Probably won't last, knowing Buy.com. Not a bad deal for esata with a power switch and internal fan. Negatives are it ships from ComputerGeeks, whose "refurbs" are not as good in my opinion as someplace like Newegg. No esata bracket or cable either. But the price is not bad and my experience is simpletech are pretty good. I think this originally had a drive inside, but they took the drive out and are selling the enclosure separate. geeks has it for $14.99, so Buy.com is cheaper. Just remember to select free shipping during checkout.
Don't forget FW CashBack for a few pennies less. I got bing for 4% by putting "belkin usb" in the shopping search box and then finding Buy.com link in one of the lists.
I guess maybe they aren't refurbs. All the better. Simpletech makes good products.
Wierd - on Geeks.com, it says the package states "Package states hard drive included, however, hard drive NOT INCLUDED" - so these were cannibalized enclosures? So either the drives were bad (doubtful) or the enclosure did not work well (most likels)... I was almost in for one as I have been looking for an eSata encluse, but I will pass on this one. Thanks anyway, OP.
Mine already shipped from Geeks via Fed-Ex. The information on Simpletech says this can hold up to 1T. But this information isn't about just the enclosure, because these were originally sold with drives. I don't think Simpletech sells separate enclosures. So it probably is some kind of refurb.
I like ESATA, but depending on your motherboard, and SATA chipset, it doesn't always work if you turn on the drive after starting the computer. With my main computer, it doesn't work because I setup the computer with IDE emulation for SATA in the BIOS, which is the default. Now that Windows is installed this way, if I turn the other option on, which is AHCI, I think, Windows won't boot. This is with an Intel chipset. However, with another Nvidia based chipset, I can power on the drive after booting and it functions perfectly in ESATA mode.
So my point is, ESATA isn't necessarily as easy as most people think. Maybe this drive is different, and the original enclosure I used had a faulty controller, so I'll keep you posted.
SimMike said: I like ESATA, but depending on your motherboard, and SATA chipset, it doesn't always work if you turn on the drive after starting the computer. With my main computer, it doesn't work because I setup the computer with IDE emulation for SATA in the BIOS, which is the default. Now that Windows is installed this way, if I turn the other option on, which is AHCI, I think, Windows won't boot. This is with an Intel chipset. However, with another Nvidia based chipset, I can power on the drive after booting and it functions perfectly in ESATA mode.
So my point is, ESATA isn't necessarily as easy as most people think. Maybe this drive is different, and the original enclosure I used had a faulty controller, so I'll keep you posted.
i have the same problem. on one PC i can plug in an eSATA drive and after a 20 second system freeze (ughhh) it is recognized and accessible. on my HTPC i have to plug in the eSATA drive before boot or else Windows doesn't see it at all. not very convenient.
db130
Member
posted: Sep. 29, 2009 @ 3:20p
i have a fanless simpletech usb-only enclosure from one of the aforementioned Staples deals. it runs surprisingly cool. $12 shipped for a version that adds esata+internal fan? sign me up. i bought 2.
I got it and it is pretty nice. But just like I thought, ESATA is not hot-swappable with my two Intel chipset computers, in which the SATA controller was not set to AHCI before installing Windows. It works fine if you power the drive before starting the computer in ESATA mode. USB mode works perfect. For $11.99 I was happy. There is a little heat diode located right under where you install the drive. This is connected to the circuit board. Not sure if this controls when the fan comes on or off, but I didn't hear the fan when I had it running, so I'm not sure if it is quiet, or it just wasn't coming on. If you start in ESATA mode, you can always get Speedfan to give you the hard drive temperature, so if you are curious, that would be a good way to check. Solid little unit, but it doesn't come with any instructions. But it had all the screws inside the case, so pretty easy to figure out. Came in the regular SimpleTech box, but all the documentation plainly shows this was supposed to be sold with drives inside, not a separate enclosure. Not a bad deal, although the duo deal listed above looks pretty darn good.
You can find cheap ESATA brackets on eBay. Or you can get a three foot SATA to ESATA cable, which you can connect to your mainboard and string out the back of the case. I got one for $1.98 shipped from eBay. So if you want to try ESATA, you don't have to break the bank. The cable I got is shipping from Hong Kong, so I'm not sure how long it will take.
rdcjet
Member
posted: Sep. 30, 2009 @ 12:03a
Ordered (2) of these from Buy.com. They are a good deal. I also just ordered the SATA to ESATA cables from eBay ($1.98 + free shipping) as noted by SimMike. Thanks for the info SimMike.
Got mine in today and stuck a 750gb WD in it. Works perfectly. It's larger then what I expected though, and significantly larger then the Mybook I pulled the drive from. It's thicker and longer by a good bit. It's 100% plastic, but seems sturdy enough at least. You can flex the top and bottom, but not the sides, and it doesnt creak or anything when doing so, so not bad there. My Mybook travels around with me on longer trips about 5 or 6x a year without much protection other then burrying it in clothes in my luggage for some shock protection, and it has tipped and had a few short falls over its almost 2yrs its been around, so the enclosure was getting ragged with a couple broken clips and such. Well worth the $11 or $12 to put it in a new home and to give it eSATA capability.
edit---now that it has been on for about 10mins, the fan kicked on and wow, must say it's pretty loud for a little fan. I built my PC to be near silent, but it's not totally silent. Just that little fan in the enclosure is EASILY overpowering noise from the entire PC. Sounds like an Xbox 360 or something running. heh. Good thing it has an on/off switch for when not using it. The drive is idling at 43c which is about what it was at full constant load in it's propper mybook enclosure.
Ordered 10 of the single-drive enclosures, and 5 of the dual-drive enclosures.
One thing that I noticed about the dual-drive enclosures, is that they ONLY support RAID 0 or RAID 1. They do not seem to support JBOD. Which means that you cannot use the dual-drive enclosures with just a single drive.
VirtuaL said: Ordered 10 of the single-drive enclosures, and 5 of the dual-drive enclosures.
One thing that I noticed about the dual-drive enclosures, is that they ONLY support RAID 0 or RAID 1. They do not seem to support JBOD. Which means that you cannot use the dual-drive enclosures with just a single drive.
Have you tried one with a single drive? Or are you basing that just on the fact it doesn't seem to support JBOD? Thanks
fova
New Member
posted: Oct. 2, 2009 @ 12:44p
VirtuaL said: Ordered 10 of the single-drive enclosures, and 5 of the dual-drive enclosures.
One thing that I noticed about the dual-drive enclosures, is that they ONLY support RAID 0 or RAID 1. They do not seem to support JBOD. Which means that you cannot use the dual-drive enclosures with just a single drive. Is the dual-drive one significantly bigger in dimension than the single-drive one ? (I check the specs and the specs say they're the same but the pics say otherwise). Also, can they hold hdd with 1.5TB or more in capacity? (I'm thinking of using this with one of the 1.5TB hdd that are on here). One last note, these seem to come with an AC power adapter. Is there an enclosure for 3.5 drives that use USB for power ? Having to bring the power brick with it on the go is a bit clunky :/ Thanks.
My one warning about anything Simpletech, they don't honor warranty requests. I've submitted for a RMA to ship back a dead 500g external. And their policy seems to not respond at all. Their web site says they get back to you in under 24 hours. i'm on my second RMA request in 2 weeks. And absolutely ZERO response. PS. they require you to send your receipt. So you should keep a copy in the event your Simpletech craps out.
I looked at a bunch of reviews and at the manual on the SimpleTech website and I think VirtuaL may be right. There is a switch on the back to toggle between RAID 0 and RAID 1. It's not clear if or how it would work with a single drive.
ThankYou said: VirtuaL said: Ordered 10 of the single-drive enclosures, and 5 of the dual-drive enclosures.
One thing that I noticed about the dual-drive enclosures, is that they ONLY support RAID 0 or RAID 1. They do not seem to support JBOD. Which means that you cannot use the dual-drive enclosures with just a single drive.
Have you tried one with a single drive? Or are you basing that just on the fact it doesn't seem to support JBOD? Thanks
thefudd
New Member
posted: Oct. 2, 2009 @ 1:07p
Bought 2 this morning and now the fry's 1.5tb drives this afternoon... hope they work in the enclosure
SandyQ said: the red and white LEDs just keep alternately flashing.
When I plug the drive into my PC equipped with a Adaptec DuoConnect 5020 SATA/USB card, my computer running XP Pro only sees the drive as having 8 GB of space.
Disclaimer: By providing links to other sites, FatWallet.com does not guarantee, approve or endorse the information or products available at these sites, nor does a link indicate any association with or endorsement by the linked site to FatWallet.com.
Members of our community may attach files to a post in accordance with the User Agreement. FatWallet is not responsible for the content, accuracy, completeness or validity of any information contained in any attached file. Files have *not* been scanned for viruses. Be especially wary of Excel files which may contain malicious content.
