[Dan the audioman]

**PLEASE NOTE THAT I AM BASICALLY A COMPUTER DUMBA$$ WHEN IT COMES TO THESE TYPES OF THINGS SO PLEASE BEAR WITH ME**

I am going to make my own external hard drive for my laptop, and I was wondering if you could help me out.

I am going to use either a 160 or 200gig Seagate Barracuda hard drive.

200gig Seagate Barracuda specs
160gig Seagate Barracuda specs

I am going to use one of these two enclosures:

enclosure 1
enclosure 2

My concern: Both of the enclosures that I have chosen say that they fit any 3.5" mounting hard drive. My question is: will the seagate barracuda that I have selected fit into either of the enclosures? (please refer to the specs I provided above)

Is there anything I'm missing here?

Basically as far as I know, all I have to do to put one of these together is to connect the hard drive to the wires/cables inside the enclosure, close it up, and install the drivers if necessary (I am using XP pro)...correct?

THANKS

Best Regards,
Dan

 

[MuZI]

The 200 GB is a IDE, while the 166 GB is SATA...

I`m not sure if this makes a difference when buying a enclosure..

 

[mbriant]

That's about it except you have to set the jumper pin on the hard drive to ??? ("primary" I think) .... there will be instructions ( and the proper terminology) with the enclosure and the pin positions will be illustrated on the hard drive's label. It's very easy, you just need tweezers.

 

[Dan the audioman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MuZI The 200 GB is a IDE, while the 166 GB is SATA... I`m not sure if this makes a difference when buying a enclosure..

Oh. Well that just goes to show you how much I don't know about computers...

Well in that case I will just go with the 200gig one. Will that one work with either of the enclosures?

Best Regards,
Dan

 

[MuZI]

http://www.cooldrives.com/ko3usb20alul.html

I see a IDE and Power Supply cable in the back of the case..

 

[Dan the audioman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbriant That's about it except you have to set the jumper pin on the hard drive to ??? ("primary" I think) .... there will be instructions ( and the proper terminology) with the enclosure and the pin positions will be illustrated on the hard drive's label. It's very easy, you just need tweezers.

Thanks! Seems simple enough.

So, the 200gig one will definetely work with either one of those enclosures, correct?

Well, I suppose If I ever have trouble with this, I can always crawl back to you guys...

Best Regards,
Dan

 

[Dan the audioman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MuZI http://www.cooldrives.com/ko3usb20alul.html I see a IDE and Power Supply cable in the back of the case..

Therefore, I must use an IDE hard drive, correct? (so the 160gig hard drive that i linked in my first post will not work with the Komodo enclosure...)

I think Im startin' to get this computer mumbo jumbo!

Regards,
Dan

 

[mbriant]

I'm certain an IDE drive will work. Never heard of the other type.

 

[Dan the audioman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbriant I'm certain an IDE drive will work. Never heard of the other type.

Excellent!

Do you think that this case would be better than the Komodo case?

enclosure 3

I just came across it, and it looks pretty nice, except as far as I can tell from the picture it looks like the Komodo has better venting. Any opinions?

Best Regards,
Dan

 

[mbriant]

If I were you, and you are buying online, I would try to purchase both the case and the drive from the same place. That way, you can confirm compatibility with them up front, and if for some reason it doesn't work, you only have one store to deal with. Otherwize, if there's a problem, the store that sold you the enclosure may tell you it's the drive's fault....and vice versa.

Better still, I don't know where you live, but there are plenty of small discount computer supply stores around with comptetitive prices.... by buying from them, you could further reduce potential hassles. I don't know a whole lot about computers myself, and it seems there are new hard drive models and standards coming out all the time. Sometimes a little personal service in a store....especially for a technical product....is worth a few bucks more.....if it even is a few bucks more.

EDIT: Just noticed you're in/near Chicago. There must be plenty of stores in your area you could visit. I imagine there are free distribution computer mags/newspapers around full of advertisements from such specialty shops. With one of those, you could shop around by phone first, (or visit their websites) then go in person to the one you choose.

 

[The_Mac]

Your best bet for a retailer is Newegg.com

if you'll be using a drive larger than 137GB, you'll want to make sure that the enclosure supports 48-bit LBA (basically just means it supports large drives). Make sure that somewhere in the info about the drive that it lists either 48-bit LBA, large drive support, or something that means it can handle large drives. You'll also need WinXP Service Pack1 to use a large drive.

I'd look on newegg for a regular IDE drive and an external enclosure from them.