Are there any hard drive enclosures for 3.5" form HDs that can be powered off a USB port alone? (ie, without additional AC plug) [more inside]
posted by chefscotticus on Oct 17, 2009 - 9 answers

I've recieved two hard drives for free from my father. I'm thinking I could sell one or both. However, I'm also thinking I could turn it into a portable external hard drive for storing my photos. I need recommendation on enclosures. [more inside]
posted by InvestorMD on Aug 9, 2009 - 8 answers

My hard drive is too big for your enclosure! My Thinkpad died. Fortunately, I think the hard drive is ok. I purchased a 2.5" external enclosure to try to recover the data from the 2.5" drive. It doesn't fit. What do I need? Details inside. [more inside]
posted by meantime on Feb 19, 2009 - 10 answers

What techniques, tools or resources do you use for modifying enclosures in electronic projects? [more inside]
posted by st0rey on Nov 23, 2008 - 9 answers

Looking for a DYI SCSI enclosure on the cheap. Any ideas? [more inside]
posted by lattiboy on Sep 11, 2008 - 7 answers

What is the best solution for having a whole bunch of hard drives and being able to easily swap them around? [more inside]
posted by GleepGlop on Sep 7, 2008 - 11 answers

JudgeMe: is it ethical to buy a hard drive enclosure for the express purpose of data recovery and then return the enclosure immediately after the data has been recovered? [more inside]
posted by crazycanuck on Aug 31, 2008 - 34 answers

Replacing my laptop's hard drive. I think I've almost got it but have some questions about the cloning process. [more inside]
posted by nomad73 on Aug 29, 2008 - 8 answers

My external hard-drive's on the fritz. What can I do to make sure I get all my data off it before it goes? [more inside]
posted by djgh on Jun 3, 2008 - 5 answers

I've had a bare Power Mac G5 case in my office since last summer (original water-cooled quad processor melted down, needing a pile of parts and netting me an extra case in the process). What should I do with this spare cheesegrater case? I don't need a PC (Boot Camp/Parallels is doing me fine), otherwise I'd try swapping in a PC mobo/PS. A MacQuarium is probably not going to work too well. What would you do if you had a spare aluminum beast like this? Giant FireWire case with stacks of drives? Humorous solutions are welcome, something that would amuse fellow geeks if it were in my office.
posted by porn in the woods on Apr 16, 2008 - 10 answers

Does anyone know good IDE Raid enclosures? I currently own two 250 gig IDE hard drives and want to set them up in a single RAID enclosure. I have been looking around for a while but can only find SATA raid enclosures. [more inside]
posted by chunking express on Apr 8, 2008 - 7 answers

My new HD enclosure gets really hot. Should I worry? [more inside]
posted by penciltopper on Dec 10, 2007 - 7 answers

External firewire drive was working fine with Mac laptop, now won't mount. I hear it make its usual startup noises and then I feel it spinning happily, but the OS can't see it. I've tried lots of troubleshooting steps (list inside); can you think of others I should try? [more inside]
posted by sparrows on Dec 3, 2007 - 9 answers

Is there such a thing as a hard drive enclosure that supports both SATA 2.5in and 3.5in drives? [more inside]
posted by advil on Nov 21, 2007 - 5 answers

Are there any particularly awesome external firewire hard drive enclosures that I should be aware about? [more inside]
posted by chunking express on Oct 29, 2007 - 7 answers

Laptop HDD Enclosure kit question. [more inside]
posted by MostHolyPorcine on Oct 18, 2007 - 3 answers

Is there such thing as an all-in-one external enclosure that would house Hard Drives AND Optical Drives, and have USB and Firewire Hubs? [more inside]
posted by thirdoptical on May 24, 2007 - 6 answers

Is it possible to use a USB hard disc enclosure with a CD-R/RW? [more inside]
posted by Bugbread on Feb 8, 2007 - 11 answers

If I'm buying a hard disk which will be put into an external enclosure (most likely a 320Gb Seagate), connected via USB2 (not eSATA), is there ANY practical difference (apart from the $5-10 price difference) between picking PATA or SATA?
posted by pompomtom on Oct 17, 2006 - 12 answers

Every time I boot up my Intel Imac, I have to unplug and then replug my external hard drive in order for it to mount. It's a 160GB Seagate SATA internal that I put in an iRocks 3.5 enclosure (USB). When I open up Disk Utility, the drive is not displayed in the left column (until I unplug, then plug). It's just storage for my EyeTV files, but still annoying to have to do that every time. Ideas?
posted by drewcopeland on Sep 30, 2006 - 3 answers

Is there such a thing as an IDE to SATA converter? [more inside]
posted by bkudria on Aug 10, 2006 - 9 answers

Hello, Hive Mind. I'm about to buy a Mac Mini for my space-cramped office. However, I want to be able to use my two old IDE drives. So, what kind of enclosure should I buy? Are they all essentially the same? Should I go for USB or Firewire?
posted by optimuscrime on Jul 30, 2006 - 15 answers

Internal HD enclosure/bay suggestions? I've got a Dell 5150 with a Serial ATA primary drive. I'm trying to install a second hard drive which requires an older IDE connection. Because of the 5150's case design, the best place to put this IDE drive is in the second "slot" just below the CD drive. However, just placing the HD in that spot isn't a great option, because a) the drive is smaller than the slot, so I can't secure the drive against the case, and therefore it might slide around if the case is bumped and b) I'm concerned that the drive might overheat if it is placed directly on top of the solid-metal shelf which protects the floppy drive beneath it. Therefore, I'm looking to buy online a bay or enclosure which will solve these two problems. [more inside]
posted by gd779 on Jul 24, 2006 - 3 answers

I have an external firewire CD burner that I want to repurpose as an external firewire hard drive. [more inside]
posted by mzurer on Jul 19, 2006 - 9 answers

I'm having trouble getting files off an ancient hard drive using an enclosure. Help! [more inside]
posted by alan on Jul 19, 2006 - 8 answers

Attempting to plug my old hard drive into an enclosure, but I don't know what this port is or how it connects. Pictures inside. [more inside]
posted by sian on Jun 23, 2006 - 5 answers

Where shall I shove a new HD? [more inside]
posted by ROU_Xenophobe on May 16, 2006 - 13 answers

Why won't my wordpress.com account podcast? [more inside]
posted by JamesMessick on Feb 28, 2006 - 6 answers

A little help please in getting my computer to fully recognize an external hard drive. [more inside]
posted by gfrobe on Jan 21, 2006 - 5 answers

For Christmas, my roommate bought me an internal LG DVD+R/RW drive. The trouble is that I have a G3 iBook (900 MHz, the last model produced before they went G4). From my scouring, it seems that Roxio Toast 6 is the latest bit of software to support G3 Macs. Will that, along with a firewire/USB2 enclosure to make it act as an external drive, be all I need to pirate like mad? Follow up question: Where would I be able to find an enclosure in downtown Manhattan? Is it as simple as going to Radioshack? Please say it's as simple as going to Radioshack. Also, if forced to choose, is firewire or USB2 preferable?
posted by incomple on Dec 28, 2005 - 11 answers

Firewire and Windows XP: I bought an external Firewire Drive on Ebay. When I plug it into a PC, it's not recognized, and the driver search does not go well. Similarly, if I start up my Powerbook G4 as a Firewire device, and hook it to my PC, Windows is again puzzled. What can I do to help Win XP succesfully work with these devices? Or should I send back the drive and pick my Firewire devices more carefully? [more inside]
posted by weston on Dec 12, 2005 - 25 answers

How robust/durable are LaCie firewire drives? [+] [more inside]
posted by psmealey on Feb 7, 2005 - 14 answers