Can SATA drives be used in external enclosures?

[ztirffritz]

I'm watching the Woot Off and I need bigger hard drives. Will an SATA drive work in any external enclosures?

[ztirffritz]

Geez...I shouldn't have mentioned it...you guys are buying all of them...leave some for me.

[MikeF]

Depends on the external interface.

Here's a dual one for firewire 400:

[incognegro]

if you already have the enclosure, and it's IDE/PATA, you can use this SATA-ATA adapter
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Dell/DISKSATA/

[Golfer]

Yes, but you need an enclosure the has an internal SATA interface, or has an IDE/SATA adapter. They are more expensive than IDE/PATA enclosures. You'll get better high end speeds with a true SATA connection over an IDE/PATA adapter.

I use OWC's Mercury Elite Al Quad.

[MEG]

Here's another case alternative. It's not as cool looking as the OWC case and no firewire but it is under $50 and it is super quiet (I've got one):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6817145660&ATT=17-145-660&CMP=BAC-dealmac

[hal]

$110 for an empty enclosure? That's insane!

REMEMBER - a case that claims to be an SATA external case should be a case that houses a SATA drive and has SATA external connector so that it can be plugged into an external SATA port (this assumes you have an extrenal SATA pci card installed).

You are looking for a case that will house an sATA drive and connect to a firwire or USB2 port.

Lots of people are buying the wrong thing these days.