External HDD Enclosure

[hitman67]

Just butchered an old PC that was going to the tip, One of the things I got out was the HDD. My plan is to fit it into an external enclosure and use it for backup (Been telling myself to buy one for ages, this way is cheaper).

Anyone recommend a good HDD Enclosure for around £20-£25? Needs to house a PC HDD (5.25" iirc?), ideally be quiet and USB Powered would be nice as plug sockets around my PC are scarce. The HDD is only 120gb so nothing too powerful.

Thanks.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Since you have a full sized 3.5" PC hard disk there are no external enclosures which are bus powered I have seen as the power consumption is too high.

I have got the following enclosure which is great:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AKASA...-SATA-IDE-Encl

It will take both IDE and SATA hard disks and has both e-SATA and USB connectors.

As with all passively cooled hard disk enclosures the disks themselves can get a bit hot so it maybe worth looking at one which has a fan although this will make it larger and noisier.

[hitman67]

After talking to my techie mate I apparently need a Pata type enclosure... 3.5" Drive.

That one still suitable?

(Sorry to sound so dumb)

[peterb]

Yes (PATA is the correct designation for IDE) and that enclosure will work with both PATA (parallel ATA) and SATA (Serila ATA). SATA is gradually taking over from PATA, so buying a dual purpose enclosure is a sensible move.

I have one of those enclosures - they do the job, look quite good (They are available in black, blue or silver) and haven't had an overheating problem although they are fanless. (The construction means that heat is conducted to the outside of the enclosure, which gets slightlywarm to the touch)

3.5" drives take too much power to be bus powered only (the limit for USB is 5V at 500mA) so you will have to use an external PSU. This enclosure is supplied with one.