Cooler Master X-Craft USB - bit-tech.net Forums

WilHarris · 15th Oct 2006, 12:40

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...aft_USB/1.html

TheSaladMan · 15th Oct 2006, 13:09

No SATA? no buy.

DXR_13KE · 15th Oct 2006, 13:40

nice...... something usefull to do with PATA HDs once SATA becomes the standard.

JADS · 15th Oct 2006, 14:24

Surely the way forward with these boxes is eSATA and port multipliers?

Veles · 15th Oct 2006, 16:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by DXR_13KE

nice...... something usefull to do with PATA HDs once SATA becomes the standard.

Isn't it already the standard?

DXR_13KE · 15th Oct 2006, 17:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Veles

Isn't it already the standard?

when i mean the standard i mean that there are no PATA conectors on your mobo.

DarkReaper · 15th Oct 2006, 17:45

[niggling]I've only got one IDE connector for optical drives on mine, all permanent storage is SATA[/niggling]

Looks alright I suppose, the hub and backup software is a nice touch but I'll stick with the illuminated IcyBox I already have

Cthippo · 15th Oct 2006, 18:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkReaper

[niggling]I've only got one IDE connector for optical drives on mine, all permanent storage is SATA[/niggling]

Looks alright I suppose, the hub and backup software is a nice touch but I'll stick with the illuminated IcyBox I already have

Second that. It's nice, but really has nothing to set it apart from a million similar products out there.

Zayfod · 15th Oct 2006, 23:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cthippo

Second that. It's nice, but really has nothing to set it apart from a million similar products out there.

Apart from those two lovely upstream USB ports, something which I've wanted to see more of on mains powered USB devices for years.

<rant>
Think about it, you probably have a printed and a scanner, both of which take up a USB port, both of which are only in use a fraction of the time and both of which are plugged into the mains; wouldn't they be the perfect place for, say, a four port hub...

It's not as if they take up a lot of space, or cost a lot of money, I've got a four port passive model that I keep with my laptop, it's 2.5in long and 3/4in high, adding one of those and the power circuits can't be much more work than adding one of those useless "PictBridge" connectors that every printer seems to be sporting.
</rant>

Firehed · 15th Oct 2006, 23:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by JADS

Surely the way forward with these boxes is eSATA and port multipliers?

Well sure, if any computers had eSATA ports. I've yet to see a laptop with one, and it's rare in most desktops too; even still, it's not properly plug-and-play on many systems, even though it's supposed to be. I managed to find a SATA enclosure that also does USB, finally, and it's working quite well.

But I'm just bitter. As a fairly early adopter of SATA, all of my drives in the last... three years or so are SATA, and certainly everything with a decent amount of storage. It was all fine until two months ago or so, since the school network really makes my fileserver useless.

JeffDM · 16th Oct 2006, 04:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firehed

Well sure, if any computers had eSATA ports. I've yet to see a laptop with one, and it's rare in most desktops too; even still, it's not properly plug-and-play on many systems, even though it's supposed to be. I managed to find a SATA enclosure that also does USB, finally, and it's working quite well.

There are several add-in cards for notebooks now, so at least for your own computers it shouldn't be a problem. The hybrid enclosure you mentioned is a good find that has a good fall-back mode.

The problems I find with most external drive enclosures is that they often look and feel cheap, have sharp edges on the inside making installation painful, and the worst of them all is that they don't connect reliably. Too often, I've had to re-plug the USB or Firewire cable to get the computer to recognize the drive, it's pretty annoying. One test that these enclosures should go through is a count of how many successful connections it makes out of five tries on each of ten different computers.

dullonien · 16th Oct 2006, 09:24

I've used an external HD caddy for about 3-4 yrs now. For a couple of years it was one of those original IcyBox enclosures that were illuminated on 3 sides with a 200GB Western Digital drive inside. Unfortunately I found that WD drives ran a little hot and burn't out after a while, switched to Seagate & the new styled IcyBox and going strong after a year.

Never had any problem with getting the laptop/pc to find the drive JeffDM. 100% successful connections here out of proberly something close to 200-300 times i've hooked it up.

jmke · 16th Oct 2006, 12:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSaladMan

No SATA? no buy.

there are 3 different versions availableof the X-Craft, PATA, SATA and Firewire connection.

masteroffm · 16th Oct 2006, 18:36

i have a Vantec Nexstar3 that supports eSATA and even comes with a bracket to convert an internal SATA port to eSATA. Only caveats are that if you want to hot plug the drive you need a chipset that will support it and it dosent have any ventilation to speak of and my 400GB Hitachi gets warm if i leave on for long periods. the case works great if your plan is to use it for transferring data and backups, but I would not recommend it for 24/7 operation.

http://www.vantec.com.tw/_en/01_prod...&sid=60&id=120

15th Oct 2006, 12:40	#1
WilHarris Just another nobody Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Oxford Posts: 2,671	Cooler Master X-Craft USB http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...aft_USB/1.html

15th Oct 2006, 13:09	#2
TheSaladMan Multimodder Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bournemouth, Uk Posts: 135	No SATA? no buy. __________________ Hello there!

15th Oct 2006, 13:40	#3
DXR_13KE Madeira's banana is the best!!! Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Madeira ; Portugal Posts: 6,476	nice...... something usefull to do with PATA HDs once SATA becomes the standard. __________________ *Renegade X - 0.40 Release!* <---- CLICK!

15th Oct 2006, 14:24	#4
JADS Et arma et verba vulnerant Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Portsmouth, UK Posts: 2,919	Surely the way forward with these boxes is eSATA and port multipliers? __________________ [AMD A64 2800+ + Zalman 7700][MSI K8N Neo Platinum][1GB Corsair PC3200][Leadtek Geforce 6600GT][Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 80GB + Maxtor Diamond Max Plus10 200GB + Maxtor Diamond Max16 120GB][Plextor PX-716 DVD-RW + 2x Plextor Premium 52x32x52 CD-RW + 16x Samsung DVD][Coolermaster ATC-201 BXT][Antec TruePower 430][Dell 2405FPW + Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2070u][Logitech MX1000][Matias Tactile Pro][Griffin Technology PowerMate Black] Email Me

16th Oct 2006, 09:24	#12
dullonien Master of the unfinished. Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Lincoln, UK. Posts: 311	I've used an external HD caddy for about 3-4 yrs now. For a couple of years it was one of those original IcyBox enclosures that were illuminated on 3 sides with a 200GB Western Digital drive inside. Unfortunately I found that WD drives ran a little hot and burn't out after a while, switched to Seagate & the new styled IcyBox and going strong after a year. Never had any problem with getting the laptop/pc to find the drive JeffDM. 100% successful connections here out of proberly something close to 200-300 times i've hooked it up. __________________ Intel Core2Quad Q6600 @ 3.0GHz, Abit Fatal1ty F-I90HD (uATX), 4GB Corsair XMS2-6400C4, Sapphire HD4870 Vapour-X 1GB, Hiper 580W Type R, 4.1TB of Seagate Storage, Antec 300 + Lian-Li V300 (Lian-Li to be modded shortly).

15th Oct 2006, 17:45	#7
DarkReaper Alignment: Sarcastic Good Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Belfast, NI Posts: 1,750	[niggling]I've only got one IDE connector for optical drives on mine, all permanent storage is SATA[/niggling] Looks alright I suppose, the hub and backup software is a nice touch but I'll stick with the illuminated IcyBox I already have

16th Oct 2006, 18:36	#14
masteroffm What's a Dremel? Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: sunnyvale, ca Posts: 8	i have a Vantec Nexstar3 that supports eSATA and even comes with a bracket to convert an internal SATA port to eSATA. Only caveats are that if you want to hot plug the drive you need a chipset that will support it and it dosent have any ventilation to speak of and my 400GB Hitachi gets warm if i leave on for long periods. the case works great if your plan is to use it for transferring data and backups, but I would not recommend it for 24/7 operation. http://www.vantec.com.tw/_en/01_prod...&sid=60&id=120