i ahve a i/o magic usb 2.0 for 3.5 hard drive enclosure but at the tim ei got ididnt know it would not work with vista is there any way to make it work with vista….i would return but i got in december of 07 and only open it once plz help me
it should work with vista but you may need a driver check with the company web site
My old PC’s mainboard doesn’t support SATA hdd. I want to take data from an laptop’s hard disk (SATA) via an HDD enclosure (usb port). But when I plug in, nothing happen. I wonder if it is possible?
sata drives in enclosures need more power than the old ide drives and more than a usb port can support even with its own power supply, either get a usb cable with two usb connectors on one end or sometimes plugging the cable into the pc first then into the enclosure works as the power is in the cable and there is less delay in booting the drive
I have one of these:
http://www.coolmaxusa.com/productDetails.asp?item=HD-250B-U2&details=overview&subcategory=U2&category=2.5SATA
A USB mass storage enclosure. I’ve been using it for 4 months and I already installed the driver.
Someone in my house dropped it and now, whenever I connect it, it make 4 or 5 skipping sounds and then it turns off.
Then, it turns back on, but the computer never acts like it’s plugged it.
I does make the sound of something being plugged in and out when it turns on and off, but I can’t browse the files.
What would you recommend?
God no… Oh, fuck!
The magnetic needle has scratched the discs on the hard drive. That drive is now dead! Buy a new drive.
this may seem stupid but i bought this product and thought that it was gone a be with the cd thingy but guess not its just a case. i want to returned it but i want to learn how to use it if not then i will returned it after ward. please somone help me
external DVD drive/burner?
all you need to do is plug the cable into the USB port and the device should auto-install the drivers
I have an old 3.5 desktop hard drive and am planning on using it as an external hard drive for my macbook using a usb enclosure. The only problem is that desktop hard drive enclosures have ac adaptors and you have to plug it in.
I am looking for one with power through the usb cable or with a battery or something to not make it have to plug in.I am looking for an inexpensive one by the way. Can someone point me in the right direction?
Sorry mate but it’s only 2.5 inch hard drives that can be powered through a USB port, and then it’s not all of them. The power requirements of 3.5 inch drives makes it impractical. That’s why they have an external power source that needs plugging in.
for extra laptop storage
What you’re looking to get out of your hard drive should answer this question. The primary question I think is this: what’s more important, portability or price?
If you want something that can still potentially fit in your pocket, go with a 2.5", hands down. I’ve used one for over 5 years now (120GB lol) and it’s been extremely useful for backing up data as I primarily use a laptop. I’m fairly sure they’ve hit TB even in this form factor, but the price will definitely be higher than that of an external hard drive.
As for external hard drives, they are certain to be cheaper than the 2.5" ones for the same size, but I believe they require you to carry a power cable. I don’t know if there are new ones out there that don’t require an external AC source, but the ones that I’ve seen do. We keep two of these in the house with the desktops for backup purposes.
Ultimately, I think it comes down to how you’ll use this hard drive. If you want to bring it with you wherever you go, get a 2.5" one. If you want a beast of a hard drive to store everything under the sun (or a lot of HD videos), I’d suggest an external hard drive. The 2.5" drives will be slightly more expensive, but they are certainly worth it in terms of portability.
Hope that helps!
Just an afterthought… depending on how you use your drives, it may not be worth your while investing in the 1TB drives. Since I’m not a traveller away from home for long periods of time, I prefer to have many smaller drives rather than 1 big drive. For daily use, I usually carry a 16GB memory stick instead of a hard drive. That way if I lose it, it’s significantly cheaper to replace and less data is lost. If I need more than that, I take a 60GB 2.5" drive before the bigger ones for the same reason. It’s convenient having 1TB with you at all times, but it’s also a huge hassle if anything happens to it.
any one of a number of online sales places has them like newegg or tigerdirect or any one of thousands of others
i have been using an adaptec external hard drive enclosure on my laptop. recently the laptop no longer recognizes it. it will make a sound when i plug it in so i know it’s connecting but it will not show up in explorer as a drive. i have tried everything…unplugging it and replugging it. plugging it into a different usb port, etc. anybody got a solution for this??? thanks!
Oh I have some experience. It is simple. Unplug all your usb cables that are plugged in while your PC is shuted down. Then plug in only the device you needed. Turn on your computer. If it works, shut down you Pc again. Then plug in the other devices and do the previous steps(don’t unplug the other devices).
Check this out, and contact them to see if your DVD will fit, it should, as it is designed to fit a standard PC open bay, which is approximately six inches wide; http://www.shentech.com/usbx804.html
You can buy a new USB 2.0 external DVD drive for about the same cost as an external enclosure; http://search.ebay.com/external-usb-dvd_W0QQfclZ4QQfnuZ1QQfsopZ1QQxpufuZx
Start your research here; http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=external+5.75+DVD+enclosure&hl=en&um=1&sa=X&oi=froogle&ct=title
http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=external+DVD+usb+drive&hl=en&btnG=Search
Make it a great day!
Or should I just stick with a regular hard drive? I’m looking at a Raptor right now with a good price tag on it.
Would sticking a Western Digital Raptor in an USB external enclosure make a difference in the performance threw the USB 2.0?
No. The theoretical throughput of USB 2.0 is 480Mbits/second, or about 60MBytes/second, but in real life it doesn’t work that fast. Even slow, old ATA100 hard drives transfer at 50 MBytes/second,so faster than that is a waste on a USB 2.0 connection. Save your money until USB 3.0 comes out.