FW800/FW400 Portable External HD

BigBouncyBall

Hi,

I'm looking for a small portable Hard Drive that needs to be able to withstand the bumps and bruises of being in a backpack on the tube at rushhour but more crucially needs to have (preferably) FW800 or (otherwise just) FW400 ports.

I know there is the "Lacie Rugged" drive but i can't find it at a good price anywhere (i rather object to buying from PC world when i know i can get it cheaper online)

Are there any other drives (or caddies and i'll buy my own drive) that don't come with the price tag of the Lacie but have the FW ports?

Thanks

Leopard

Firewire 800 external hard drives in a 2.5" form factor are as hard to find as Osama bin Laden.

I spent a long time last month looking at all the options.

Cheapest I could find in Britain was indeed the LaCie Rugged, and, given the alternatives, the Microwarehouse offer of a 120 GB, 5400 rpm for £63 (inc VAT) plus shipping is an attractive buy.

Enclosures are just as hard to find. Wiebetech make one but they're expensive. The cheapest (and, indeed, the only) alternative that I could unearth in Britain was the Span Daisy Cutter - but that costs £63 without a drive! A company in Germany sells them for about £55 on eBay.

Looking abroad (for a company that ships to England) there seems to be only Oyen and the ever Mac-friendly Other World Computing.

The problem with those is the shipping cost and any VAT that may (or may not) be charged. Best to use simple USPS Airmail and hope it just comes through without HMRC bothering to tax it.

I was fortunate because my companion was in America on business a couple of weeks ago and was able to bring me back a couple of the OWC ones personally. They're nicely made, with twin Firewire 800 ports and, usefully, they have an on/off switch (which is handy if you put them into a FW800 daisy chain).

I should make it clear that with enclosures I was only looking for SATA versions, not IDE/PATA versions. If you're thinking of upgrading the hard drive in your laptop, enclosures are a good way to go because you can put a new drive into your computer and then the old one into the caddy

I don't know whether the drive inside a LaCie Rugged is SATA or IDE/PATA but it certainly looks to be the cheapest 2.5" FW800 option if you're buying within Britain.

Good luck!

(And post back on here if you find any portable FW800 solution that's more Money Saving!) :A :money: :A