# Firewire 800 external HD Case???



## pochien (Mar 18, 2005)

I've been looking for a Firewire 800 external HD case lately. I've notice that it's only available from LaCie. However, i think they are over-price for their products. Plus, i don't think u can buy their smallest firewire 800 external HD, and then change the HD yourself. 

I know there are many users here have purchased firewire 400 external HD case from Canada Computer. Most of you purchased Bytecc's case....and then i found out that Bytecc has a Firewire 800 external HD case available. The model number is ME-740 F2U2. I've asked the people in Canada Computer. The guy said he's not sure if we can special order it. I gave him my phone number...but still haven't heard anything back from that guy. Maybe he forgot this already. 

But ya, does any one here know where i can get a Firewire 800 external HD case...other than LaCie...

Thank u in advance!!


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## ArtistSeries (Nov 8, 2004)

pochien said:


> But ya, does any one here know where i can get a Firewire 800 external HD case...other than LaCie...


http://www.wiebetech.com/home.php (distributed by EMJ in Canada)


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## pochien (Mar 18, 2005)

Sorry...but can u please explain what EMJ stand for??

Thanks a lot!!


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## ArtistSeries (Nov 8, 2004)

EMJ is a distributor (http://www.emj.ca/) - 

The other suggestion is carbon computing may have what you are looking (they are promoting a FW800 drive with 250GB HD)http://www.ehmac.ca/showthread.php?t=26674 based on this external case http://www.macpower.com.tw/products/hdd3/pleiades/pd_800plus


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## interact (Mar 11, 2004)

Here's a sexy (and $$$) FW800 solution (I know it's not just the case.)

http://www.g-technology.com/Products/Products.cfm

G-Raid, G-Drive, G-Sata, G-Drive Mini ... very nice look.

Canadian Resellers: http://www.g-technology.com/Purchase/Purchase-CAN.cfm


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## ArtistSeries (Nov 8, 2004)

interact said:


> Here's a sexy (and $$$) FW800 solution (I know it's not just the case.)
> 
> http://www.g-technology.com/Products/Products.cfm
> 
> ...


I have bought a few of those and have a few complains about them:
Cons
- cases are inconsistently put together: skewed to one side
- fan is noisey on G-Raid
- front light is too bright (subjective I know)
- raid 0 (two drives acting as one)

Pros:
- uses Hitachi drives
- the look
- drives are fast even when getting full


Overall, I do recommend them.


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## TommyC (Apr 9, 2005)

ncix.com seems to have the 740f2u2 in stock for $112


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## interact (Mar 11, 2004)

ArtistSeries ... good to know. I've been wanting one for a long, long time, but I've never heard feedback on them. Thanks!


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## farfisa (Nov 5, 2003)

You can also look at:
http://www.directdial.com/ca/shop/
under "Firewire Products," and then in "Enclosurers" [sic]
There's one by macally for $115, which has USB 2.0, FW400 & FW800. Still not cheap, but at least you can find your own drive (and it's not bad lookin'--which I know is never important  )


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## gmark2000 (Jun 4, 2003)

FW800 drive enclosures are available through OWC in the U.S., also check-out http://www.cooldrives.com/cooldrives.com[/url]

I bought this two-drive FW800 RAID enclosure a couple months ago (haven't set it up yet!) for US$130.


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## ArtistSeries (Nov 8, 2004)

interact said:


> I've been wanting one for a long, long time, but I've never heard feedback on them.


You can view other users experience with them at http://www.creativecow.net/ in the G-Tech forum.
There is a rep from G-Tech (Roger Mabon) that will answer questions (but he does ignore criticism).

As for other G-tech products, I would be hesitant to buy the G-Drive mini and G-Drive. On the website, G-Tech goes to great length to point out that heat shortens the life of any hard drive. On the two enclosure mentionned above, the heatsinks are on the bottom of the units. Here on earth, heat rises, so I consider that a poor design choice...


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## farfisa (Nov 5, 2003)

ArtistSeries said:


> On the two enclosure mentionned above, the heatsinks are on the bottom of the units. Here on earth, heat rises, so I consider that a poor design choice...


Maybe the heatsinks actually make heat sink?


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## pochien (Mar 18, 2005)

G-DRIVE FW (FW 800 & FW 400)....250GB cost $249. I assume that's in American Dolloar...$250 American Dollar is about $309 Canadian Dollar...that's nothing cheaper than LaCie's external HD then....

Can anyone sugguest a more friendly price?

Thanks a lot!!


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

There are no cheap FW 800 cases.


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## Carbon Computing (Jan 7, 2003)

*Fw 800*

FW Cases and their prices are the result of a few VERY important details.
1. Overall case design. (C'mon, you own a Mac, right?)
2. Warranty and how easy it is to repair or replace.
3. Quality of power supply. 
4. Most important, CHIP SET. There are multiple FW 800 chip sets available. Each chip set adds 20$-50$ to the overall cost of the case.
We are able to offer a 2 year warranty because we are not skimping on any of these. Hope this helps.


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## gmark2000 (Jun 4, 2003)

As mentioned, my RAIDable two-bay FW800 enclosure cost US$130 from OWC. That's a reasonable price IMHO.


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## a7mc (Dec 30, 2002)

*LaCie*

Personally, I have been burned by going cheap. Bottom line... The cheaper you go, the lower the quality. I can personally vouch for the amazing build quality of the LaCie drives. After frying a HD due to a bad case that was overheating drives (a metal/heatsink enclosure at that!), I gave up on going cheap. I own the 250GB FW800. It is VERY VERY VERY well put together compared to other drives/enclosures. It is a good solid sturdy case, and worth every penny IMO.

A7


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## Todd (Oct 14, 2002)

Startech IDECASEU2FB


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## pochien (Mar 18, 2005)

ok...i guess u guys are right....price equal quality. Maybe it's a good idea for me to buy a Lacie. Just wondering...have any of u guys ever open any LaCie external Hard Drive case and chage the HD inside? I'm wondering if that's possible to do so. If it's possible, i can buy a 160GB one..and later increase the storage to maybe 300GB myself.

Any suggestions??

Thanks a lot!


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## csonni (Feb 8, 2001)

I was also wondering the same thing about Lacie units, whether or not the drives are user replaceable. I also am curious as to whether they can be laid on their side rather than upright. Anyone?


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## ArtistSeries (Nov 8, 2004)

pochien said:


> ok...i guess u guys are right....price equal quality. Maybe it's a good idea for me to buy a Lacie. Just wondering...have any of u guys ever open any LaCie external Hard Drive case and chage the HD inside? I'm wondering if that's possible to do so. If it's possible, i can buy a 160GB one..and later increase the storage to maybe 300GB myself.
> 
> Any suggestions??


I know some people like LaCie - I have never liked them for a few reasons.
They buy their hard drives based on the lowest price per quantity not by quality (like many OEMs). 

My suggestion would be to get the best FW800 enclosure you can afford and buy a HD that you like. You will have more control that way.


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## pochien (Mar 18, 2005)

The problem is that i can't...or don't know where to look...find any FW800 external enclosure anywhere!!

Does any one know where to find one with just the enclosure...without the HD??

Thanks a lot!!


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## csonni (Feb 8, 2001)

Not too hard to find. I've been looking, too. But I want to use an SATA drive in a firewire 400/800 enclosure. A bit harder. For yours, go here. There are a few options. Just go to other sites and type in "enclosures."

http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Page.cfm?Parent=1087&Title=&Template=1


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## a7mc (Dec 30, 2002)

ArtistSeries said:


> I know some people like LaCie - I have never liked them for a few reasons.
> They buy their hard drives based on the lowest price per quantity not by quality (like many OEMs).


You know this for fact? How?

Regardless, what exactly is a "quality drive"? When I had my computer store I sold all brands of HDs. The cheapest drives, Samsung and Maxtor, had almost NO returns. The most returns? Seagate, followed closely by Western Digital. Remember I mentioned I fried and external HD? It was Western Digital. So what exactly is "quality"? My opinion (based on my computer store experience) for hard drives... cross your fingers. Brand does not matter.

As for replacing the HD in a LaCie, I'm not sure. The case, as I said, is so tight and solid it's almost waterproof.  I would imagine, if at all possible, it would be best to stick to similar HD specs (RPM, cache, etc). From a technical standpoint, I don't see why it would not be possible. And yes, it can be setup vertical or horizontal.

P.S. If you want to find an enclosure only, assuming you are in T.O like your profile says, just go to Spadina and College. Walk up and down College... there are about 40 computer stores. See what they have, touch one, pick it up and feel the quality. At least then you know what you're getting. Don't forget to check out Computer Systems Center to see the LaCie. Then make your desicion.

A7


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## TommyC (Apr 9, 2005)

pochien said:


> The problem is that i can't...or don't know where to look...find any FW800 external enclosure anywhere!!
> 
> Does any one know where to find one with just the enclosure...without the HD??
> 
> Thanks a lot!!


As I said in an earlier post, NCIX.com sells the bytecc FW800 case you were asking about (740f2u2) and it is listed as being in stock (last time I looked anyways) Not sure how the $112 price compares to other places but I've usually found them fairly competitive whenever I've needed to get stuff.

EDIT: here's the link - http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=12375&vpn=ME-740F2U2&manufacture=Bytecc%20Inc


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## ArtistSeries (Nov 8, 2004)

a7mc said:


> You know this for fact? How?
> 
> Regardless, what exactly is a "quality drive"?


It's a question that I have asked LaCie reps many times for the past 8 years and received similar answers
Also, this have been confirmed by many reviewers, newsgroups and professionals that have taken apart the units. 
I have used many LaCie drives and you can find out what drive is there.

There are certain hard drives that you will see more returns on. Some do last longer. You can read reviews with long term stats. 
I think MacDoc recommends Seagates. I have often praise certain Maxtors for video work (but not long term storage).


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

We sell hundreds and hundreds of drives in and out of enclosures.
Hands down Seagate is the most reliable which was not true before they were taken over.

Maxtor has the worst record for us with WD pretty good but hot running.
Samsungs are excellent

If you really want bulletproof then you need to look for the 24/7 rated drives. THERE the Maxtors are good and they are fast.

Firewire environments are not as drive friendly as inside the Mac - we recommend them ONLY for backup/transport where there is another copy on another FW drive or an internal drive.

We like LaCie except for the ridiculous loss of warranty if the case has to be opened to retrieve data.
We think the original drive warranty should stand on FW drives...period full stop.


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## csonni (Feb 8, 2001)

MacDoc said:


> Maxtor has the worst record for us with WD pretty good but hot running.
> Samsungs are excellent
> 
> If you really want bulletproof then you need to look for the 24/7 rated drives. THERE the Maxtors are good and they are fast.


Not sure what you're saying here, MacDoc. On one hand, Maxtors are the worst for reliability and on the other, the best for 24/7?


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## TommyC (Apr 9, 2005)

csonni said:


> Not sure what you're saying here, MacDoc. On one hand, Maxtors are the worst for reliability and on the other, the best for 24/7?


I think MacDoc's referring to the two different lines of hard drive maxtor sells. There's the consumer DiamondMax 10 line which is what you see in most computer stores but Maxtor also has a line of higher grade drives called maxline III (I think) They cost more but are meant for more demanding environments


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## Vexel (Jan 30, 2005)

You certainly can take apart a Lacie enclosure and put your own Harddrive in it. I've done so with my External FW 400 case to replace the drive. I swapped a friends drive into it.. and it worked fine. Now, I'm looking at getting a 200 gig drive to put in it  

My Lacie has been on constantly for almost 4 years. Inside is a Maxtor, 7200 80 Gig. I couldn't ask for something more reliable. I paid almost $500 for it when I got it.. but, looking back.. I don't think I'd want anything else. Well.. cept for the new 200 Gig drive


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Tommy is correct. The high end Maxtors are very good....there is two lines and with the 16 meg cache these are very fast drives.

Built like the Raptor 10ks and all with SMART diagnostics.

The Samsung are the best built standard drives we see. We don't sell enough to have real history.

BTW previous gen drives such as IBM Deskstars and earlier Maxtors should be retired to non critical use such as backup or casual storage for replaceable stuff.

First of all the new drives are much faster and these two brands are prone to whining and failure.
New drives run cooler - especially the Seagates and have up to five year warranties which shows a huge confidence/technology boost as most ata drives were 1 year warranty only a few years back.

Drives are the one component we seem to forget about until they fail. An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure.

I had to recover 3 years of precious photos last night - he was lucky.

ANY machine with a drive over 3 years old should be scanned for surface defects and where possible a more current technology drive be put in place.
With the 8 meg caches you'll get a nice speed bump and more peace of mind.

Early iMac G4 and eMac owners should be considering this.
G3 iMacs and G4 tower owners prior to MDD units should definitely replace or retire to casual use any original drives.

Drives with SMART technology on them continuously monitor their operation and can pre-alert a potential failure state situation.

THe photo recovery above was on a G4 iMac and the drive surface was weak according to the recovery data with several areas of "slow read" at various blocks.

Weakest was right at the first part of the drive - one reason to use that as a scratch disc on a separate volume - even a 2 gig scratch gives some protection.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

One caveat to Vexel - his 4 year old enclosure has a fan I believe so a big drive will work fine. Fanless enclosures with big hot WDs might cause problems if you upgrade.

You also need to use some caution with 300 and 400 gig drives in earlier enclosures due to size restrictions on the bridges.

We are going to offer a dual fan enclosure shortly - just testing it now. A bit bigger but twin ball bearing fans are quiet and offer a steadier temperature environment for big drives.


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## Vexel (Jan 30, 2005)

Thanks MacDoc, My drive does have a Fan. I'm not looking to put anything too big in it.. I only want a 200 Gig drive for backup, and storage. I don't see the need for a 300 or 400 Gig drive at the moment. Any idea if the older Lacie models support 200Gig? I don't have the drive with me at the moment.. so I can't get the actual model of the drive.. however.. I'll take a look online to see if I can find it.


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## IronMac (Sep 22, 2003)

MacDoc said:


> BTW previous gen drives such as IBM Deskstars should be retired to non critical use such as backup or casual storage for replaceable stuff.


My IBM DeathStar died within a month. Apple replaced it with another DeathStar.  Needless to say, I replaced it with a WD as soon as I could. Ironically, that died within a few months too.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

IM - You may have a power problem - that's not right even with questionable drives. 

Vexel - you may be limited to 120 gig depending on the age of the case.


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## Vexel (Jan 30, 2005)

Hey MacDoc.. if I got a slim drive.. would I notice a big difference? I've used that Lacie for a long time.. but my friend is willing to buy it from me for a decent price.. So.. what I'm thinking, with the Laptop, it would be more convenient to carry a slim drive. But, I just wanna know if I would see a significant decrease in speed?

You can PM me, if you don't wanna continue the discussion here.


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