[GLLUG] USB hard drive enclosure

[Marr]

On Friday 09 December 2005 11:18am, Eric Miller wrote:
> I'm looking for an external USB hard drive enclosure. I figure one with
> a fan is a must to keep it cool. Googling has indicated some are not
> compatible with Linux so I'm a little gun shy with picking up just any
> ol' one.
>
> Any suggestions?

Eric,

I've had good luck with a CoolMax CD-510.  It accepts a 5.25-inch device. It 
comes in 3 models: CD-510B-U2 (USB 2.0), CD-510B-FW (IEEE-1394 [400Mbps]), 
and CD-510B-COMBO (USB2 + FireWire). (I think the 'B' is for the black model, 
which I have, since it comes in silver too.)

It has a single fan (40mm) at the rear. 

The frame is all metal (aluminum) with a removable acrylic faceplate.

It also has an on/off switch (at the rear), something that's lacking on my old 
Maxtor external FireWire drive, which required unplugging the DC adapter to 
turn it off -- yuk! I suspect most true enclosures (the Maxtor was just a 
stand-alone external HDD) will provide an on/off switch, but I mention it as 
something to think about just in case that's a "show-stopper" for you.

I've got the CD-510B-COMBO version and I've successfully used it with 
Slackware using both the USB2 and the FireWire interface, although I'm always 
using the FireWire connection these days.

The COMBO version is $54.49 (+$5.99 shipping) at NewEgg. The USB2-only model 
appears to be $37.49 (+$5.99 shipping).

Actually, if you don't need the full 5.25-inch capability (I got it so that I 
could put an optical drive into it if I ever needed to), CoolMax also has a 
3.5-inch version (CD-309-*).  NewEgg doesn't seem to stock the USB2-only 
version of that enclosure, but the silver-colored CD-309-COMBO version is 
$46.49 (+$5.99 shipping). I suspect it uses the same (Linux-compatible) 
chipset as my CD-510-COMBO, but no guarantees.

Here's a link (join split lines as needed, of course) to all the NewEgg 
CoolMax products:

   http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=GO&Range=1&bop=and&Range=1&description=coolmax&srchInDesc=enclosure&InnerCata=92

I bought mine back in April 2005 but I don't think it's changed 
(hardware/chipset-wise) since then. When mine is connected via the USB2 
interface, it reports this:

   T:  Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=01 Cnt=02 Dev#=  3 Spd=12  MxCh= 0
   D:  Ver= 2.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs=  1
   P:  Vendor=04b4 ProdID=6830 Rev= 0.01
   S:  Manufacturer=Cypress Semiconductor
   S:  Product=USB2.0 Storage Device
   S:  SerialNumber=DEF108B94F1E
   C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=c0 MxPwr=  0mA
   I:  If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=08(stor.) Sub=06 Prot=50 Driver=usb-storage
   E:  Ad=02(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS=  64 Ivl=0ms
   E:  Ad=88(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS=  64 Ivl=0ms

So it looks to be a Cypress Semiconductor chipset, in case that's useful in 
your search for other compatible devices.

Aside: I actually coupled this device with an inexpensive KingWin KF23-IPF 
5.25-inch removable "sled" enclosure ("IDE Mobile Rack") and several KingWin 
KF-23-IT sleds ("Inner Trays"). This way, I have a portable, hot-pluggable 
device (the CoolMax CD-510B-COMBO) which can take any of several hard disk 
drives (which I easily swap just by powering the CoolMax off and swapping 
"sleds", after 'umount'-ing the HDD first, of course). Very useful!

Good luck in your search and holler if you have any questions!

Bill Marr