External USB 2 HD Encloser, should I get one ?

[Scottie]

I'm thinking of getting one of these and putting in a 10 GB HD for now so I can rip movies on my daughters computer to it and then plug it into my computer and burn them from there, I'm gettin one for $45 + Tax CA is this a good price ? are they easy to install the HD into ? Any other coments about these I would love to hear thanks !

[smearbrick1]

I bought a run of the mill usb 2.0 enclosure from circuit city for about 52.00. I got a really great deal on a WD 200gb hard disk for only 49.99 during the black friday sales. Everything works great. You may want to look into something with a fan though, mine has a tendancy to get hot really quick.

[Scottie]

Thanks !,

what if it's NTFS the hard drive it it does that mean win98 won't be able to see it ?

what about windows xp on a Fat 32, would that be able to see it ?

Thanks again.

[Skith]

Win98 can not (natively) read an NTFS formated drive... but you might be able to find a utility to add such a feature.

WinXP can work with both FAT32 and NTFS formatted drives.

If you need win98 access with the drive, format it with FAT32. Keep in mind USB support is flakey at best in Win98SE.

I would recommend a cheap FireWire (IEEE 1394) PCI card and a USB 2.0/FireWire combo case. edit: going this route should only cost US $20 to $25 more at most.

In the US www.newegg.com has a large selection of external enclosures, and very good prices. Most combo drives come with a USB 2.0 and Firewire cable. The MACALLY Aluminum cases are really nice, and very sturdy. If you will only be using the case for a hard drive, a 3.5" model will cost less.

[Scottie]

well I really don't know that many Win98 systems I would need to hook this up to anyways, I don't have firewire in either of my computers, the one I want looks really cool and is cheap.

[handyguy]

This one is fun, about $18 with tx, shipping etc in Calif.
http://www.pcmicrostore.com/PartDetail.aspx?q=p:10501935

No case, just an easy plug for USB2 stuff.

[Scottie]

Thanks alot I think I would like this better because I could use my DVD-Writer with both my computers, and I could hook up my hard drive to it easy when I wanted to.