[blue]

I just got a G4 iMac, however, it only has 60gb of HD space. I have about 30GB of music along with about 10GB in pix and docs I'd like to move over from my PC. Moving that much data across the network is painfully slow, so I was thinking of just taking the 120gb HDD out of my PC, putting it in an enclosure, and using it as another HDD on the mac.

Biggest problem is that the iMac only has USB 1.1, which would make any normal enclosure really slow...Firewire ist mucho faster, right? Recommendations? I have a 3.5" SATA drive, btw...

 

[binary visions]

Just keep an eye on the bargain websites like fatwallet.com and bensbargains.net. They crop up all the time for good prices. It's such a simple device that there's not a whole lot of variation between enclosures.

 

[Transcend]

You can get them for about $30 on newegg.

 

[syadasti]

Yeah you can check the reviews on Newegg and there are some roundups if you use google. Quality does vary - they use different chipsets from company to company (The Oxford IEEE1394 800 and/or 400 and possibly USB chipset(s) in an old OSX update DELETED your external HDD due to Apple patch error - Mac Attorney Full Article - Apple, Macintosh - it just works ). This was resolved with a firmware patch and apple issued an updated patch too. I'm sure it won't be an issue with you, but you never know:

Apple has released OS X 10.3.1 via Software Update to deal with this problem. It is too soon to tell if the problem has been completely fixed. Since Apple, and just about all of the hard drive vendors, refuse to even admit that this problem effects drives other than FireWire800 drives (it most definitely does effect some FireWire400 drives), it is hard to determine if your data is still at risk if you attach a FireWire hard drive to your Mac running OS X 10.3.1. I highly recommend that you make sure that you have a full backup of your FireWire drive before attaching it to your Mac under OS X 10.3.1.

From reading through the Apple forums, a reoccuring theme is that if you have a FireWire 400 drive connected to your Mac alongside an iSight camera, this can cause a similar hard drive corruption problem to the one with aFW800 drives. However, apparently this problem isn't as permanent. Disconnecting the iSight, in most cases, will bring back your FireWire drive. So, for now, it seems as if it would be prudent to dismount your external FireWire drives before starting a video chat
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93498
http://discussions.info.apple.com/WebX?14@180.xxHXaw3epDb.4@.599b48e5

Also some have fans - that will extend the life of your external HDD (shock and heat are the main enemies of external HDDs)

Here is a good deal on drive for one:

Seagate 7200.9 400GB SATA HDD $100, no rebates

Enclosure (no fan and $$$ though):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817198004

Internal IDE to External Firewire is much easier to find in enclosures, so you could get this Seagate 7200.10 320GB IDE for $95 (250GB Seagate is $80):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148139

AMS's Venus enclosure is well known and most popular, they've been around for a while:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817145657
Newer AMS version with better styling (would be my choice):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817332007

The Bytecc models with fans might be decent too:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Category=9&Brand=1641&N=2010090092+1053807123+1054107130+1054207135+50001641&Submit=ENE&Manufactory=1641&SubCategory=92

Make sure you format FAT32 - read/writeable by almost any OS and tons of free HDD utilities work great with that filesys if you have problems.

 

[blue]

Drive is already FAT32. I don't want to buy a new one since the old one has all of the stuff I'd like to have on my Mac. The $75 one seems to be the only SATA/firewire enclosure NewEgg carries...Maybe I should just torrent all of my music all over again...

*cry*

 

[blue]

Perhaps I should make it clear...I'm taking the one and only hard drive out of my PC to use with my Mac. The PC is going away.

 

[binary visions]

Cleansed the crap. Yet another petty tech argument. Can we stop now? I left blue's clarification post on.

Stop butting heads with each other. State your point and if the other person is clearly not going to listen or change their mind, move on.

Blue, I'm telling you - keep an eye on those bargain sites. You can get these enclosures for less money than $75.

 

[blue]

Blue, I'm telling you - keep an eye on those bargain sites. You can get these enclosures for less money than $75.

But will it be SATA/firewire? The problem is that USB 2.0 is faster than Firewire and came out about the same time as SATA, so nobody makes an affordable SATA/Firewire enclosure.

I'm almost tempted to put the docs and pics on a DVD and just redo my MP3 library - it has needed it.

 

[Connundrum1]

I've been using a Western Digital MYbook enclosure which has worked well so far. its a 500gig external drive we're using it for camera footage backups on a shooting set and so far its held up well.

 

[syadasti]

But will it be SATA/firewire? The problem is that USB 2.0 is faster than Firewire and came out about the same time as SATA, so nobody makes an affordable SATA/Firewire enclosure.

I'm almost tempted to put the docs and pics on a DVD and just redo my MP3 library - it has needed it.

DVD option would be slower but cheaper.

USB 2.0 is slower than firewire 400 for external HDD (though it varies by enclosure and computer interface chipset combo), theoretical speeds are just that and firewire is superior technologically but would go the way of Betamax if it wasn't for some consumer electronics products that still use it. USB2 won because is ubiquitous like FAT32.

firewire 800 is faster and eSATA is the fastest external prosumer/consumer interface - eSATA should start becoming more popular/widespread soon. Here is a decent review roundup.

Here is another internal SATA w/external firewire option $45 (looks like the AgeStar CFB3A1 in the review above)

 

[binary visions]

I guess I don't get why you're jumping through hoops here. Hard drive space is so damn cheap. Just buy a big drive, throw it in your Mac, and buy the cheapest crap you can find for an enclosure. Copy everything over, and use the enclosure drive for a backup solution.

 

[binary visions]

Better yet, buy a big drive, buy a SATA to IDE converter for $14 (link) and hook the 120gb up temporarily. Copy everything over. Then buy an enclosure when you've got some extra bucks.

 

[DRB]

Better yet, buy a big drive, buy a SATA to IDE converter for $14 (link) and hook the 120gb up temporarily. Copy everything over. Then buy an enclosure when you've got some extra bucks.

Would OMFG be capable of such Reason? I think NOT. More evidence that a great injustice is being carried out.

 

[blue]

I guess I don't get why you're jumping through hoops here. Hard drive space is so damn cheap. Just buy a big drive, throw it in your Mac, and buy the cheapest crap you can find for an enclosure. Copy everything over, and use the enclosure drive for a backup solution.

But...iMac...swapping hard drives PITA...already have stuff on imac I'd like to keep...you know?

I'm just going to say **** it, buy a big IDE drive and buy a firewire enclosure. I'll re-DL my music and move all the documents and pictures over on a couple DVDs.

 

[spincrazy]

???

just dump both computers get an abacus and a kazoo..much less trouble