[fishski13]

i'm in the process of ripping 600 CDs to my computer with EAC/FLAC and need some extra HD space. my computer knowledge and skills are pretty basic. assuming i have a spare USB port in my desktop, will the following internal HD and case get the job done? do i need to buy extra cables or anything else? will this be a noisy sucker, or quiet?

Western Digital WD10EARS Caviar Green Hard Drive - 3.5", SATA 3G, 1TB, 64MB Cache, GreenPower at TigerDirect.com

Vantec NexStar 3 NST-360SU-BL Hard Drive Enclosure - 3.5" SATA to USB 2.0, eSATA at TigerDirect.com

thanks!

 

[Hybrys]

Grab one of the slightly cheaper 32mb cache drives, and you'd be golden. (Drop the cache because, over USB, you can't really utilize more than 8mb cache. <_<)

The Green series are pretty good for being fairly quiet, but you'll still notice it if it sits right beside you. If it's on the floor or something, it'll be all good. The enclosures usually come with all the parts to setup and go with a drive. (And I know the NexStar series does for a fact; I have one right beside me. = D)

 

[ford2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishski13 /img/forum/go_quote.gif i'm in the process of ripping 600 CDs to my computer with EAC/FLAC and need some extra HD space. my computer knowledge and skills are pretty basic. assuming i have a spare USB port in my desktop, will the following internal HD and case get the job done? do i need to buy extra cables or anything else? will this be a noisy sucker, or quiet? Western Digital WD10EARS Caviar Green Hard Drive - 3.5", SATA 3G, 1TB, 64MB Cache, GreenPower at TigerDirect.com Vantec NexStar 3 NST-360SU-BL Hard Drive Enclosure - 3.5" SATA to USB 2.0, eSATA at TigerDirect.com thanks!

Do not forget that you will need another HD to back up your music files.

 

[rawrster]

ohh..i had vantec as my enclosure a while ago. it was a nice one but a bit pricey for me.

internal drive + external enclosure will be enough assuming they are compatible and by that i mean some enclosures have a max hd space they can take (not sure why but it is what it is).

the only thing you really need is a screwdriver (sometimes the enclosures come with one but not all the time) and that's it. the enclosure should come with some kind of usb cable, the enclosure and inside the enclosure there should be an area you can connect the hard drive to and probably something to connect the led to (for the vantec enclosure at least). lastly it should come with a power cable (assuming it needs external power and is not powered by usb)

 

[ford2]

If you use the pc while listening it is best to have your audio files on a seperate HD than the OS.

 

[SirDrexl]

While an enclosure is nice for using a drive you have laying around, I would just buy an external drive for this, as that would be cheaper and a little easier to set up. Here's one for about $100:

Newegg.com - Western Digital Elements 1TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive WDBAAU0010HBK-NESN - External Hard Drives

Or, 1.5TB: Newegg.com - Western Digital Elements 1.5TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive WDBAAU0015HBK-NESN - External Hard Drives

 

[Ham Sandwich]

That combo will work. The advantage of the Vantec case is that you have the option of using the eSATA connector. eSATA and SATA are much faster than USB. Makes a big difference especially when copying 500GB of files from one drive to another. Using the eSATA connector the external drive will be just as fast as your internal drive.

I use an external drive with an eSATA connector as my expansion drive where I keep my music. I run a SATA cable from inside my desktop case to the external drive. I actually use an expansion slot plate similar to this one, but the one at Newegg has an internal cable that may be too short for some case/MB combos. Pay attention to the difference between SATA and eSATA connectors. You may end up needing to buy a cable that is SATA on one end and eSATA on the other. Try to keep the SATA cable(s) as short as possible. SATA does have an overall length limit and if you start chaining multiple cables together to reach outside of your computer case you could end up with a cable combo that is overall too long to work properly.

Some laptops also have an eSATA port. So you'd be able to use the eSATA connection with some laptops as well.

And do think about buying a second external drive as well to use as a backup drive. I have a WD Elements USB drive as one of my backup drives. It's USB only. Works fine as a backup. Backups are just slow because of the USB connection. Takes many hours to copy over my music and media files. Something that gets done at night while I sleep.

 

[fishski13]

a big thanks to everyone!

i ended up buying the WD Caviar Green 1TB and this Ultra Enclosure: Ultra ULT40273 3.5" Aluminus Hard Drive Enclosure - SATA to USB 2.0, eSATA, Brushed Aluminum at TigerDirect.com. it comes with an eSATA expansion slot. i have no idea how i would connect this to my Inspiron 531 with Vista/4G yet to get eSATA transfer rates, but will be happy with USB for now. i'm sure i'll have more questions once i get it connected

.

at the rate i'm ripping EAC/FLAC and tagging/album art with Foobar, i have enough space to last me awhile on the OS and will be using the new HD as back up. i see a second HD purchase in the near future though.

i have to say you 'puterphiles have had hi-rez abilities at your finger tips for awhile. i wish i would have gone down this path earlier. while EAC/FLAC/Foobar/ASIO has a steep learning curve, i've never heard hi-fi this good via my y-2 DAC and assortment of amps. SPDIF via my Oppo and Pioneer dvd players is a serious downgrade. i've been enjoying playing with my Foobar layout as well

.

 

[Hybrys]

Connecting a bracket, as I assume you mean, if very easy.

Step 1: Open the side of the case.

Step 2: Find or open a slot somewhere around the PCI slots. Pref. as high as possible, but leaving one space between it and a video card, if possible.

Step 3: Place the 'card' into that slot, and screw it into place.

Step 4: Connect the internal end of that 'card' to a free SATA port. They're usually a vibrant orange, and MAY be hidden by cables.

Step 5: Clean up, and close up the computer.

Step 6: Plug the harddrive into the eSATA slot before you turn on the computer. Some computers offer 'hotswapping SATA', which means that you can plug in and unplug while your computer is on. Some, however, do not.

Lemme know if you have any problems. Sounds like a nice setup. = D

 

[fishski13]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hybrys /img/forum/go_quote.gif Connecting a bracket, as I assume you mean, if very easy. Step 1: Open the side of the case. Step 2: Find or open a slot somewhere around the PCI slots. Pref. as high as possible, but leaving one space between it and a video card, if possible. Step 3: Place the 'card' into that slot, and screw it into place. Step 4: Connect the internal end of that 'card' to a free SATA port. They're usually a vibrant orange, and MAY be hidden by cables. Step 5: Clean up, and close up the computer. Step 6: Plug the harddrive into the eSATA slot before you turn on the computer. Some computers offer 'hotswapping SATA', which means that you can plug in and unplug while your computer is on. Some, however, do not. Lemme know if you have any problems. Sounds like a nice setup. = D

thanks. doesn't sound any more complicated than upgrading my memory with new cards.

 

[Ham Sandwich]

External SATA drives are convenient. But a little different in how you can get the computer to recognize them when you plug them in and how you politely tell the computer that you're going to remove (unplug) the drive.

It is possible to "hotswap" a SATA drive. Hotswaping means plugging the drive in after the OS has booted and getting the OS to recognize the new drive. You also need to be able to politely tell the OS that you are about to remove the drive if you want to unplug it while the OS is running.

A convenient tool for all that is HotSwap!. It's a Windows utility. Provides a taskbar icon you can click to get the OS to recognize the drive after you plug it in or to tell the OS you are going to unplug the drive. Hotswapping like that doesn't work with all SATA controllers. If the utility works for you and allows you to hotswap your new drive then consider yourself fortunate. HotSwap! also provides a way to politely tell the OS that you are going to remove the drive before you unplug it. You need to tell the OS that you are about to unplug the drive so it can flush the cache and know not to attempt to write anything to the drive (if the OS writes to the drive while you are unplugging it you can end up with a corrupted drive).

The easiest way though to get the OS to see the drive is to have the drive turned on before you boot the computer.

Or if you don't want to bother with all that you can just use the USB. USB is easier.

Hope I didn't scare you away from trying the eSATA. It really is faster and quite convenient.

 

[fishski13]

new developments.
 
my computer is no longer recognizing my WD/Ultra via USB as a formatted drive.  the power LED flips between red and blue, and the HD attempts to spin.  the computer only recognizes the HD as an unformatted drive that needs to be formatted. 
 
thinking that the USB on the Ultra failed, i connected the Ultra via eSATA PCI to an open SATA port on the motherboard and disconnected the USB.  i now get a continuous blue light (normal), but the computer will not recognize the HD.  i connected and powered up the HD before turning on the computer.  so i rebooted and whet into the Setup menu in BIOS.  the HD is not recognized.
 
re-inserted connectors a few times to ensure clean contacts.  i also exchanged USB cables.
 
is my enclosure or HD toast?
what would happen to my files on the HD if i reformatted it?

 

[ford2]

Quote:

new developments.
 
my computer is no longer recognizing my WD/Ultra via USB as a formatted drive.  the power LED flips between red and blue, and the HD attempts to spin.  the computer only recognizes the HD as an unformatted drive that needs to be formatted. 
 
thinking that the USB on the Ultra failed, i connected the Ultra via eSATA PCI to an open SATA port on the motherboard and disconnected the USB.  i now get a continuous blue light (normal), but the computer will not recognize the HD.  i connected and powered up the HD before turning on the computer.  so i rebooted and whet into the Setup menu in BIOS.  the HD is not recognized.
 
re-inserted connectors a few times to ensure clean contacts.  i also exchanged USB cables.
 
is my enclosure or HD toast?
what would happen to my files on the HD if i reformatted it?

Please do not tell us you had NO backups.
 

 

[fishski13]

Quote:

Please do not tell us you had NO backups.
 

hard copies and some on my desktop HD

.  i was planning on getting a back up, but was taking my chances.  according to Foobar, i would only need to rip 342 CDs.   grrrrr - i'm stupid.  is the HD really a goner?  i have the original sales receipt from TigerDirect and packaging.
 

 

[Hybrys]

It might not be a goner, just some kind of formatting issue.  I have a disk like that; it wouldn't work on an older Win XP setup, but would on my home Win7 setup.  So try it on a different computer.  If it works, backup, and do a long format on that drive.  That should clean up any problems.