Is there a F'wire exteranl HD enclosure...

[RJK]

....that works, ...and won't blow up / trash the hard-disk in it ?
e.g.
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...X+351UE-BL+Silvr+HD+Enclosure?productId=18340

....no that I've made the effort to fit a combo pci usb/firewire card,
finally worked out the pinouts, (with serious help from Paul on my two
*5xusb- 3x1394 pci card ? posts), and connected it to the front panel
firewire connector in my 3 1/2" card reader bay, it seems that the next
nightmare is finding an exteranl hard-disk enclosure with a non-faulty or a
non-badly designed chip in it !

....any tips on external firewire hd bays (IDE or SATA I suppose), ...please


regards, Richard

 

[Lil' Dave]

...that works, ...and won't blow up / trash the hard-disk in it ?
e.g.
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...X+351UE-BL+Silvr+HD+Enclosure?productId=18340

...no that I've made the effort to fit a combo pci usb/firewire card,
finally worked out the pinouts, (with serious help from Paul on my two
*5xusb- 3x1394 pci card ? posts), and connected it to the front panel
firewire connector in my 3 1/2" card reader bay, it seems that the next
nightmare is finding an exteranl hard-disk enclosure with a non-faulty or
a non-badly designed chip in it !

...any tips on external firewire hd bays (IDE or SATA I suppose),
...please

regards, Richard

Guess you mean an enclosure with a bay in it for inserting a removable hard
drive?????????????????????

Or, is this the richard-speak referring to an everyday enclosure for either
SATA I or ide capability via firewire bus?

Am using a Startech made USB/Firewire enclosures for ide drives here. Yes,
I use firewire. No, unlike yours, the firewire interface is Texas
Instruments made.
Dave

 

[RJK]

No, just the box where you put in your own hd, just been looking at them on
ebay but, noone seems to sell one with a 1394a/firewire connector as well
as USB 2.0 (I want EVERYTHING!) i.e. all USB 2.0 on there.

I wanted one with the Oxford 911 chipset in it, I think it is?, so that I
could "have a go" at 1394b and get a SATA2 hd
http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/reviews/storage/Venus_DS3_Enclosure_1.html
looked good but, can't find anyone in UK selling it.

regards, Richard

 

[Lil' Dave]

Admittedly, the internet is a easy way to get lost and confused. You speak
of a firewire connection requirement initially with either IDE or SATA I
capability. Then, you provide a weblink to a USB 2.0 connected hard drive
enclosure for ide drives. And, you quote a renewed requirement for a 1394B
(800 speed) that takes SATA II drives. I do not see the association with
your initial requirement, the weblink, and your current requirement.
Further, my feeling is you probably want a hot swap usability for your
enclosure, but, are waiting to voice that later. All, I feel, is
intentional on your part.

Anyway, based on your current requirement, this is what I would use:
http://www.startech.com/Product/ItemSpecs.aspx?productid=IDECASE35SAT&c=US

The slow-down choke point of your system will now occur internally in your
PC. The firewire 800 bus and SATA II interface with SATA II hard drive
easily exceed it. Well, maybe not if your firewire port is 400 speed; that
would be the chokepoint sorta. 400 speed is fine for most PCs as the PC
will keep up with it. As a further note, the 400 and 800 versions of
firewire use a different cable/port configuration. Not interchangeable.
Dave

 

[RJK]

Thanks for your post, I'll try to be more clear

re: the link to that Venus ext. hd enclosure
http://www.extremeoverclocking.com:80/reviews/storage/Venus_DS3_Enclosure_1.html
I just rechecked it and lowermost in the specs. it says,
"Daisy-Chain up to 62 hard drive devices via FireWire ports or up to 129 USB
2.0 devices via USB 2.0 hubs"
....but, I can't find it in the UK anyway, so I've been looking at an "ICY
BOX 351UE-BL Silvr HD Enclosure", from www.aria.co.uk which looks a bit old.

ATM I have 160gb and 80gb on IDE port 1/ master and slave, on a Conroe865PE
motherboard whose specs. I didn't check thoroughly enough, and the IDE
controller on it is only ATA100. (prior to that I had a PcChips M848
Skt462/XP2600 Barton which had an ATA133 IDE support on it, and two 80gb
Maxtor 6Y080L0 hd's also supported ATA133 - and both were using UDMA6 ...and
all was lovely ! i.e large file transfers | boot time chkdsk's/defrags.
were noticeably swifter that ATA100).

....anyhoo, after rearranging system box innards, my main box has the
Conroe865PE in it, 160gb master and 80gb slave IDE hd's in it - stuck on the
ATA100 ? ...this board has two SATA 150 hd ports on it, so I thought
perhaps one way to go, ( to get some of that ATA133 speed back), would be to
buy and fit two SATAII hd's, (jumpered to 150-and maybe one day fit a
motherboard with 1394b support), image my boot drive onto a SATA hd, remove
the 2 IDE hd's and use one of them in an external hd enclosure.

....never been clear on the motherboard side of things on ATA100/133 support
e.g. motherboard specs. says IDE ATA100 support - bios shows the IDE Master
STM3160215A 160gb ATA100 is using UDMA5, and the slave Maxtor 6Y080L0 ATA133
hd drive is using UDMA6 !
I read right through the 33/66/100 40|80core etc. hd transfer/integrated
disk electronics specifications backalong and've forgotten most of it !

I've already fitted a pci combo [4xUSB+1 internal/2xFirewire1394a_1
internal] card, (with a firewire pin header on it that WLL be connected to a
firewire port on the front of a 3 1/2" bay camera card reader, ...that I've
chickened out connecting atm | have to recheck which pins go onto which pin
at the card pin header !),

....so I will have two IDE hd's "spare" one is 160gb with ATA100
IDelectronics on it, and the other is 80gb ATA133

....the plan was to switch to SATA1 hd's that have SATAII support waiting for
a new motherboard!, fit a pci USB/1394b card with internal pin header but,
couldn't find one | so fitted a pci combo USB/1394a card for the time being,
....and buy an external enclosure for IDE hd, that could connect to USB
"and"/or 1394b ports, the nearest I've found is a USB/1394a ICY BOX 351UE-BL
Silvr HD Enclosure, IDE Drive to USB2 or Firewire *With Blue Lights!
from www.aria.co.uk

regards, Richard