[nzlug] USB2-SATA 3.5" drive case

[Andrew Bruce]

At the moment, after purchasing a Western Digital MyBook 500GB USB HDD, 
I'm seriously recommending buying these as complete units.  (They do 
smaller drive size versions as well).

Passive cooling, reasonable throughput (around 12-15MB/s over a GigE 
network at home).  Drive and case don't seem to get too hot, even under 
heavy copying that I've noticed.

Everything seems to be pretty good so far, I especially like the fact 
that the HDD seems to go into a power saving mode after a certain amount 
of time not in use, and that this seems to be implemented at the 
hardware level, so it just works without requiring any special 
software.  I guess this also helps with drive longevity and keeping the 
unit cool.

PB were doing specials on them as well for a while there, not sure if 
they still will be or not though.


Andrew

Karl. wrote:
> On Mon, May 14, 2007 at 10:34:40AM +1200, Robert Coup wrote:
>   
>> One of the 3.5" Vantec cases I have at home (a NST-350U2) gets really 
>> really hot. Don't want to hold it hot. Which can't be good for the poor 
>> old disk inside.
>>     
>
> Pity the poor drive!  The crudest rule of thumb for electronics is that 
> if you can't keep your finger hard-pressed against it indefinitely then 
> it's too hot.  And, if the case is too hot, it's even hotter inside - if 
> I were stuck with one that hot, I'd be bolting a fan on.
>   
> It's a pity that SMART doesn't normally work with a USB case, because it 
> would be very interesting to know exactly how hot the drive is.
>
> I have found one local case with a serious looking fan, but I have found 
> no info on the quality of the rest of the device:
> http://www.procase.co.nz/external%20box/SNT2316.htm
>
> Karl.
>
> _______________________________________________
> NZLUG mailing list NZLUG at linux.net.nz
> http://www.linux.net.nz/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nzlug
>
>