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I need to find an enclosure for an iBook G3 ("Dual USB" model, late-'02) HDD drive. It's a 2.5", but half the internet says it's a SATA, while the other half says it's ATA and a SATA enclosure won't work at all. I don't know enough about hardware to know which is which, and I don't have access to the physical drive until next week, by which time I need the enclosure on-hand.

Also, does this look fishy, or is that a normal price for an enclosure? Because the logo overload just screams "cheap Chinese junk".

Help?

99% chance that it's an ATA model. SATA hard drives didn't start showing up until 2003, and Macs didn't start using them until the G5 models, IIRC. You can easily tell the difference because ATA drives will have a row of pins, while SATA ones have an edge connector.

Here are the Wikipedia articles (including pictures) for SATA and "Old" ATA standards, if they help. ATA notebook drives have a similar-looking, but slightly different connector; you'll need to make sure you order a 2.5" enclosure. Speaking of which, I'd go with a decent branded enclosure; no sense putting the drive in a cheap box and risking data corruption.

What'd be a good brand, and which online stores could I use? Sorry if this is basic stuff, but I usually get my hardware from one place, and they don't carry enclosures.

Akasa are generally a good make for enclosures, from what I've heard. Really, you should be okay with whatever you can find, just so long as you don't buy some €5 piece of crap. (Hey, that must be the first time I've ever used my Euro symbol! )

I wouldn't really know where to begin to advise you on good Belgian computing stores... although I found this one, might be a good starting point. In particular, they have a €15 Akasa model here that seems to be the right sort of model.

You sir, are a lifesaver. I didn't even know that store existed...

Thanks a lot.

Vantec produces nice enclosures for 2.5" and 3.5" drives in a variety of colours. If your drive is SATA (which I doubt it, you said it was from 2002), you can get an enclosure from them with both eSATA and USB 2.0, but I didn't see any enclosures with Firewire for a 2.5" drive. Their 3.5" enclosures have the option of all three.

I've ordered the Akasa. It's only USB, but since this is for data salvage and not long-term use, it shouldn't be a problem.

Braedley wrote:Vantec produces nice enclosures for 2.5" and 3.5" drives in a variety of colours. If your drive is SATA (which I doubt it, you said it was from 2002), you can get an enclosure from them with both eSATA and USB 2.0, but I didn't see any enclosures with Firewire for a 2.5" drive. Their 3.5" enclosures have the option of all three.

I'll just add that while you could get away with using a 2.5" SATA drive in a 3.5" SATA enclosure (although it'd be a pain to lock it in place), trying to do the same thing with a PATA drive in a comparable enclosure wouldn't work. You'd need an additional adaptor, which there probably wouldn't be room for.

Bounty wrote:You sir, are a lifesaver. I didn't even know that store existed...

Thanks a lot.

Well, as I always say in these cases... wait until it's successful before thanking me!