Making an external HDD - SATA or IDE?

**Veovis** · 10-01-08, 12:49 AM

I've bought probably 5 external HDD's over the past 5 years and only two of them still work. I back up tons and tons of data and always have it in at least 2 places at once since I expect these drives to fail. I've used both Maxtor's and WD's and they both suck usually, in a variety of ways.

So, I'm finally going to build one myself, something I should have done a long time ago. I am finding more enclosures that support IDE than SATA... but there are more SATA drives than IDE to choose from. My gut tells me to get a SATA enclosure just because it's a more common interface these days, the enclosure will be more futureproof, and I can always swap the drive to become an internal if I need it.

Thoughts?

**DJ Ms. White** · 10-01-08, 01:17 AM

Why not both? I see that Newegg cares a large variety of external enclosures.
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817198014
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817198021
Both have fans as well, although they do cost ~$70.

**Veovis** · 10-01-08, 01:40 AM

Yeh, I've been browsing Newegg and I'll admit I didn't notice there were enclosures with both interfaces. But I'm leery to buy something with zero reviews. I lean toward the products with tons of positive reviews.

Fans can be good but also bad... they make noise and fail. A fanless design sounds attractive if done right. I'm leaning toward the Vantec fanless SATA one right now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817392018

**Potemkine** · 10-01-08, 12:13 PM

Personally I like my seagate baracuda external if you are still interested in an external

**HeavyG** · 10-02-08, 03:06 AM

I have a Thermaltake HD enclosure. It is both IDE and SATA. It also supports ESATA, which is nice since my gaming rig actually has an ESATA port onboard.

I would never recommend getting a real external drive unless you are limited on physical space, as most external hard drives use the smaller, slower, notebook drives. I like being able to hot swap my external drive whenever I want.

**Paladinchan** · 10-02-08, 05:49 AM

to bad they are so expensive atm.. but the SSD's would be more reliable than a standard HD (being you can rule out mechanical failure)..

being alot of machines have external SATA and it is Hot-swappable fuction and speeds on its side.. i would go SATA

**Consultant** · 10-02-08, 09:59 AM

Originally Posted by Potemkine

Personally I like my seagate baracuda external if you are still interested in an external

+1 for Seagate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148235

I have this and it's been flawless.

**Veovis** · 10-02-08, 10:08 AM

Originally Posted by Consultant

+1 for Seagate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148235

I have this and it's been flawless.

Wow, that's impressive that it has a 5 year warranty. Even most internal drives don't have that, and the externals I've been buying only have 1-yr. I still think I'll make my own though, this time around. Probably use the Vantec enclosure and a Western Dig Caviar 640GB.

**Gonzo0100** · 10-02-08, 10:47 AM

I've had a thermaltake running at my office for over a year now. It is a NAS enclosure but it also has a USB port. Runs well, no problems (except the firmware upgrade for the NAS was a pain) Its an IDE enclosure I have a 320GB WD drive in it. No complaints.

I also have a 2.5 firelite drive that is basically my briefcase. I have been carrying it around with me daily since I was in design school. Its a tank.

**RhysJD3** · 10-02-08, 06:30 PM

Buy an enclosure. You can switch out the drives when you want if you have any issues. I use Vantec's External SATA and USB 2.0 and it works pretty good.