02-22-2009, 05:42 PM
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#31
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Member (12 bit)
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Illinois
Posts: 3,589
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blaster3
oops, excuse me, just thought it was a viable option for future reference & for others that might read through this thread before they actually build one. the price is less then the sum of its parts.
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The price sum may be cheaper initially but if/when the HDD fails you will only be required to replace the HDD. The warranty on an internal HDD is also longer than the prebuilt units. |
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02-22-2009, 11:12 PM
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#32
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Long Island
Posts: 160
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Quote:
Originally Posted by not important
The price sum may be cheaper initially but if/when the HDD fails you will only be required to replace the HDD. The warranty on an internal HDD is also longer than the prebuilt units.
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no, the warranty is exactly the same according to WD:
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=488
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=410
5 year limited warranty on either product.
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Last edited by Blaster3; 02-22-2009 at 11:19 PM..
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02-23-2009, 06:33 AM
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#33
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modding on sunshine.
Staff
Premiere Member
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Puerto Rico Caribe.
Posts: 5,566
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Quote:
Originally Posted by glc
this thread is solely about building your own external drive, not about prebuilt drives.
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It's been said once already, can we keep this thread on track please guys.
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02-23-2009, 09:10 AM
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#34
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Forum Administrator
Staff
Premiere Member
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Joplin MO
Posts: 24,633
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A prebuilt is a throwaway device. If either the drive or the interface circuitry in the housing fails, you have a brick, and your only chance of data recovery involves just about destroying the housing to get it open, and that voids the warranty on the whole device. If you build your own, you can easily open the housing and swap drives with no warranty issues. Housing failure is actually more common than drive failure. If you are out to spend as little money as possible, read no farther, go buy your prebuilt and deal with it down the road when it quits. If you want highest quality and versatility, that is the point of this thread, to show you how to build your own. You can also replace the drive with a larger one later if your needs dictate.
If you really want to get picky, there are a lot of bare housings that are a lot cheaper than the reviewed Apricorn device, but you need to consider both the quality and the bundled software. The ONLY downside of the Apricorn housing is its 1 year warranty.
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02-23-2009, 09:55 AM
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#35
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Long Island
Posts: 160
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that makes sense GLC,
end of my discussion on this ( i'm off subject again)
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05-13-2009, 02:28 PM
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#36
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Forum Administrator
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Premiere Member
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Joplin MO
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The Apricorn EZ-Bus DTS is now discontinued, replaced by the Aegis Desktop.
I just put one together, here are my observations:
1. An eSATA case bracket is no longer included.
2. It is not as intuitive to assemble, I had to download the user's manual to make sure I was doing it right. It's not quite as easy to swap drives in and out but overall, the mounting method is considerably improved. You have to attach the drive to a removable bracket with 4 screws, then the drive slides into place. The cover is held on with 4 separate screws and it has grommets that hold the drive in there tight.
3. It no longer has cable pigtails inside, it has a unitized SATA connector on the interface card, the drive slides right into it.
4. The fan is almost totally silent.
5. For vertical mounting, it no longer comes with a separate clip-on stand. It has integral swing-out supports.
Overall, I feel they made a quality piece of hardware even better. Good job, Apricorn!
Props also go to Newegg. My DTS housing died after 10 months - the interface card died and drives were no longer being recognized. Not only did Newegg give me a no-hassles RMA, they gave me a choice of a refund applied to my credit card or replacement with a similar item because the original item was no longer stocked. They asked me to propose a replacement part, I asked for the new kit, and they sent it, even though it costs $10 more than I paid for the original.
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05-21-2009, 08:38 AM
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#37
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: South Wales
Posts: 193
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Oh excellent stuff.
Have to get some photos uploaded to show it piece by piece - easier to follow then!
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06-12-2009, 09:59 AM
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#38
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Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 1
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Hard Drive Raid Enclosure with Raid 1
I set up a a Vantec NexStar MX USB and eSata connectors with two 500gig Seagate Sata drives which I got from Tiger Direct.com but the most important thing was to set up the Raid that you needed SteelVine Manager 57XX version to recognize the Hard Drive Enclosure with its' Raid 1 Set Up.
I am going to use this as permanent video, audio and photo storage which I cannnot fit on my current computer anymore I need to have the Raid 1 to insure I don't lose anything.
My experience has been the lose of two external "Backup" drives to drive failures so external drives without Raid1 do not interest me any longer.
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06-12-2009, 10:16 AM
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#39
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Forum Administrator
Staff
Premiere Member
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Joplin MO
Posts: 24,633
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Good luck with that Vantec - they don't have a particularly good reliability record.
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07-03-2009, 01:16 AM
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#40
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I like monkeys
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: The South
Posts: 2,488
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This is a tad off topic, but could we sticky this guide? I read through all of it while sitting here and found it really useful. I will now consider Apricorn first when building an external drive (something I've actually thought about doing...I've felt iffy about buying pre-built ones).
I actually thought it was sticked until I clicked on the forum and found out it was simply the first topic in the list.
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07-03-2009, 04:09 AM
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#41
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Forum Administrator
Staff
Premiere Member
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Joplin MO
Posts: 24,633
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This forum is so lightly used I don't see the need for a sticky.
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07-08-2009, 10:20 AM
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#42
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Member (13 bit)
Join Date: Mar 1999
Posts: 7,500
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Quote:
Originally Posted by glc
The Apricorn EZ-Bus DTS is now discontinued, replaced by the Aegis Desktop.
I just put one together, here are my observations:
1. An eSATA case bracket is no longer included.
2. It is not as intuitive to assemble, I had to download the user's manual to make sure I was doing it right. It's not quite as easy to swap drives in and out but overall, the mounting method is considerably improved. You have to attach the drive to a removable bracket with 4 screws, then the drive slides into place. The cover is held on with 4 separate screws and it has grommets that hold the drive in there tight.
3. It no longer has cable pigtails inside, it has a unitized SATA connector on the interface card, the drive slides right into it.
4. The fan is almost totally silent.
5. For vertical mounting, it no longer comes with a separate clip-on stand. It has integral swing-out supports.
Overall, I feel they made a quality piece of hardware even better. Good job, Apricorn!
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Just put an external hdd together with this housing and agree with all your observations, especially #2.  |
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11-05-2009, 08:51 PM
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#43
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Member (3 bit)
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: north carolina
Posts: 6
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Im buying the pieces to build an external hdd, thanks to this forum I'm planning on purchasing the APRICORN ADT-KIT Aluminum 3.5" USB & eSATA External Enclosure and a Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3750528AS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive. Im building it to be able to store movies on it since my little ole c drive is about maxed out. If for some reason this combo wont work please let me know! and excuse my ignorance but what does it mean that this apricorn doesnt have a eSATA case bracket? is that a good thing? do i need that?
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11-05-2009, 10:49 PM
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#44
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Forum Administrator
Staff
Premiere Member
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Joplin MO
Posts: 24,633
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You need a eSATA case bracket if your motherboard does not have a eSATA connector and you want to use eSATA. Otherwise, you will have to use USB.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812104063
Right now, Apricorn is selling the housings direct for 39 bucks. Newegg lists them for $49.99.
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