Bus Powered FW Hard Drive Recommendations

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I'm looking for bus powered external firewire hard drives for $300 or less. Does anyone know a good source for the full size drives? The bus powered notebook sized drives have been around a long time, but they're too expensive for the sizes I'm looking to get. The full sized drives no longer require an external power supply though, if they're in the right cases.



Any suggestions?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    The only full sized bus-powered FW drive I even know of is Wiebetech's UltraGB . Kind of pricey though, and only FW400 (+USB2).



    FWIW, I've had very good luck with this portable drive.



    Why the push for a full sized drive? RPMs? I don't think you're going to find a bus-powered drive at the same price/capacity of a powered drive. If you do though, let us know.
  • Reply 2 of 11
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    I assembled a bus powered FW hard drive myself, from a $30 case and a $120 hard drive. At $150 for a 40 GB, it was cheaper than any of the 40 GB portable hard drives available from Lacie, SmartDisk, WiebeTech, or any other place (those were going for $200-$250).



    Actually I'm considering selling mine for an AC-powered desktop drive because I have a desktop now and I wouldn't mind having a faster, larger drive. I want to get a couple more paychecks first though.
  • Reply 3 of 11
    bungebunge Posts: 7,329member
    Luca,



    Where did you get the parts? I want exactly what you want, a cheaper internal drive in a decent case. I don't need speed, just girth.



    EDIT: the WiebeTECH looks pretty good...
  • Reply 4 of 11
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Wait, do you think I made an external bus-powered 3.5" hard drive? No, mine is a 2.5". I bought the parts at NewEgg - a great place to go for generic components.
  • Reply 5 of 11
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    Current setup:

    eMac/1 GHz/Combo/128 MB/60 GB




    Luca, hold off on the HD and buy some RAM, my boy!! Does OSX even BOOT with 128MB??



  • Reply 6 of 11
    My first reaction would be to say "Get an iPod". But then I wake up.
  • Reply 7 of 11
    bungebunge Posts: 7,329member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Not Unlike Myself

    My first reaction would be to say "Get an iPod". But then I wake up.



    Have one. Now I need oodles of space to store my converted CDs. I need at least 80 GB of space, 120 GB preferred.



    Thanks for the NewEgg advice too...
  • Reply 8 of 11
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    murbot: I ordered a 512 MB RAM module the moment I bought the eMac. It still hasn't arrived \



    To put it in perspective, the eMac with 128 MB of RAM is only very slightly slower than my iBook when it had 640 MB of RAM.



    I have plenty of hard drive space from the two drives, mainly I want to make the external hard drive faster rather than larger.
  • Reply 9 of 11
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    Well, the best price/capacity/style and bus-powered combo I've been able to come up with is:



    Quote:

    HITACHI NOTEBOOK HARD DRIVE 80GB 4200RPM PART# 08K0635 - OEM, DRIVE ONLY

    Specifications:

    Form: 2.5 Inch 9.5mm Height

    Size: 80 Gigabytes

    Interface: IDE ULTRA ATA-6

    Seek time: 12.0ms

    RPM:4200

    Cache 8MB

    OEM(Drive alone) 3 Year Manufacturer Warranty: IC25N080ATMR04 Model#: IC25N080ATMR04



    Price: 215.00



    Quote:

    CompuCable FireXpress 2.5" Silver External Hard Drive Enclosure for USB2.0/1.1/1.0/FireWire, Model FXU2-EB-25S - Retail

    Features:

    Provides IDE to FireWire and IDE to USB 2.0 conversion in one external enclosure kit

    Supports 2.5" Notebook size IDE hard drive (supports 9.5mm height, such as IBM 80GB)

    Supports IDE ATA100/66 protocol

    Interface Connectors: Model#: FXU2-EB-25S



    Price: 63.00





    So, for 268.00, that's a nice little kit. Damn. Might just have to get one for myself.



    Not a bad look either:







    NewEgg search page.
  • Reply 10 of 11
    bungebunge Posts: 7,329member
    Thanks 709, I searched NewEgg but couldn't find much.



    Is it bus powered?
  • Reply 11 of 11
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    Yup. One caveat though, the drive is *only* 4200 RPM. But, I figure if you're using it for your iTunes library, it should be plenty fast.



    Also, you'll have to put the two together...but, again, nothing too much to handle. Every external case I've ever dealt with comes apart and back together again pretty easily.



    Also, it's a 2.5" enclosure. I know you were looking for a full sized drive, but IMHO this is a pretty sweet deal, and much more portable.



    [edit]: Here's the enclosure's product page.
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