External firewire HDD
 

I'm looking to get one around the 200gb size. With regards to the enclosure, how do the fanless designs compare with the fan ones?

Any recommendations?

I do not like the fanless designs or the plastic cases, all mine have fans and are aluminum because I get scared that the HD will overheat, its already fragile since its being transported and inside a case so for me no fan is like tempting fate. I learned that after feeling how hot the retail ACOM Data drive I bought got

You can probably make your own cheaper then buying one already made (I like that option since I can personally choose the drive itself)

This is an example http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817145230

Its aluminum and has a fan, the aluminum casing allows it to not heat up as much and the fan will keep it ventilated. There is a cooler looking one with a big fan on the top almost the size of the whole drive but I cant find it at the moment

All enclosures made in the last year "should' allow up to 400gb, with the falling price in drives on the market its pointless to spent $120-190 for a "retail" drive when you can get a enclosure for around $40 and then a big drive for around $60

Not sure if that is how it applies to the UK but in the US that is what I am some other people I talk with have gone since the retail drives that are firewire and USB are usually $$$$ than ones you could make yourself

I like the aluminum drive cases too - but a well ventilated plastic case is ok too - important not to have the case up against something that will block the vents that it comes with but they are pretty good - you can always ventilate the case with a DRILL or even add a case fan to the top of one that you might already have by tapping it into the drive power.

I just installed a fan under mydesk (screwed to the bottom of the desktop facing up) and ventilated the desktop with a wood bit and a drill - now the fan pushes air up through the desk and keeps my laptop and all the stuff above it nice and frosty!

Thanks guys. I had seen some fanless aluminium ones (using heatsinks) but was leaning towards the fanned designs. I've already got 3 hard drives in a full tower but its getting a little crowded.

Electronics+uk=midnight express lol

I have 600GB of drives (5 disks) crammed into my tower.
If I ever add more, it'll be an external firewire, aluminum case with fans.

I've got 5 - 250gb external drives. 3 are Maxtor "On-touch" systems, and 2 are plastic cases with fans.

I think i will take out on of my sata drives from the tower and put it into an enclosure (then get a 400gb to stick inside at some point)

I'm confused though. I have seen some enclosure which have a sata output at the back. All my sata inputs are inside my computer, i only have usb and firewire on the outside ports.

I assume you can get enclosures which take sata but have a firewire output.

They should have a built in converter inside the case, those are special ones though and cost a bit more. They have Firewire cases that work with SCSI drives as well but you have to search for them more than the regular ones

i'll have to have a look, sata in firewire out :)

Seen a new sata II 400gb with a 16mb buffer (Western Digital), no idea if my mobo will like it though lol

Yeah here is an example, seems across the net that only a few manufacturers make the SATA model

http://www.firewiremax.com/fire-wire...sure-usb2.html
http://www.cooldrives.com/combo-sata...e-and-usb.html

They are maybe $10-30 more expensive then the usual Firewire/USB2 aluminum cases that most of us get, which in turn are usually $10-15 more expensive then just Firewire or USB2 only cases (I need both because at work we only have USB 2.0 and at home I only have Firewire and crappy USB 1)