[thingie2]

does the conversion work for any size drive? for example, would it would with a USB memory stick?

EDIT: post above just answed my question, must have been added whilst i was typing

[philthomas]

Originally Posted by Carbon

Great for a USB stick, very bad for an iPod unless you like bricking it, phil. I wouldn't convert any music player's hard disk to any format other than the factory's specification.

I'm not suggesting reformatting an iPod m8y .... I think you got the wrong end of the stick .... we are talking about an External USB HDD. I think buchanan was just making the distinction between a FAT32 and an NTFS drive, when mentioning his iPod.

I agree though, it's not a good idea to start reformatting other USB devices.

[Carbon]

Gotcha.

thingie: yeah, you can reformat anything that doesn't directly access the drive as primary storage, so like an iPod will freak out if you NTFS it but if it's just flash storage go ahead

[buchanan]

phil i am interested in doing the enclosure and making my own, could you recommend a good enclosure?

if i made my own would it have it's own power or would it run off the power supply?

thanks a lot

[philthomas]

Most Enclosures come in kit form, which includes an external power supply, fixing screws, stand etc..

I have used a couple of these and they seem as good as any that I've seen.
SATA version also here.
Complete range here.

Also if you do a search on ebay, you will probably find them a bit cheaper.

HTH

[buchanan]

nice one thanks phil,

if it was going through usb, would there be any speed advantage to getting a sata drive over ide for the enclosure?

[philthomas]

Generally SATA Drives are slightly faster, but as you say the USB2 interface will negate any benefit here.
Having said that, it's probably better going for a SATA Drive & Enclosure, if for no other reason than keeping up to date with the tech.
As you know most mobos now only provide 1 x IDE Controller, so eventually IDE Drives will become obselete and you never know you might want to refit it in a Tower one day .

[buchanan]

would i have any problems needing drivers for the sata setup (like when i need drivers on a floppy to install windows on a sata drive) which i wouldn't need for ide?

thanks

[philthomas]

No ... the USB Enclosures will work with the generic USB2 drivers, built into XP or VISTA

Once plugged into the USB port, they should install automatically.

[buchanan]

nice one thanks, sata it is.

i'll go choose a hard drive