External HDD advice

[Foz]

I have a 120GB Maxtor HDD that I need to buy an external enclosure for. Need advice on a mfg. and model that some of you may have had good experience with. Thanks for any help. Foz

[pyscrow]

I have a 120GB Maxtor HDD that I need to buy an external enclosure for. Need advice on a mfg. and model that some of you may have had good experience with. Thanks for any help. Foz

Dunno about brand names, I have got a generic USB2 unit ($100 without the drive) that works great (120gig maxtor), and an older "new motion" USB1.1 with an 80gig drive, that used to be great, but is now like pulling teeth since I got the USB2 unit.

With the new unit, I went for a large one with a full sized bay than can take a DVD or CD drive, just to be flexible.

[redwudz]

Sorry, my external enclosure is a no-name brand. As I have recommended many times before, I would get a combo Firewire/USB2 enclosure. You won't reget it if you find USB2 is having problems (Which it frequently does.) Firewire has the highest compatibility between computers and external enclosures and has a generally higher transfer rate even though the specs say different. Do a search on Google for 'Firewire, USB enclosures' (Or cases) and you will see there are quite a few. Go for a name brand you know and you shouldn't have any problems.

[Foz]

Thanks for the replies, but I'm not familiar with any brands. On one link someone suggested an enclosure with an oxford chipset was better, another suggestion was to get a 5 1/2" enclosure so the cooling would be better. A link called dealsonic has a Plumax brand that is reasonably priced,but I can't find any reviews on it. A little confused. Foz

[Ripper2860]

The Speez brand at NewEgg is a pretty good deal ...

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-145-745&depa=0

[rallynavvie]

If you can find them the MAP-H51F enclosure is awesome. It's a generic make aluminum housing with the Oxford 911 chipset. It's FireWire only but I have 3 drives running on them and never had problems with any of them. I buy mine off eBay now since I haven't seen them at online retail sites in a while.

[piano632]

I have been looking at external enclosures for weeks now, as I plan to buy one too. I've been narrowing my options down based on reviews/price/practicality. So far I am considering these two:

Macally aluminum enclosures (with rubber "bumpers") seem to get high ratings from everyone, but I don't know what chipset they use.
http://shopper-zdnet.com.com/Macally_PHR_100AC___storage_controller___IDE___FireWire__...html?tag=pl&q=

I am really thinking of getting this one due to my ever-increasing need for storage space (darn, those videos!):
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/gditech/dufiexenfori.html
A dual-bay 3.5"/5.25" firewire case with Oxford 911 chipset for only $64 !

Both of these cases will support large hard drives > 137GB

[Capmaster]

I bought my USB/Firewire enclosure from Computer Geeks and haven't had any trouble:
http://www.compgeeks.com/products.asp?cat=CAS