[ale] External HDD (non?)recommendations

[thehead at patshead.com (Pat Regan)]

On Mon, 31 May 2010 22:35:06 -0400
m-aaron-r <aaron at pd.org> wrote:

> Rather than a dedicated case, the external docking bays seem
> like a good idea.  I'm considering this one:
> 
> <http://www.ixbay.com/en/dual-3-5-2-5-sata-ide-hdd-dock-docking-station-sd-usb.html 
>  >
> 

http://www.meritline.com/azio-2-5-3-5-sata-hdd-to-esata-usb-2-0-docking-otb-adp-su33---p-29293.aspx

I bought this guy a few weeks ago.  He's $16 shipped after a $10
rebate.  It is still a decent deal without the rebate.  It is sata
only, no ide.  I've used it with laptop and desktop drives over USB and
it works just fine with Linux (I had a cheap enclosure once that
required me to patch my kernel).

My laptop has an esata port but I haven't managed to make it work.  I
don't know if this is a problem with the laptop, enclosure, or my
kernel.

> An ideal unit for me would have a 1394a (or b) Firewire interface, but
> this one at least has eSata. Only thing that's not 100% clear is if
> the eSata will address drives in the EIDE/PATA sockets or if you have
> to fall back to USB for those.

I would be surprised if it will let you talk esata to an ide disk.
Going from sata to esata is easy, they have the same pins.

Pat