From: Aryeh Goretsky (goretsky_at_adelphia.net)
Date: Sun Nov 10 2002 - 18:24:53 EST
Hello,
I have been using a generic no-name 2.5" IDE HDD enclosure with a
Genesys Logic chipset which supports both USB 1.1 and FireWire (IEEE-
1394) interfaces I purchased from Computer Geeks. It has a 12GB
Hitachi laptop drive in it that I cannibalized from an old laptop.
Modern 2.5" hard drives should be able to get their power directly
from the USB or FireWire interface. The case also has a connector for
a 5VDC power supply.
I have used the USB 1.1 interface to transfer files on both a desktop
with an Intel D850MVL motherboard and a Ricoh Magio laptop (a ThinkPad
235, sort-of). Although slow (11Mbps), it got the job done. The
FireWire interface is much quicker (400Mbps--something like 6X the
maximum speed of the drive's interface, I believe) and works fine on
desktop PC's using FireWire PCI cards with chipsets TI, Via and Creative
Labs.
Overall, it seems to work quite well. I wish it had the faster USB 2.0
interface instead of the slower USB 1.1, but for $40 or so it was quite
inexpensive. Oh, the case is not particularly rugged so some sort of
padded case would be a good idea for travel (which would also be useful
for holding USB and FireWire cables).
Here's the URL from the vendor's web site:
http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=064-040036
I have no connection with any of the above-mentioned vendors other than
being a consumer of their products.
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky
At 07:44 AM 11/10/2002 -0600, you wrote:
>Message: 8
>Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2002 04:00:16 -0500 (EST)
>From: Jack Schudel <jgs2_at_nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu>
>To: <thinkpad_at_stderr.org>
>Subject: [Thinkpad] external usb / firewire enclosure for 2.5-inch drive?
>
>Does anyone have any suggestions for usb / firewire enclosures
>that will take an old 2.5-inch laptop harddrive?
>
>Small and light are important. Not requiring an AC adapter
>is also important.
>
>My office desktop machine is a lot faster than my notebook machines,
>so I would like to have some of my application and data files on an
>external drive that I can quickly move between machines.
>The desktop machines has some free USB2 ports, but no available
>front drive bays, and no firewire ports.
>
>The thinkpad has a slow USB port, so I would probably need to pick
>up a PCMCIA card to provide either USB2 or firewire.
>(Any suggestions as to which would be faster?)
>Desktop is running Windows 2000.
>Thinkpad is running W98, but will probably to to W2000 by the end of
>the year.
>
>Thanks in advance for your help.
>
>/jack
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