Bus-powered external disks

On Thu, 27 Dec 2007 19:24:39 +0000, Chris Ridd wrote (in a previous article):

Does anyone here have a recent FireLite drive that they'd share their experiences of?

I've got a FireLite FW 120GB drive and a FireLite USB 80GB drive. Both are reasonably fast and just work. The FW one is in work at present as a Time Machine drive for a test MacOS X 10.5 wiki server (so I can't do tests on it).

I've never had issues with the read or write speeds though on either of the drives.

Ian

Have they? the one I have at work seems pretty metal. Although it isn't bus powered

I would be interested though for when I upgrade my mums machine to 10.5. I am using a USB thing from PCWorld, but she needs a firewire one. --
Woody

Chris Ridd wrote:

Or does anyone have recommendations for other enclosures? Bus-powered Firewire support is a must.

I use "Warp" enclosures from Maplin for 2.5in disks, they have USB2 and Firewire 400 interfaces. They work reliably bus powered via Firewire and are a bit hit and miss when used as USB2 buspowered enclosures. If you must use them with USB2 it's best to plug the cable into the computer first, using two USB sockets. The cable supplied has twin plugs for this purpose. Then plug the cable into the drive. If you try to plug the cable into the drive first the current draw as the drive spins up causes problems.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=A58CG

Maplin also claim this 3.5in enclosure is bus powered, I don't believe them.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=45054

Both enclosures are very well made with solid aluminium baseplates and they run cool.

On Thu, 27 Dec 2007 19:24:39 +0000, Chris Ridd wrote

Or does anyone have recommendations for other enclosures? Bus-powered Firewire support is a must. I was put off by the LaCie "Porsche" drives apparently having plastic cases...

The cases of my two LaCie 'Porsche' drives *seem* to be metal - although I guess it might be metal-coated plastic - but they certainly have an 'ingot-like' heft to them

Chris Ridd wrote:

Does anyone here have a recent FireLite drive that they'd share their experiences of?

Not that recent- some time last year I think. A FL60N that I use for data backup. Bus powered, small light and very portable. Seems to work okay.

At my last employer I carried an 80 GB Firelite FW drive around with me for 2 years, it had lots of use, no problems. I recently bought a few empty Firelite cases off eBay for myself, used but as new, and today some more for work. I've found them very reliable and durable, and all I've seen used ATA hard disks. Useful when you've got spare drives left over from upgrades. The empty cases were £5.35 each, plus a few quid postage and VAT. New complete with drives they appear very good value for money.

Steve Bell

For mums one firewire is all it needs, and all it will ever use. I don't mind if it has USB too, but it isn't worth paying extra for.

The desktop Porsches have a brushed-metal front and a faux-metal plastic body. They can also be quite noisy, but when idle (low-frequency drone) and when accessing (loud clicking). Not always (and apparently not all of them) but sometimes. Insanely cheap though.

I don't know about the portable ones.

-z-

zoara wrote:

The desktop Porsches have a brushed-metal front and a faux-metal plastic body. They can also be quite noisy, but when idle (low-frequency drone) and when accessing (loud clicking). Not always (and apparently not all of them) but sometimes. Insanely cheap though.

£66 for 500GB from Amazon at the moment. Like you say, insanely cheap.

Unfortunately the above's only for 2.5" IDE drives - still not been able to find a FW enclosure for 2.5" SATA drives except ones with installed drives.

Stuart

If you know of any with a SATA disk installed, that would be very useful info!

Cheers - Jaimie

Portable ones are the same. I've got an 80gb USB/FW version at the office. Came in a nice soft case, works fine, it's survived the drop test on at least one occasion.

FW 800! They make a FW 400 case, but I can't find any for sale:

<http://www.macpower.com.tw/products/hdd2/daisycutter/dcsata_400plus>

Wiebetech also sell empty 2.5" SATA cases, but for even more - £86 (inc VAT).

Nice, but I think I'd spend the same amount and get a disk included.

Thanks for the info but as you say, a bit pricey.

Stuart

I had it in mind that the Freecom 2.5" Mobile Drive PRO had a SATA disk but now I look it might not be:

<http://www.freecom.com/ecproduct_detail.asp?ID=3528&CatID=8020&sCatID=1 146257&ssCatID=1147436>

Data sheet: <http://www.freecom.com/objects/00011137.pdf>

Stuart

No evidence either way. It's a shame you can get 250gig 2.5" ATA drives now (apologies to all those who need 'em!)...

There's a 300gig external there, which I think has to be SATA, but it's USB only so that's no use. Grrr.

Cheers - Jaimie

I was thinking the FW 400 case might be cheaper. I wonder if you'd see much difference between 800 & 400 with a 2.5" drive.

Um, save £30 on the external and put it towards a new laptop ;-)

Stuart

None at all, 2.5" drives are currently way under the 50megabytes/sec limit of firewire 400.

Cheers - aimie

On Sat, 29 Dec 2007 09:28:13 +0000, Chris Ridd wrote

What *is* the point of just bunging on a USB interface? People don't *really* muddle through with USB to external disks do they?

I have two 500gb external disks connected by USB and it all works fine - fast *enough* for the purposes for which they're used. Certainly no muddling through needed

On 2007-12-29 09:28:13 +0000, Chris Ridd said:

What *is* the point of just bunging on a USB interface? People don't *really* muddle through with USB to external disks do they?

I'd imagine 90%+ of the computing world does, yes. No Firewire on most PCs.

Cheers,
Ian

Yes, they do. A lot.

A lot of PC users I have met seem unaware that there is even an alternative. They buy the cheapest out there and plug it into the hole that it fits into. No more thought given to it than that.

-z-

Rog got a real cheapie case/disk combo for his Mum a little while ago. I think was from SVP. The case was on special offer when you bought the disk. The whole thing cost about £40.

Can't find the same one now, but how about this:
<http://svp.co.uk/product/freecom_25_mobile_drive_pro_(usb20_and_firewire )_4811>

Previously, Sara Kirk wrote:

Can't find the same one now, but how about this:
<http://svp.co.uk/product/freecom_25_mobile_drive_pro_(usb20_and_firewire )_4811>

Or even this one:
<http://svp.co.uk/product/freecom_toughdrive_pro_u_and_f_25_mobile_hard_d rive_44128>

That was me.

I emailed SVP a while back asking whether they could supply the Freecom (or other) 2.5" SATA FW enclosures without a disk - no reply.

Stuart

That's a new one at SVP - not sure if I like the stubby FireWire cable/stalk.

Stuart

No Google-fu needed - I just went straight to SVP. They do have some good kit there sometimes.