External 2.5 SATA

[Cybiker]

With a 2.5" SATA drive...do I NEED a 2.5" SATA External enclosure, or will a 3.5" external enclosure which uses cables to connect work? I'm not sure if the cable connections are the same on the 2.5" as well as the 3.5" drives for SATA, as I know they are not for IDE...Thank you for any help...

 

[gothicx00]

Let's attack this from two directions...

1. Will the cables be the same? Answer is yes. I've been able to remove SATA 2.5" HDD out of laptops and hook them up to my desktop machine. Works like a charm.

2. Will a 3.5" HDD enclosure work? This ones a little more fuzzy. The answer would be maybe. I've seen plenty of 3.5" enclosures that had the bottom mounting posts for 2.5" drives. But not all of them have them. My suggestion is to pick one up, hopefully from a local retailer, and give it a try. If it lacks the correct mounting posts, return it.

Now I'm reluctant to suggest a particular model or brand, as I don't know what kind of output interface you are aiming for. Are you aiming for the unofficial external SATA, or are you looking for something that goes to USB or Firewire 400/800. Knowing exactally what you are looking for I can most certainly suggest at the very least a brand if not a specific model.

 

[Cybiker]

I'd be looking for a USB2.0/Firewire So I can hook the HD up to my Macbook Pro 15in as well as my PC

 

[gothicx00]

Anything by adaptec will work perfectly. Do you not have firewire on your PC as well??