Accessing Bare Hard Drives

Having used and tested a couple of drive adapters (including the Wiebetech and Newertech stuff), I'd like to add a few comments on Adam's TidBITs article:

- I experienced problems with the Newertech Adapter and a Maxtor SATA-2 drive, which were caused by the power adapter. Harddisks need more power to spin up than during continuous operation. Replacement of the power adapter solved the problem (thanks to Newertech and their representative in the Netherlands). So if the thing does not work: try a different and more robust power supply first. - SATA drives are more suitable to swap regularly, because their connectors are easier and more sturdy. - Apple used to have gray plastic bezels for their SCSI drives. Where did they go? I have one and it protects the chips on the drive nicely, leaving some openings for cooling.

Hans Erik Hazelhorst Utrecht The Netherlands

Brad Spachman wrote:

> I've been able to simulate this functionality for a few years by
> purchasing 'empty' USB/Firewire enclosures and using the bridge board
> of those enclosures without the case....
>
> However, I've recently been stymied by a couple of data-transfer jobs
> from much older machines. A couple of 1st-generation PowerMacs and
> even an old PowerBook 170 have crossed my desk with folks trying to
> retreive data from their internal drives. Has anyone ever heard of a
> similar product for these OLDER drives? 50-pin SCSI and/or 20-pin
> SCSI laptop drives?

50-pin:
<http://www.cwol.com/usb/usb-scsi-adapter-adaptec.htm>

For a 20-pin SCSI laptop drive, there's bound to be a 20-pin to 50-pin
conversion connector.

Harro de Jong

>> However, I've recently been stymied by a couple of data-transfer jobs
>> from much older machines. A couple of 1st-generation PowerMacs and
>> even an old PowerBook 170 have crossed my desk with folks trying to
>> retreive data from their internal drives. Has anyone ever heard of a
>> similar product for these OLDER drives? 50-pin SCSI and/or 20-pin
>> SCSI laptop drives?
>
> 50-pin:
> <http://www.cwol.com/usb/usb-scsi-adapter-adaptec.htm>
>
> For a 20-pin SCSI laptop drive, there's bound to be a 20-pin to 50-pin
> conversion connector.

Except that the above website says "Not compatible with Macs". Does
anyone know otherwise? This would be a handy thing to have, for
those of us, like me, who have a lot of trouble throwing out older
but still-working electronics.

Bob Pyle

Adam,

While not "cables and plugs only" like the
NewerTech units, does something like this not
serve, at least for 3.5" drives?

http://www.firewiremax.com/sata-to-firewire-enclosure-usb2.html
--
Dan Hinckley

I acquired a bare 250 gb hard drive a few months ago. It was sort of given to me but I will spare you from the boring detail about how I got it.

Not quite knowing what to do with it since I already have two 250 gb drives in my G5 Quad, I decided to use it as a backup drive.

I purchased NewerTech Universal Drive Adapter. Being such a cheapskate, I made a drive enclosure, if you can call it that, using a piece of a cardboard. It's not pretty but it does the job at least.

I connect the drive once a week and make a duplicate copy of my main drive using SuperDuper.

<http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html>

I feel safe in knowing that I have a copy of my main drive in case something happens to it.

Ryoichi "Roy" Morita

While not "cables and plugs only" like the NewerTech units, does something like this not serve, at least for 3.5" drives?

http://www.firewiremax.com/sata-to-firewire-enclosure-usb2.html

Sure, it's a standard FireWire enclosure, and it will work fine. However, getting drives in and out is likely to be trickier than dealing with a bare drive for occasional use.

One thing I didn't mention in the article clearly enough, perhaps, is that I don't think bare drives should be used on a regular basis via these products. It's just too easy to hurt them in some way without the protection of a case.

cheers... -Adam

am 31.07.2007 11:04 Uhr schrieb tidbits-talktidbits.com unter
tidbits-talktidbits.com:

> from much older machines. A couple of 1st-generation PowerMacs and
> even an old PowerBook 170 have crossed my desk with folks trying to
> retreive data from their internal drives. Has anyone ever heard of a
> similar product for these OLDER drives? 50-pin SCSI and/or 20-pin
> SCSI laptop drives?

For that kinda job I'd get an Ethernet to AppleTalk converter, hook the
PowerBooks or Macs up to it and transfer the files via EtherTalk. When the
newest Mac works as "server" this ought not be a problem. Might take some
time but oughta work...

Udo

Aanhalen "Adam C. Engst" <acetidbits.com>:

>
>
> While not "cables and plugs only" like the NewerTech units, does
> something
> like this not serve, at least for 3.5" drives?

>
> <http://www.firewiremax.com/sata-to-firewire-enclosure-usb2.html>

>
> Sure, it's a standard FireWire enclosure, and it will work fine.
> However, getting drives in and out is likely to be trickier than dealing
> with a bare drive for occasional use.
>
> One thing I didn't mention in the article clearly enough, perhaps, is
> that I don't think bare drives should be used on a regular basis via
> these products. It's just too easy to hurt them in some way without the
> protection of a case.
>

You may be right, BUT... The point is, (1) how much are you going to spend per
GByte, (2) how often do you need to access the data on the drive and (3) how
quick do you need access to the data?

For a periodic backup of your most used files, an enclosure like the one shown
here is the best solution. But archiving multiple GBytes of video in DV format
is different. A good quality HDD of 400 GByte sells for 89 euro, and Maxtor
sells its 400 GB USB drives for 110 euro. That is comparable to DV tape, which
costs ca 3 euro for 60 min. A hard drive is easier accessible because it is much
faster and stores everything on one volume instead of multiple tapes, and your
DV camcorder will last longer.

I am not sure about the build quality of the Maxtor cases, but if they fail,
it's most likely the power supply or the bridge chip (in that order), and not
the drives themselves. A decent burn-in test of these cheap cases would be
welcome!

Hans Erik Hazelhorst

newegg 15436 ~ $10 cheaper, in black not white. I've been using one for months. Works.

In my capacity as reviewer for MyMac.com, I have evaluated and used just about every WiebeTech drive dock, plus most of their other products. I also tested the NewerTech budget adapter mentioned in Adam's article.

I am not in favor of the NewerTech adapter except for very occasional use by people on an extremely limited budget.

I use WiebeTech docks and adapters every day. I handle them carefully, and have never had any physical or connection problems. Some of their designs are awkward, but functionality and performance are consistently excellent, especially using FW800.

Here is the URL for my most recent reviews:

<http://www.mymac.com/showarticle.php?id=2566>

RTX is a new swappable series of super-docks by WiebeTech for SATA drives. I'll be evaluating RTX-100 in September.

<http://www.wiebetech.com/products/RTX100.php>

I'm on vacation for two weeks, so I can't answer specific questions about individual docks until I return home. I give WiebeTech products high marks for products and customer support.

John "Nemo" Nemerovski

<http://www.mymac.com/nemo>