Please recommend a GREAT external HD Enclosure that...

[FMiguelez]

.

Hello.

I'm looking for:
An external hard disk enclosure that will allow me to hold a G5 SATA disk, which is a clone of my current G5's system HD (Leopard) and be BOOTABLE.

The idea is that, if disaster strikes, I just plug the enclosure and boot from the clone disk, and everything returns to normal.

I just bought a 1 TB USB disk, but I just found out it is not bootable
According to CarbonCopy's website, the enclosure must meet certain criteria for a clone to be bootable. That's what I'm looking for.

Also, to kill a few birds in one shot, I wouldn't mind if that enclosure can hold more than one disk (like 2 or 3), so I could put my external "Samples" disks in there.
Ideally it would have independent SATA busses to avoid bottle-necks with the computer's SATA busses, and have the proper connections and capabilities to serve as an enclosure where I can boot my clone disk from, and hold other SATA disks that contain my sample libraries (Ivory, Trillian, etc).

Is there such a cool thing out there?

It's for my PPC G5.

Thanks!

[Shooshie]

I've been VERY happy with Acomdata's enclosures. I don't know what varieties they have now (eSATA, Firewire, etc.), but I think they have them all. What i like about them is that they are very simple in structure, yet they require no fan. Reasonably priced, you can sometimes get them on sale at Fry's. Do you have stores like Fry's down there in the DF?

Never tried booting from them.

Shooshie

[FMiguelez]

Do you have stores like Fry's down there in the DF?

Hey, Shoosh!

We don't have those stores here

But I became a fan of OWC (MacSales.com), so if they have anything there that resembles what I want, I'll be MOST delighted!

I'll see if they carry the brand you mentioned.

[Armageddon]

You can't live in CA, be a techie, nerd, audiophile or engineer/musician and not have visited Frye's at least once. The one in Burbank (which had the "alien invasion" theme), which was right down the street from my old apartment on Victory in N. Hollywood, was amazing. You didn't even have to walk inside to appreciate the insanity of it. In fact. the worst thing about its design was, you'd walk in and be so overwhelmed that you'd forget what you went in there for.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Fry's in Burbank rocks. I snagged a 2TB Hitachi there last week for $139. Not much in the way of enclosures. You can boot from any Firewire 800 drive. The enclosure I ordered from OWC is:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20 ... PT934AL2C/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It holds 2 drives. I'll be installing late next week and let you know how it goes. It'll be holding the new drive for audio and some other stuff and a 1TB for Time Machine. Still have a few more TBs internally.

[newrigel]

Fry's in Burbank rocks. I snagged a 2TB Hitachi there last week for $139. Not much in the way of enclosures. You can boot from any Firewire 800 drive. The enclosure I ordered from OWC is:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20 ... PT934AL2C/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It holds 2 drives. I'll be installing late next week and let you know how it goes. It'll be holding the new drive for audio and some other stuff and a 1TB for Time Machine. Still have a few more TBs internally.

++1! I have one and it works flawlessly in every configuration possible! Worth every cent! It's a bit more than most but you'll never have the need for anything else then.

[FMiguelez]

.

Fry's in Burbank rocks. I snagged a 2TB Hitachi there last week for $139. Not much in the way of enclosures. You can boot from any Firewire 800 drive. The enclosure I ordered from OWC is:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... PT934AL2C/

It holds 2 drives. I'll be installing late next week and let you know how it goes. It'll be holding the new drive for audio and some other stuff and a 1TB for Time Machine. Still have a few more TBs internally.

GREAT!
It looks like just what I need.

Couple of questions:
Is it fast enough to be used (for at least one disk) as the enclosure for my Sample library instruments? (Ivory, Trillian, etc.).

I'm a little confused about transfer speeds because, according to MLC's link, this enclosure's transfer speed is:



http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20 ... PT934AL2C/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



And according to Wikipedia, they compare them as:




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA ... ther_buses" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I prefer much better MLC's linked info, but there's too much of a transfer rate discrepancy.
So is a FW800 drive REALLY that much faster than SATA II?
Enough to run my VIs?

Or does anybody have the correct transfer rates to compare?

Or am I misinterpreting something?

Thanks!

[newrigel]

.
Is it fast enough to be used (for at least one disk) as the enclosure for my Sample library instruments? (Ivory, Trillian, etc.).

Internal SATA or external ESATA is the fastest option but for FW, 800 is the fastest. You'll be fine with a fast HD like a Velociraptor but the 300GB may be too small (doubtful) but for performance you can't get better other than an SSD. You'll be good to go!

[James Steele]

I got this enclosure:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They make them in silver too apparently. I got the black but it works great and is very quiet. It has eSATA, FW400, FW800 and USB connectivity. I'm very happy that I went with an eSATA card. It's definitely faster than even FW800.

[HCMarkus]

I have several older model OWC dual eSATA enclosures built using the same basic design. They have been great, with the exception being the power supply on one failed after about two years of use. I replaced the failed supply with a 40w Antec PC supply, which now powers both these enclosures with a lot more headroom for start up of my 10k Raptors.

Look like they fitted a removable fan module, which could come in handy, as this is the only moving part (other than your drives) in the box.

[dopamine3]

I got this enclosure:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They make them in silver too apparently. I got the black but it works great and is very quiet. It has eSATA, FW400, FW800 and USB connectivity. I'm very happy that I went with an eSATA card. It's definitely faster than even FW800.

I have the same enclosure James recommends and it is a good enclosure
but remember that you can't boot from eSATA.

[FMiguelez]

I have the same enclosure James recommends and it is a good enclosure
but remember that you can't boot from eSATA.

You mean you can't boot from eSATA with that particular enclosure, or you just can't do so with ANY enclosure, as in all eSATA is non-bootable?

[HCMarkus]

I have a Rocket RAID SATA card from HighPoint. Drives connected to it are not bootable. However, other cards may allow you to boot. There is nothing in the SATA spec (or eSATA, which is identical) that would preclude the ability to boot.

Note that if you have a drive which includes SATA and Firewire ports and your SATA card doesn't support booting, you could always run the drive via SATA for normal use but move your connection to Firewire if and when you need to boot from that drive.

[James Steele]

I have the same enclosure James recommends and it is a good enclosure
but remember that you can't boot from eSATA.

Really? Explain to me why I'm booting from eSATA with my LaCie eSATA card then?

As was written later, it must depend on the card. I can boot with the LaCie card. I'm not trying to do a RAID either... just have a separate disc for sample libraries.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Must be a bug!