seeking built like a rock, metal external HDD enclosure

[CaptainChunk]

Hi all,

I currently have a no-name plastic external HDD enclusure that is pretty sketchy. It works sometimes, sometimes it doesn't. Either way, it is a flimsy piece of junk that I don't want to use anymore.

I have looked for a good external hdd case buy I have not found one. I want one that is either 5.25'' or 3.5'', and made with metal. I want one that is built like a rock. Firewire is a must and usb2 would be a nice extra. There must be some top of the line enclosure out there that I have yet to find. I have been looking and searching, buy not luck. Thanks for any help you may be able to give me.

cc

[live4ever]

Lacie's D2 are built very well also check out cooldrives.com

[CaptainChunk]

thanks for the suggestions. Lots of different stuff at cooldrives.com. I looked through it some but still lots left to look at. But I still have the same question that I have pondered for a while. Why is it that no well known name brands make a nice metal external enclosure?

the lacie's are nice, but I am looking for just the enclosure so I can put my own drive in it without paying the price that lacie wants for theirs.
thanks for linkage and help.

[deadpac]

I like my Coolmax enclosures, which are made of all aluminum. I have a 5.25, 3.5, and 2.5 all usb2 only variety, but they do have dual usb2/firewire versions. Just check out the roster over at Newegg.

[CaptainChunk]

some more info.

as far as finding an external enclosure with the following qualities:

-metal construction
-built in power supply
-solid, strong design
-good cooling
-weight not a huge issue
-no bundled hdd
-at least 1394A, usb 2.0, and maybe 1394B

the closest I have found is the Hardbox by Kano Technologies. I saw it mentioned in a recent Tom's Hardware article. I still have a couple questions.

Is this the closest I am going to get to meeting my requirements? And for the bigger question, why is it that there are no truly well known brands making external enclosures? I realize that just because a product comes from a well known brand doesn't make it a good product and that a small company can put out a excellent product. Thanks for any more light that may be shed on this issue.

[Paul Simmel]

some more info.

as far as finding an external enclosure with the following qualities:

-metal construction
-built in power supply
-solid, strong design
-good cooling
-weight not a huge issue
-no bundled hdd
-at least 1394A, usb 2.0, and maybe 1394B

the closest I have found is the Hardbox by Kano Technologies. I saw it mentioned in a recent Tom's Hardware article. I still have a couple questions.

Is this the closest I am going to get to meeting my requirements? And for the bigger question, why is it that there are no truly well known brands making external enclosures? I realize that just because a product comes from a well known brand doesn't make it a good product and that a small company can put out a excellent product. Thanks for any more light that may be shed on this issue.

[CaptainChunk]

Paul,

I don't really get the emoticons that you posted. Do you think that I am being whiny? Still searching...

[makntraks]

Paul,

I don't really get the emoticons that you posted. Do you think that I am being whiny? Still searching...

Maybe so from my perspective..

deadpac's reply pretty much says it all.....

makntraks

[Goober57]

CaptainChunk,

I have 3 of these.............

http://shop3.outpost.com/product/3553794?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

The outside is rubberized plastic, but the internal housing is metal.
It is very large, and well built.

The new models have the power supply built-in.

They can handle large drives, just in case your PC can't.

The price is high but I'm extremely happy with them.

I bought them at Outpost and also Provantage.

_____________

[vhelp]

Laugh-out-Loud



Yea, mine costed $58 at Wal-Mart.
But, I only have a 40g hard drive in it for now.. but it works great.

This is what I use for all my DV endeavors :P

Does anyone know how to be able to "partition" from these enclosers ??
I have a 20g part, but my other 20g (same drive) got corrupted (I bang
into it one day, while I was capping my DV to it - clumzy) and something
happend. (short of taking the drives out and reconnecting them to sys board)

-vhelp

[Goober57]

Laugh-out-Loud



Yea, mine costed $58 at Wal-Mart.
But, I only have a 40g hard drive in it for now.. but it works great.

This is what I use for all my DV endeavors :P

Does anyone know how to be able to "partition" from these enclosers ??
I have a 20g part, but my other 20g (same drive) got corrupted (I bang
into it one day, while I was capping my DV to it - clumzy) and something
happend. (short of taking the drives out and reconnecting them to sys board)

-vhelp

I use Partition Magic which works great.

So, why are you laughing???

Is your enclosure for USB and Firewire?

Is this what you have................

ADS USBX-804 USB2.0 3.5"/5.25" Hard Drive/CDRW/CDR/DVDRW Enclosure Kit $59.99

or this.............

ADS DLX-185 1394/USB 2.0 3.5"/5.25" Dual Link Hard Drive Enclosure Kit $79.99



_______________

[vhelp]

I have the first one. USB model.

I was laughing because it was funny... I have this same unit.
So, it was funny hehe..

I have Partition Commander. I bought it some months ago, but haven't
ben able to partition this externa drive

And, I don't want to have to yank out this disk and insert back into
my mobo setup. It's too much of a headacke.

This app that I'm using, does not want to do anything. When I start
up the Partition Wizard, it bounces w/ a message,

Your system must be shutdown adn restarted in or to run PW.
When I do this, and sys reboots (in a grahical screen) it blanks out
and dumps garbadge on my screen and hangs. I think it's changing
the resolution on it, after the graphical screen pops up. I don't
know. But it crashes and hangs my system evey time. I know that
I have done nothing in error. I simplay cannot get it to boot up
w/ Partition Command at all !! Period !! no-holds-BaR !!
.
And, I'm stuck w/ software that is unreturnable

All I want to do is partition this external box to two partitions.
One patition got distroyed due to a hard bang while being accessed,
nd is now only showing 315k space on this 2nd partition. Weird.
.
I continue to use my 1st partition for my DV captures (I'm using winDV)

-vhelp