Vantec External Enclosures? IDE to USB

[rspassey]

I've been looking at getting an external eclosure for a harddrive that I am planning on making into a backup drive for a couple of my computers. I looked around and someone recommended Vantec (as theirs had worked well for them). Though, I really have no clue as to whether or not their products are reliable.

This is the model I am looking at.

Would this be a suitable enclosure for my drive? If not, what other IDE to USB 2.0 enclosures are better?

TIA,
Ryan

[jayb1234]

Take a look at the apricorn enclosures.

[rspassey]

Thanks. I just now noticed the blog post about reusing old harddrives - I think I will get an apricorn one, especially because of the included software.

[pam123]

You're going to need Force Flow's article : http://www.pcmech.com/blog.php?blogid=52
I like Bytecc (I do all my backups selectively and manually but that's just personal preference; all right it's personal penny-pinching) but apricorn is also reliable.

[rspassey]

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...uctCode=103007

That's the one I am thinking of getting. However, it states that it supports drives up to 250GB... the drive I want to put in it is 300GB. I'm assuming that it will just be reconized as only 250, which is fine with me, or will there be a compatibility issue and the drive is not detected at all?

Oddly, only on the ZZF site does it mention 250GB, on the Enclosures's site, it just says it's able to support "today's largest drives".

[pam123]

Why not take one of Force Flows' suggestions that will support up to 500 GB ( I understand if the budget won't tolerate this.)?

[rspassey]

Ah! Thanks! I see there are bytecc ones that support up to 500GB. I was trying to find one on ZZF, as that is where I do most of my business (and will be ordering quite a few parts from them in the next week anyways).

My budget'll tolerate a more expensive enclosure - I'll take a look at the options, becuase installing the drive in my computer and manually backing files up to it that way is also an option (this scares me a little bit, though, because I've had a harddrive get fried while in my computer).

To shop through ZZF, some Vantec ones (which have pretty good reviews) support up to 400GB... a thermaltake one does also, and I really like thermaltake from a reliability standpoint.

[glc]

I still recommend Apricorn - and if you email or call their tech support they would be happy to tell you if the enclosure will support a 500gb drive or not. Their enclosures are high quality aluminum with an internal fan.

Apricorn does sell direct, the 3rd party vendor pricing really isn't much cheaper than the direct price. The included software is essentially an OEM version of Acronis True Image.

You want USB or combo USB/Firewire?

[rspassey]

Either interface will work... on one PC I have firewire, but at school / other computer it's only USB 2.0. I'm a manual backer-uper like pam, and have been doing it manually for ages with dvds and with flash drive - 75% of my drives are loaded with games (which I don't need to back up).

Like I said, I'll take a look at the apricorn options, as well as the bytecc ones... I'm trying to determine right now how much I want to spend... if it creeps up to a high price, just purchasing yet another internal drive might be just as effective in my case.

[glc]

USB-only is 50 bucks, USB/Firewire is 70 bucks.

[rspassey]

USB it is then


Thanks again, I appreciate it.