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  #11 (permalink)  
Old July 21, 2008, 12:23 PM
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I got a Seagate FreeAgent 250GB, not bad at all, but sometimes it not getting recognize by the system. So, your own external enclosure + hard drive would be the best way to go
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Old July 22, 2008, 03:29 AM
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I have a Vantec Nexstar with a 500gb Seagate Barracuda in it and it works great, but the Seagate "FreeAgent Pro - 1TB External - 7200, eSata, USB 2.0, Firewire 400" looks really good (nice reviews online too). I made a post in the deals section... But just to restate It's only $199 at tigerdirect, and price match that at NCIX, and you don't pay PST. It's almost $300 at NCIX.

Look for ones with Firewire or at least eSata if your looking for speed.

Don't buy a "No Name" external... some have issues
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Old July 22, 2008, 04:12 AM
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Vantec Nexstar + eSATA is the way to go as long as your motherboard supports it. I have 3 of them running for at least 2 years and no issues with heat or anything. The speed difference from USB to eSATA is a nice bonus too.
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Last edited by misterd; July 22, 2008 at 04:23 AM.
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Old July 22, 2008, 06:21 AM
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This is the motherboard
ASUS P5Q Pro ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 2PCI-E16 Crossfire 3PCI-E1 2PCI SATA2 Sound GBLAN eSATA Motherboard

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...nufacture=ASUS

so I think I'm good for the eSATA correct?
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Old July 22, 2008, 06:47 AM
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ASUS P5Q Pro ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 2PCI-E16 Crossfire 3PCI-E1 2PCI SATA2 Sound GBLAN eSATA Motherboard

Indeed
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Last edited by Chos3n; July 22, 2008 at 07:52 AM.
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Old July 22, 2008, 07:15 AM
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The thermaltake blackX with e-sata should make one for IDE hard drives. For all the old, small IDE HDD we have lieing around, being able to swap them quickly would be ideal. They are too small for anything else than storage.
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Old July 22, 2008, 07:17 PM
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did i read correctly?. enaberif said "You don't need cooling in enclosures if they are built properly" ?
i have had a few external enclosures and the ones without a fan could have used one. the hdd gets hot in a fan less enclosure no matter how careful you are about ventilation.

it may not need one but having one will make the drive last a lot longer

cheers

rob123
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Old July 22, 2008, 08:20 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rob123 View Post
did i read correctly?. enaberif said "You don't need cooling in enclosures if they are built properly" ?
i have had a few external enclosures and the ones without a fan could have used one. the hdd gets hot in a fan less enclosure no matter how careful you are about ventilation.

it may not need one but having one will make the drive last a lot longer

cheers

rob123
Massive Google hard drive survey turns up very interesting things - Engadget

I've never used active cooling any any harddrive, neither external or internal.
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Old July 22, 2008, 08:37 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lowfat View Post
Massive Google hard drive survey turns up very interesting things - Engadget

I've never used active cooling any any harddrive, neither external or internal.

I agree with the survey... well I don't know if HD's with cooling would fail easier then ones without a fan, but an external HD doesn't really need cooling. It isn't near anything else that would make it hot... like an internal HD. The heat it creates itself shouldn't be enough to cause any damage, but that doesn't mean cheap out on the enclosure because you want something to conduct the heat... not plastic..
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Old July 22, 2008, 08:43 PM
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ok, so I went to my local Canada Computers. I tell the guy that I wanted an external drive, but read that they all suck. I then say that my research (you guys) indicates that the way to go is the Vantec Nexstar 3 and a hard drive of my choice, he agrees saying that is the correct thing to do. So I grab the Nexstar, and a WD 500 GB drive. He states that the WD 640 GB drive is the better choice, not for the size, but the way the drive is built, and its only $10 more, so I say what ever and take that instead (beside, I chose 3 of the exact same drives to go inside my new build). AS we speak my old PC is formatting the new drive in the Nexstar. It is just now that I remember why I picked the 500 GB drive in the first place. The Nexstar is only supposed to support drives up to 500 GB. So, my question is, did I mess up? My PC recognizes the correct size, its formatting ok (28% done as I type). Will I somehow be limited to 500 GB of usage, or will Nexstar somehow not correctly recognize my drive??? Any thoughts?l
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