Anyone familiar with this aluminum enclosure?

[vida_loca]

Does anyone know anything about this enclosure? It is esbuy.com model ELFWUSBALUMCL - $129.99
I have a LG GSA-4040B Thanks!

[vida_loca]

Here's an image of it.

[vida_loca]

Oops!

[SaSi]

I'm not aware of this box but it looks really nice. If you want to use it for a recorder, make sure you check the specs and confirm it has a built-in FAN. Also, you may want it to be firewire or USB 2.0, to ensure enough datarate.

[BJ_M]

ive got 6 of them and they are very very good -- uses a upgradable oxford chip set ..

i have only the firewire only version ...


they have real heavy duty power supplies in them and high quality BB fan ..

[Metaluna]

I have one also with a combo 1394(Oxford)/USB2.0 interface. It works great. It has a fan and an internal 40W power supply which is one of the few I've found that's beefy enough to power the Sony DRU-500A.

[vida_loca]

I got conerned because the same day or the day after I order it they removed it form their web site. I'm crossing my fingers!

[fourthquark]

I have a LG GSA-4040B in an external USB 2.0 enclosure (not the same one).

The setup works great but there is one problem. The built-in fan was incredibly noisy. So I replaced it with a supposedly ultra-quiet fan sold by PC Power & Cooling. Well, it is still just as noisy as the original fan!

I am tempted to just disconnect the fan. Looking for opinions - do you think it is possible to run this setup without the fan?

[vida_loca]

I read that "the use of aluminum provides better heat dissipation which eliminates the need for a cooling fan (and the noise that comes with it)." You might find this eBay listing interesting http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2752968906&category=3757
*Note: I'm not the seller

[BJ_M]

i would go with a fan - though MANY firewire/usb cases dont have one , then again they are hotter than stink with a 7200rpm drive ..

[fourthquark]

I think that most of the external cases that utilize an external power adapter do not have fans.
I am asking for opinions (or better yet, experience) regarding disconnecting the fan when running a DVD writer in an an external case that utilized a built-in power supply.

[Metaluna]

I got conerned because the same day or the day after I order it they removed it form their web site. I'm crossing my fingers!

The place I bought mine from doesn't seem to sell it anymore either. Hmm...

[BJ_M]

yes -- they seem out of them right now

i have some of these cases also and work fine http://www.esbuy.com/fi8035inen.html

i never have the tops on many them most of the time anyway and for a dvd writer - going with out the fan should be ok .. those are the LEAST noisy thing around me though (see system specs)

[fourthquark]

I am less concerned with the heat generated by the DVD writer, and more concerned about the heat generated by the internal power supply. Does anyone know how much power these internal power supplies have to generate, and how this translates into heat generation?

[Metaluna]

I am less concerned with the heat generated by the DVD writer, and more concerned about the heat generated by the internal power supply. Does anyone know how much power these internal power supplies have to generate, and how this translates into heat generation?

My Sony DRU-500AX power spec calls for 2 amps on the +12V line and 1.6A on +5 (maximum). That's 32 watts worst-case power consumption, but who knows when or how often it reaches that level. If you assume a typical switching power supply is around 70% efficient, then when the drive is consuming 32 watts, the power supply is consuming 32/.7 watts, or about 45 watts. That means it's shedding about 13 watts of waste heat. The case I have has a 40mm fan inline with the power supply and the exhaust air never seems to get warm at all. I suspect that the drive rarely gets close to its worst-case power consumption.

[BJ_M]

the power supply (internal) on any of these case hardly ever gets even warm ...

[fourthquark]

Metaluna and BJ_M, thanks for you information and advice.

Metaluna, your calculations are very close to the mark. I believe that the documentation for my external box said something about the power supply being 40 watts. However I didn't know how efficient it was, and I didn't know how to do the calculations.

I will try running without the fan and report back if there are any problems.

[vida_loca]

BJ_M, did you make any modifications to your 6 enclosures or where they just fine out-of-the-box?

[BJ_M]

ive got maybe 30 or 40 here (firewire boxs, and another 30 -40 scsi boxs or more) -- no , no modifications , except many of them i leave ripped apart (no cover) so i can swap out hard drives fast ..

[You_Are_Alive]

I don't have the one you listed, I have this one,


It also uses the oxford chip and its got both firewire/usb2. The fan on mine also makes a bit of noise, but not loud at all to bother me. But what I can tell you is that with 7200 rpm deskstar disk I have in there, it definitely needs the case and fan on, if I run it without the cover on, its okay but after 2 hours, its no longer warm to the touch, its more on the hot side and I don't like running it like that cause even my 10,000 rpm cheetahs run cooler after that. But with the cover on and fan, I ran it once for 14 hrs and after opening the case, it was just barely warm.

So if your okay with running it on the warm side, i'd say its fine for 1-2 hr increments. Anymore, then i suggest turning on the fan so as not to lose your data or have other wierd anamolies happen cause it gets too hot.