Hi

Recently , all my hard drives already full ( Total of 160Gb ) and I am interested to buy an external hard drives since all my internal bay slots for hard drives already full , and the raids also used in full capacity .

So I plan to buy either USB2 or both USB2/FWire external harddrive.What I have in my 'shopping list' now are either Lacie P3 , Maxtor One Touch , and Western Digital All-In-One External.

However , the problem is I already read some of the reviews regards to those drives , some of them give positive feedback , and some of them not.

The issue that they have is about the HEAT .It said that if I planned to run the drive 24-7 , the drive will not last long , since some of the drives described above only has 'plastic case' and not aluminium case ( except for maxtor OT - but it costy compare to Lacie at the same Capacity/space ).

So I think I ask whats your opinion about it .

The drives that I plan to buy are in range of 200 - 250 Gb.I prefer a more economic drives ( less $/Gb space if u know what I mean ), but at the same the reliability of the drives also play the main factor as well .I do not have problem with the interface since I dont mind using USB2 or Firewire ( even some said FWire 400 & 800 give better transfer rate - I still dont think that really significant - but I am not sure ) .

The other 'stupid' issue is if

So if anyone has comments on Lacie , Plextor , or any other drives recommended . Bad experience , gd experience , all are welcomes . ( I need to become a smart consumer - less $$$ spending hehehehe ).

Oh , I almost forget , most of the times I plan to use the drives as back up files , and probably for 'light' video editting and sound/audio editting . So probably I do not need FW i guess .

Cheers for any opinions and helps.

Sorry , there is an incomplete sentecnce , maybe due fact that i just accidentally 'delete' the end part of the sentence .

Complete sentence :

The other 'stupid' issue is if I can 'open' the 'case' of the external drive and put some sort of fan on the top of the drive. I have 2 drives and both of them internally and have fan on the top of it - to cooled it down - fan manufactured by akasa if i am not mistaken . So I just wonder if I can do the same hehehe . I dont mind the noise ( I have a BIG Speaker to my PC - and usually I listen to mp3 while I working with PC ).So the question is , is there any possibility for me to 'open the case' and mode it by puttin' a fan - for any model above ? - Lacie P3 , Maxtor OT , WD AIO , etc ...

Sorry again .

I have 13 BYTEC USB2/1394 5.25" External enclosures. All enclosures are the same model (don't have the model # at the moment). All have fans.

Basically you want an external enclosure with USB2/Firewire (Firewire is MUCH faster). You want a fan included. You also want an aluminum case if you can get it...but as long as the case has a fan you should be good. You may also want a power switch on the back of the USB drive. Also the good thing about this model is the fact that the AC power cord is a standard power cord.


I've had excellent success for 3+ years now with Western Digital 120, 200, 250GB hard drives. The hard drives get stuffed in my back pack and go with me back and forth to work, on airplane trips, to the desert. Only bad thing about my model is fan noise (I don't care), size (don't really care...although pocket-size 250gb would be nice!), also the front part of the enclosure pops off if enough pressure is applied to the case and the top halp of the enclosure is held together on both sides by thin strips of plastic. (I duct tape my enclosures....DUCT tape fixes everything!!!).

Thanx dosfreak

Hmm i also have been looking for 'external closure' as an alternative compare to 'manufactured-build external drives' such as Maxtor OT , Lacie etc .But after I consider the combined price of 'internal drives' & 'external closure-with usb2/FW-IDE adaptor' , it seems like the 'manufactured-build external drives' by Maxtor , Lacie etc have a lower price compare to 'external closure+internal drives' that you just described.

But as u mentioned in your post,the external closure has a better features such as fan-built in with the closure ( I dont know if 'manufactured-external drive' has fan inside it ?? ),and most of closures nowadays made from aluminium,in which give better dissipation (compare to plastics for manufactured-external hard drive).

But , as I mentioned before , I have to look at the 'price tag/Gb' and there where the HEAT questions come ? dosfreak - thnx for your post , it really helps me in making my decission ( in fact if it seems that i have no input/information about those drives in couple of days , i plan to use the 'external closure' method - just as what u did ), but for now , I also looking if anyone in this forum has Maxtor OT/Lacie/Western Digital , and share their experience especially regarding to HEAT , and how long does it lasts ( more than a year ? or more ? ) . I tried to find about all those things from google,net etc,but there are no complete reviews or guide about drives decribe above.Even if there are any,I still prefer a 1st hand experince by members in this forum , rather than reviews-paid by the manufacturer for ads purpose .

Hmm , still undecided . In here , UK , a decent external closure cost £61.10 GBP ( http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=2933&GroupID=3 ), in which seems so expensive to me. But it still an option .....

I used to buy from the supplier above since the store is just nearby my house and some of it PC components price are bit lower than retail/high street price ( but the cons is the customer service isnt really good ).So you can check the price of the other external price if you want.

And just for comparisons . 1 GBP £ = 1.79755 $ using the web services currency convertor .