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+--- Thread: Recommend a Firewire Drive Enclosure - SATA Drive - Swappable? (/showthread.php?tid=52633)
Recommend a Firewire Drive Enclosure - SATA Drive - Swappable? - MitchJi - 04-05-2008
Hi,
I want to use three SATA drives for Mac Pro Backups. I would prefer one good quality enclosure which uses some kind of a caddy so I can easily switch drives rather than purchase three enclosures.
Any recommendations?
Thanks,
Mitch
Re: Recommend a Firewire Drive Enclosure - SATA Drive - Swappable? - clay - 04-05-2008
haven't used them, but something like this might work for you:
http://www.granitedigital.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=38
Re: Recommend a Firewire Drive Enclosure - SATA Drive - Swappable? - mattkime - 04-05-2008
You'll pay a premium for the sled configuration. I'd just go with simple enclosure with the connector of your choice.
Re: Recommend a Firewire Drive Enclosure - SATA Drive - Swappable? - Silencio - 04-05-2008
Been using this system for a while:
http://www.macgurus.com/productpages/firewire/U6SATA.php
You can also get PATA trays for this system, which is an added bonus if you need to get a some older drives you have lying around.
The WiebeTech RTX system looks pretty nice. The base unit is more expensive, but it's a trayless hot-swap enclosure.
http://www.wiebetech.com/products/RTX100.php
Re: Recommend a Firewire Drive Enclosure - SATA Drive - Swappable? - Gareth - 04-05-2008
I use trayless racks. Just slide a bare drive in and out. No trays. Just install the rack in any 5.25 enclosure. I'll post a link later if you can't find what I'm talking about.
The wiebetech RTX is what I'm talking about, but kingwin sells the same internal rack for less.
Re: Recommend a Firewire Drive Enclosure - SATA Drive - Swappable? - MitchJi - 04-05-2008
[quote Silencio]Been using this system for a while:
http://www.macgurus.com/productpages/firewire/U6SATA.php
You can also get PATA trays for this system, which is an added bonus if you need to get a some older drives you have lying around.
The WiebeTech RTX system looks pretty nice. The base unit is more expensive, but it's a trayless hot-swap enclosure.
http://www.wiebetech.com/products/RTX100.php
Hi,
Thanks, exactly what I was looking for.
Mitch
Re: Recommend a Firewire Drive Enclosure - SATA Drive - Swappable? - MitchJi - 04-05-2008
[quote Gareth]I use trayless racks. Just slide a bare drive in and out. No trays. Just install the rack in any 5.25 enclosure. I'll post a link later if you can't find what I'm talking about.
The wiebetech RTX is what I'm talking about, but kingwin sells the same internal rack for less.
Hi Gareth,
The Wiebetech looks great but it is a little pricey. I like these models (the more expensive model is :
http://www.wiebetech.com/products/specsheets/RTX_100_Q_spec.php
RTX 1-bay, FW800/400/USB2/eSATA, 0GB (accepts SATA drives)
RTX100-Q-0 199.95
RTX all-metal 1-bay, FW800/400/USB2/eSATA, 0GB (accepts SATA drives) RTX100H-Q-0 219.95
Hardened Version!
Includes all-metal TrayFree™ bay
If you wouldn't mind posting links to the less expensive parts you are using I would appreciate it.
Thanks!
Mitch
Re: Recommend a Firewire Drive Enclosure - SATA Drive - Swappable? - estnyc - 04-05-2008
Try Icy Dock's "screwless" enclosures. You can just pop SATA drives in and out.
Here's one with firewire, USB and eSATA.
http://tinyurl.com/5bbd6z
Re: Recommend a Firewire Drive Enclosure - SATA Drive - Swappable? - laarree - 04-06-2008
I'm getting a Wiebetech RTX100H-Q-0 delivered on Tuesday--will give a report here.
I did it so I could swap SATA drives easily for offsite backups (among other purposes).
Also will be getting some of their handy-dandy Driveboxes at the same time. http://www.wiebetech.com/products/cases.php
Re: Recommend a Firewire Drive Enclosure - SATA Drive - Swappable? - Gareth - 04-06-2008
This is essentially the rig I'm using/built:
(2) Kingwin Trayless Rack, $15 (equiv. to Wiebetech $30 rack, which I have):
http://censuspc.com/product.php?productid=5938&cat=0&page=1
There's also a version with a fan for $18 (which I have in addition to my Wiebetech racks):
http://censuspc.com/product.php?productid=5939&cat=0&page=1
The problem with the enclosed, fanned model is that the screws they provide aren't long enough to work with the enclosure I'm using, so I had to make a trip to OSH. The plastic casing is on the outside of metal screw holes and my enclosure has thick sides also. If used in a normal enclosure with thin metal sides for mounts, the screws would probably work.
Enclosure, $135:
http://www.scsi4me.com/stardom-u7-2-s1.html
Note: You'll have to dremel out a cutout for the bridgeboard, or if you want to use the SATA connectors (which are SATA, not eSATA), you'll need to replace them with longer ones (or dremel new holes and move them).
It's the most compact (and best looking) 2-bay enclosure I can find with a built-in power supply. Wiebetech actually used to use them in their older PATA Traydock drives (which is where most of mine came from actually, I buy a lot of the ones they put on eBay).
I actually plan to loop the "external" SATA connectors back inside to the bridgeboard, thus giving me the option and equivalent of a QUAD Interface drive).
Actually, looking at the RTX 200 pix, this is still the enclosure Wiebetech's using, only it's black now.
FW 800 Bridgeboard (supports 2 SATA drives), $65:
http://www.caloptic.com/cgi-bin/quikstore.cgi?product=IF8UC-S&detail=yes
Note: says it's ideal for hot-swap SATA drives, but I find hot-swapping one drive confuses it, so now I just power down the whole enclosure whenever I need to swap a drive.
Other options:
Coolgear Single Bay, Trayless Rack eSATA/USB, $96:
http://www.cooldrives.com/sibayesandus.html
You can swap out the bridgeboard if you want FW800.
Rackless version of above (add your own rack), $70:
http://www.cooldrives.com/essibay5cdop.html
Coolgear FW800 Bridgeboard (supports 2 SATA drives), $80:
http://cooldrives.com/satofi800and.html
Coolgear FW800/USB/eSATA Bridgeboard for 1 SATA or PATA drive, $98:
http://www.cooldrives.com/cosatousb20a.html
(it's the only one I've found so far that does FW800+USB+eSATA)
So, in summary, when you price all this out, it actually is a little, but not a lot cheaper than a single Wiebetech external RTX drive, but you start to save when you build an equivalent to their dual (or quad) external RTX drive. And you'd save more if you bought dirt cheap external 5.25" enclosures. But FW800 bridgeboards for SATA drives aren't cheap, and I'm particular about how my external cases look and that they have internal power supplies (so I don't have to worry about losing the power supply, or plugging it into the wrong drive, which I just did recently and ruined one of my other nice Wiebetech cases).
Edit: I should also add that Coolgear also sells the equivalent trayless rack seperately too, but it's not as cheap as the Kingwin one on it's own, but if you're bundling it with other stuff, it might be the same as paying a seperate shipping charge to order the Kingwin. Also, Wiebetech's $6 drive cases for bare drives are the only ones I've seen on the market so far. I plan to order some, but haven't gotten around to it.