience, the time it took to transfer...5 or 10 or X gigs onto an external HD.-) are there any highly recommended or highly un-recommended chipsets/brands/models?-) Does a DC power feed really increase the HD's life?One of the many I looked at: http://www.imagestore.us/product.asp?pf_id=HY%2D3520USB%2DC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted June 30, 2005 Share Posted June 30, 2005 (edited) I'm a newbie trying to consolidate all my hard drives, and I'm looking into external USB enclosures. Can I get some clarifications?-) Do aluminum cases really not require fans?Aluminum conducts heat much better than plastic, so fans may not be required.-) I remember it was extremely dangerous to hot-swap a IDE HD rack, but are USB enclosures really hot-swappable as many sites advertise?I do not have personal experience with it, but they should be.-) (legacy question) How painfully slow is transferring over USB 1.1? For instance, from your experience, the time it took to transfer...5 or 10 or X gigs onto an external HD.Very painful. I highly recommend against[/b[ doing it over USB 1.1.... unless you have a LOT of time on your hands.-) are there any highly recommended or highly un-recommended chipsets/brands/models? Not that I am aware of, but the standard buying guidlines apply... make sure it is of decent quality, has a warranty, etc.-) Does a DC power feed really increase the HD's life? The power supply in your computer is DC, so no big difference there. The computer's power supply will have better voltage regulation and correction than a wall wart anyway. One of the many I looked at: http://www.imagestore.us/product.asp?pf_id=HY%2D3520USB%2DC<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Welcome to the forum! Enjoy your stay...... Edited June 30, 2005 by ross549 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_P Posted June 30, 2005 Share Posted June 30, 2005 -) I remember it was extremely dangerous to hot-swap a IDE HD rack, but are USB enclosures really hot-swappable as many sites advertise?It can be done, IF the device's XP properties are set to Optimize for quick removal. However there is a performance hit using this option. You can choose the Optimize for performance option and still swap the device out when done but you have to manually remember to do an extra XP step or two before disconnecting it. Not hard to do, but if you forget you may end up having to FDISK the drive before you can use it again. -) (legacy question) How painfully slow is transferring over USB 1.1? For instance, from your experience, the time it took to transfer...5 or 10 or X gigs onto an external HD.I don't remember how long it took me to transfer a large file to my device but it was slow. However, it was easier than using floppies or CDs. You start the copy and go do something else. If you're looking for speed I recommend removable IDE Trays such as this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817121101The problem with USB drives, IMO, is not the backing up but the Restore problems. Not all pcs support USB drives as bootable. If your restore sw boots from a DOS floppy you need to find a DOS driver to support your USB drive in order to restore from it. If you can't you may have to do a clean install of Windows and your backup software before you can access the files you backed up to the USB drive. You don't have these problems accessing a 2nd IDE drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted June 30, 2005 Share Posted June 30, 2005 It can be done, IF the device's XP properties are set to Optimize for quick removal. However there is a performance hit using this option. You can choose the Optimize for performance option and still swap the device out when done but you have to manually remember to do an extra XP step or two before disconnecting it. Not hard to do, but if you forget you may end up having to FDISK the drive before you can use it again. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I would still recommend stopping the device in windows before removal. Hard drives are known to not correctly report that all files have been written to the disk. The stopping of the device sends another command to the hard drive to flush the cache to disk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henderrob Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 I use an external aluminum hard drive enclosure with no fan for a 7200rpm ATA133 200GB Seagate harddrive. I use it to record TV and put all my music. Works great and is quite quiet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fastway Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 I was looking a few months ago and decided that Adaptec was the one I wanted. It has an aluminum case with no fan It still gets hot, well at least the case does. To reduce the heat in the unit you want to look for one that has an external power converter. One that you do not plug the 110 power plug directly into, but has a smaller plug off of a converter box. I would say the best comparison to USB 1.1 is to downloading from a dsl 1.5 meg connection, cause that is about all you get with USB 1.1. That’s not really that slow but for large files it may be... With USB on XP the dangers of loosing data has decreased because you can shut the drives data flow down and leave the drive safe for unplugging with the safely remove hardware tool.Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epp_b Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 (edited) If you get a 2.5" (notebook HDD) enclosure, it generates very little heat.I run mine over USB 1.1 and I don't find the speeds to be that bad, but I only transfer about 30-or-so MB per day and that's all at once at the end of day for backup.Definately get a USB 2.0 supporting enclosure (which is, oh yeah, pretty much all of them ) or consider firewire, which apparently has more consistent bandwidth.And, yes, USB drives are always hot-pluggable. However, in genearl you will have to dismount it via software (just clicking an icon) before disconnecting it physically. Edited July 2, 2005 by epp_b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 Actually, USB 2.0 is 480Mbit/sec, where firewire is 400. Not a huge-o-mungous difference, but USB is much more prevalent these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epp_b Posted July 3, 2005 Share Posted July 3, 2005 (edited) Firewire is a better medium for USB storage because it has a more consistent maximum while USB only spikes to 480Mbps (this, coming from the guy who has a USB 1.1 drive )This article gives an interesting comparison...http://www.digit-life.com/articles/usb20vsfirewire/(P.S. Is it just me, or does anyone else instinctively write "fox" after "fire" while writing "firefo firewire? ) Edited July 3, 2005 by epp_b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted July 3, 2005 Share Posted July 3, 2005 If you are only going to use the drive on your own PC..... then firewire is a viable option. However, if you plan on using the drive on other PC's, then it gets more complicated, because many computers do not yet have the Firewire ports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epp_b Posted July 3, 2005 Share Posted July 3, 2005 ^ Definately a valid point! ^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henderrob Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 USB 2.0 is perfectly adequate to watch recorded TV. While my ByTecc aluminum enclosure does get warm while watching TV, it never gets hot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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