5.25" external enclosure

Cerb · Post by **Cerb** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 9:02 pm

I'm currently using a ME-320U2, which is several times louder than the rest of my system, and all it has is a 40mm fan. If I stop the fan, the rear end (PSU) does get warm, and starts making "bleep" sounds. So that's no good

. On top of that, the design and build quality are pretty bad.

I'm thinking of getting this one instead, having the wallwart instead of integrated PSU (so I should be able to turn the fan off).

Does anyone have any recommendations or experiences? As long as the peformance is transparent in normal use, that won't be a concern. It will house a LiteOn 812S.

POLIST8 · Post by **POLIST8** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 6:48 am

I have a Bytecc Brand that I just removed the 40mm out of. I had a hard drive in there, but it never got outrageously hot.

Cerb · Post by **Cerb** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 7:20 am

POLIST8 wrote:I have a Bytecc Brand that I just removed the 40mm out of. I had a hard drive in there, but it never got outrageously hot.

Hmmm. Maybe a bit more testing is in order...

POLIST8 · Post by **POLIST8** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 10:16 am

Convenietly on sale @ Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductde ... 314&DEPA=0

Or just view them all:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.a ... rty&DEPA=0

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 12:14 pm

I have the same Bytecc. I did not remove the tiny whiner from it.

One of the first tests I did was to plug in a Maxtor 160GB and play a movie from it (native DV format, 3.6MB/s) using Windows Media Player. It will lose the drive intermittently after about 10 mins of playback. This may be due to WMP playing DV format, and not the drive. I've only tried it on one system. The other system's USB 2.0 card (NEC chipset) will not recognize the drive. When used to copy the same file to HD there was no problem. My only other external enclosure is a Maxtor 200GB that I used with the firewire interface only.

I was planning on using it with a removable IDE cage. Haven't gotten around to it though.

POLIST8 · Post by **POLIST8** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 12:25 pm

I own two of these:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 212&depa=0

Both of my seagates live in them now. They have BOTH firewire and USE and have this pimp blue light that flickers when they're accessed. Plus they have holes so that you don't need a stupid fan.

Installation is WAY too easy.

Cerb · Post by **Cerb** » Thu Aug 12, 2004 3:08 am

Many more cool 3.5" ones out there than 5.25".
I wonder if maybe my fan blade stopper shorted something, as now it seems fine. If this keeps up through ripping another 50-80 CDs, I may get this one. Same internals as the cheap one I'm using now, but it works great w/ Nero's ASPI layer.

Cerb · Post by **Cerb** » Thu Aug 12, 2004 12:25 pm

After ripping both Led Zeppelin box sets, the last two CDs were near too hot to touch when they came out.
Two discs after that, I get a warning about unsafe removal--when I didn't unplug it. If I disconnect and reconnect it, all worked fine for a few minutes, then that same error again

. If I let the fan start up, it goes back to working fine. If I have the enclosure open, it also works fine.
It could be as much the drive as the enclosure...but also, very few 5.25" enclosures seem to have holes for ventilation, where many 3.5" and 2.5" ones do.

POLIST8 · Post by **POLIST8** » Thu Aug 12, 2004 12:52 pm

After ripping two discs it gets hot?

Weird.

I had a CD burner and a hard drive in mine and I never had any problems.

I often times burned 6 discs in a row (albeit 4x) without heat problems.

Well, looks like it's time to either turn on the fan or just take the top off...

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Thu Aug 12, 2004 1:23 pm

Cerb wrote:Two discs after that, I get a warning about unsafe removal--when I didn't unplug it. If I disconnect and reconnect it, all worked fine for a few minutes, then that same error again . If I let the fan start up, it goes back to working fine. If I have the enclosure open, it also works fine.

Is this with the plastic Bytecc 5 1/4" enclosure? Sounds like what I encountered. Guess it is heat related after all.

Cerb · Post by **Cerb** » Thu Aug 12, 2004 2:17 pm

Yes (see link in the OP). Observations:
-There's thin metal surrounded by thick plastic.
-Turning the unit off and feeling around, the drive itself is much hotter than anything in the rear.
-There's thin metal surrounded by thick plastic, and no inlet holes. Also, no place to put them.

My thoughts:
-Of course, it always happens. Now that I got the 812S and am about to get an enclosure, the external one comes down ~$20 and matches the price of the drive + enclosure (actually a bit better, as Newegg recently added shipping to most enclosures).
-I might want to get this one, also branded Bytecc. While also little room, a snug aluminum case aught to be better than the current insulating plastic.

Note that the current enclosure is not actually mine, so even if modification is the order of the day, I'll need to get my own first.

Polist8: no, not after ripping two, after ripping six in a row (4-disc zep box set and 2-disc zep box set), then around the eightth it started to give problems. I'm replacing the collection of 128k Xing MP3s, and still have almost 300 CDs to go. It's going to get a workout.

edit: after further inspection, it's an ALi chipset. Boy, that gives me confidence in it!

Cerb · Post by **Cerb** » Fri Aug 13, 2004 5:50 am

After much Googling, this is what I've found:
1. The ALi bridges have data corruption issues.
2. The chip itself is only rated for 50C. You're putting it on top of a small space with plastic covering it...no wonder it needs that noisy little fan to get by!
3. Cypress also has such issues, but less pronounce.
4. Prolink is another one. I was able to find benchmarks and product info, but no bad things about--so I'm hoping no news is good news. To top that off, dealsonic.com has a USB/Firewire enclosure for $39 shipped with the Prolink. This offers the benefit of cheap entry into FW ($12 for a VIA-based card at Newegg), should I run into buffer problems with 8x USB burning (I have no 8x media, so can't test it), which apparently could happen.

While it has a fan, and I don't know how loud it is, there's a subtle difference in the physical design from the Bytecc. With the mounts raised, even a small amount, there can be decent airflow (if not, it gives room for it, and I have no problem drilling holes into the bottom). This should allow for safe operation with the fan speed lowered--maybe even turned off. On the Bytecc, there are only a few extremely small intlet slits, I doubt totalling 1 sq. in., and the front ones are blocked with the drive in place.