Kingwin or Vantec Enclosure for HDDs?

[ANTant]

Hello. I am thinking of getting Kingwin or Vantec enclosure for HDDs. I
know I would need an adapter for laptop HDDs.

Any good or bad comments on these two brands? Any catch I should know
since this will be my first time I ever used an enclosure?

Thank you in advance.
--
"I once heard the survivors of a colony of ants that had been partially obliterated by a cow's foot seriously debating the intention of the gods towards their civilization" --Archy the Cockroach from Don Marquis' "Archy and Mehitabel" book ("Certain Maxims of Archy" poem)
/\___/\
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| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Please remove ANT if replying by e-mail.
( )

 

[Todd H.]

Hello. I am thinking of getting Kingwin or Vantec enclosure for HDDs. I
know I would need an adapter for laptop HDDs.

Any good or bad comments on these two brands? Any catch I should know
since this will be my first time I ever used an enclosure?

I bought the cheapest one from newegg I could get my hands on and it
seemed to work fine without any surprises. It came with the USB
cable and a power supply. BYTECC I believe was the manufacturer.
Its fan howveer was loud as hell.

I suspect they're all pretty darned similar.

I do like my Maxtor OneTouch a lot better because of the look and the
far quieter operating volume, but hten again I paid quite a bit for it
in comparison too.

 

[Rod Speed]

(e-mail address removed) writes

I bought the cheapest one from newegg I could get my hands
on and it seemed to work fine without any surprises. It came
with the USB cable and a power supply. BYTECC I believe
was the manufacturer. Its fan howveer was loud as hell.

I suspect they're all pretty darned similar.

I do like my Maxtor OneTouch a lot better because
of the look and the far quieter operating volume,

Pity about the way they die like flys.

but hten again I paid quite a bit for it in comparison too.

Pity about the way they die like flys and only have a 1 year warranty.

 

[Todd H.]

Pity about the way they die like flys.

Wow, I hadn't heard anything about a quality issue there. Do you have
a pointer to more info? I have one of these, and a few buddies have
them as well. What are the warning signs?

Best Regards,

 

[ANTant]

I do like my Maxtor OneTouch a lot better because

Wow, I hadn't heard anything about a quality issue there. Do you have
a pointer to more info? I have one of these, and a few buddies have
them as well. What are the warning signs?

I noticed Maxtor ones get very hot! I wonder if enclosure does the same.
--
"I once heard the survivors of a colony of ants that had been partially obliterated by a cow's foot seriously debating the intention of the gods towards their civilization" --Archy the Cockroach from Don Marquis' "Archy and Mehitabel" book ("Certain Maxims of Archy" poem)
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Please remove ANT if replying by e-mail.
( )

 

[ANTant]

(e-mail address removed) writes:

I bought the cheapest one from newegg I could get my hands on and it
seemed to work fine without any surprises. It came with the USB
cable and a power supply. BYTECC I believe was the manufacturer.
Its fan howveer was loud as hell.

How loud? My CPU and PSU fans are loud, but not annoying. It is loud enough that I cannot hear my HDD
spin.
--
"I once heard the survivors of a colony of ants that had been partially obliterated by a cow's foot seriously debating the intention of the gods towards their civilization" --Archy the Cockroach from Don Marquis' "Archy and Mehitabel" book ("Certain Maxims of Archy" poem)
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Please remove ANT if replying by e-mail.
( )

 

[Rod Speed]

Wow, I hadn't heard anything about a quality issue there.
Do you have a pointer to more info? I have one of these, and
a few buddies have them as well. What are the warning signs?

The drives get stinking hot because of
the way the enclosures are 'designed'

Maxtor drives are one of the worst reliability wise with
internal drives and they hate getting hot and die very
quickly in external enclosures when they get stinking hot.

 

[J. Clarke]

Hello. I am thinking of getting Kingwin or Vantec enclosure for HDDs. I
know I would need an adapter for laptop HDDs.

Any good or bad comments on these two brands? Any catch I should know
since this will be my first time I ever used an enclosure?

Thank you in advance.

I suspect that they're the same except for the labels.

Main thing is read the details on the cooling _carefully_ and let it
percolate for a bit so you're sure that you're getting what you think
you're getting.

 

[Todd H.]

How loud? My CPU and PSU fans are loud, but not annoying. It is loud
enough that I cannot hear my HDD
spin.

The fan in my cheapo Bytecc external enclosure drowns out my CPU
noise, and threatens to rival my OKI color laser printer. It's pretty
darned loud.

If I weren't using it just periodically for data backup and recovery
purposes it'd annoy the livin crap out of me.

 

[ANTant]

Hello. I am thinking of getting Kingwin or Vantec enclosure for HDDs. I

The fan in my cheapo Bytecc external enclosure drowns out my CPU
noise, and threatens to rival my OKI color laser printer. It's pretty
darned loud.

Wow, that's loud.

If I weren't using it just periodically for data backup and recovery
purposes it'd annoy the livin crap out of me.

It would be my archive center for MAME ROMs, songs, videos, backups, etc.
I hope this is not a problem in a 85 degrees(F) room too.
--
"I once heard the survivors of a colony of ants that had been partially obliterated by a cow's foot seriously debating the intention of the gods towards their civilization" --Archy the Cockroach from Don Marquis' "Archy and Mehitabel" book ("Certain Maxims of Archy" poem)
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Please remove ANT if replying by e-mail.
( )

 

[Odie Ferrous]

Wow, I hadn't heard anything about a quality issue there. Do you have
a pointer to more info? I have one of these, and a few buddies have
them as well. What are the warning signs?

I get more Maxtor OneTouch drives in for recovery than *all* other
manufacturers' external drives put together.

There is a class-action suit against Maxtor (for their OneTouch drives)
in the States.

Maxtor drives tend to run hot even out in the open. To then put one
inside a sealed case is inviting disaster.

A bonus is that when I return one to Maxtor for RMA, they only want the
bare drive back - so I have a large collection of useful power supplies
and USB / firewire adapters left over. They replace the entire
drive/housing for the whole procedure to be repeated again in a few
months.


Odie

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Wow, I hadn't heard anything about a quality issue there. Do you have
a pointer to more info? I have one of these, and a few buddies have
them as well. What are the warning signs?

There are lots of reports in this and other newsgroups about
failures of Maxtor One Touch external USB drives. The major
reason seems to be inadequate convection cooling. The Kingwin
external USB hard drive enclosure, though, includes an external
power supply and a cooling fan. Check 'em out:
http://kingwin.com/pdut_Cat.asp?CateID=27 . My *guess* is that
they'd be more reliable, but I have no idea how loud the fan might
be. If you get one of these, though, please report on your experience
with it. If you're already stuck with a Maxtor One Touch, it might be
worthwhile to invest in a small desk fan to keep it cool.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Timothy Daniels]

If you have a spare 5 1/4" drive bay, why not install a
mobile rack (aka "drive caddy" or "drive tray")? I've
been using a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 hard drive
in a Kingwin removable tray for a couple years, now,
with no problems whatsoever. When I take the hard
drive out of the rack, it feels cool and not any warmer
than the one in the standard Dell vertical mount position.
I use the model with the fan in the bottom of the tray,
and while keeping the hard drive cool, the only sound
is of inrushing air - not of spinning fan blades. Here's
the model (which is available in beige, silver, and black
finishes):
http://kingwin.com/pdut_detail.asp?LineID=&CateID=25&ID=136
Demand for bottom fans seems to be low as customers
don't understand them, so Kingwin hasn't extended the
design to their racks for SATA drives. But I can attest
that they work fine to draw in cooling air around and past
the hard drive. They run about $20 to $25 on the Web,
so they're not a big investment.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Peter]

It would be my archive center for MAME ROMs, songs, videos, backups, etc.

I hope this is not a problem in a 85 degrees(F) room too.

Archive center on external USB drive? Make sure you have a good backup for
it content running on a regular basis. Don't expect it to last much longer
than one year (depends on usage, internal HD, room temperature, fan/fanless
design, etc.)

 

[Neil Maxwell]

The fan in my cheapo Bytecc external enclosure drowns out my CPU
noise, and threatens to rival my OKI color laser printer. It's pretty
darned loud.

My Bytecc enclosure is also plenty loud, so I've moved it to the
garage system, which is full of loud stuff. It's been very reliable,
though - I forget what HD I have in it, but it's been holding up fine
for well over a year now.