Using internal drive like external

[sbrown02]

With 120Gig internal drives priced at $110 I'd like to buy one and use it like an internal drive, i.e., I'd like to be able to connect, backup to it, and then be able to easily disconnect it so I can store it someplace else.

Any advice that gets me around having to open my case every time I want to backup, but allows me to use the existing connectivity (IDE/SATA instead of firewire or USB) that comes with these lower priced drives? Or does anyone know where to find external drives priced reasonably close to their internal counterparts?

Thanks

[Smerff]

What I would do, and have done is just leave the case off and set the thing on top of or near enough to the pc i can hook it up to the extra IDE slot whenever I need to. If you prefer a more "professional" look try ebay..they may have what your looking for.

Smerff

[morriswindgate]

You can buy an enclosure that will convert an IDE hard drive to USB or Firewire. However with USB you will want USB 2.0. If your moterboard does not have 2.0 you can buy a card for about 20 bucks.

[not important]

Our local computer shop sells a unit that fits into a drive bay, from the outside of the case and the IDE cable hooks to it. The hard drive can be taken in and out of the front of the case. It also has a lock on it. I'm sorry I don't know the name of the unit.

[kissfan]

You are looking for what is called a Removable IDE Hard Drive Caddy. Most computer stores should stock them.

HTH

[bailey]

comp-usa has them in stock, you can place most any ide hd drive in them and they work best when used with isb 2.0.
I am even thinking about getting one of them.

[kissfan]

The ones I mean have a fixed unit in the 5 1/4 " bay and allow you to remove the HD in a housing whilst leaving a bit of the unit in the case. This makes for effective removal of the HD, whilst leaving all cable connections in place.

[morriswindgate]

The advantage of the USB External Enclosures is that they are hot pluggable and offer really good protection to the drive. Not only that but they can be used on other computers.

[LocoCoyote]

Smerff has the wrong idea! If you leave your case off for awhile, you are going to get overheating problems. Those little gliches that most people love to blame on software............!

[kissfan]

They are great advantages Morris. But my reading of the thread implies, that he wants to use it only a s a backup, and not to switch between machines.

If he wants to use it on other machines then the USB version would be best.

[sbrown02]

You're right. I won't be swapping between machines, but rather doing a backup and then taking the drive out to put in a safe or some other safe place away from my computer. Therefore, when I take the drive out, I don't want a gaping hole in the drive bay, and I want the capability of hot swap.

The drive I'm planning on purchasing is the MAXTOR 120GB 7200RPM SATA HARD DRIVE. Does SATA have an IDE connection and therefore any IDE (100/133) to USB will work?

Thanks for all the info.

[morriswindgate]

You might want to re-think the purchase of an SATA drive. In most of the reviews I have seen the SATA drive performance was no better than the current IDE drives or so close that the extra cost is not worth it.
Like most new computer technology it takes a generation or two to make it worthwhile. Best example is USB 1.1 (Usable Still Buggy 1.1) it was slow in it's transfer, so other than printers, scanners, and I/O devices it is pretty worthless (I had a external USB1.1 hard drive that would take forever to transfer 1 gig of data, then half the time it was corrupted. I also bought and external Sony USB 1.1 CD-RW drive, a 4x, that was basically nothing more than a disk destroyer). USB 2.0 on the other hand has made external usb drives worth it.

THis is from techtv's website:

SATA drives are better than ATA drives
Uh, if you like thinner cables that are easier to plug in, Serial ATA (SATA) drives have it all over traditional ATA drives.

But in our tests with a pair of Western Digital (WD) 250GB hard drives, one ATA and the other SATA, the performance was darn near the same. SATA drives are more expensive. If you have to add in a PCI SATA card to attach 'em, well, we'd definitely hold off.

[not important]

Originally posted by kissfan You are looking for what is called a Removable IDE Hard Drive Caddy. HTH

Thanks kissfan
, I couldn't remember what the name was.

[mike breck]

Yes a Caddy plus an ATA 100/133 HD is a cheap option for data backup. The door of the Caddy closes when you pull the HD out of the tray, so you are not left with a "gaping hole". However, the normal ATA Caddies are not Hot Swap. You need to power off the system before reoving or inserting the tray.

I use Caddies on all of my systems and they work very well. Certainly easier than burning large amounts of data and no problems with file name lengths if you back up Web pages - a problem which occurs with Nero.

The last two I bought were Vipower and were really cheap at £5 (around $8-10). A visit to their website shows how Caddies have advanced over the years. I notice they are selling a hot swap SATA one.

http://www.vipower.com/

A little search of US dealers will show you comparable Caddy products.