about external hard drive...
 

I don't know if this has been talked about here yet, but i couldn't find information anywhere.

what's the benefit of buying external HD from manufactures, instead of buying a HD and enclosure and put it together yourself?

i did some research to compare prices( the only reason i could think of that would made a difference), i found that most of the time enclosure solutions are cheaper, so what's the deal? it doesn't make much sense to buy the ready-to-go external HD as far as price-wise.

1) warranty on the whole system

2) most enclosures I've seen don't have both USB2 & firewire (my Maxtor drive does)

3) additional software (usually backup solutions, I don't use em).

Prices recently dropped on enclosures but I think a year ago they
where almost as expensive as buying a complete unit which I
then did a year ago.

4) Simplicity/laziness

As far as warranties, mostly the only thing that ever goes bad is the drive itself, not the enclosure, and all HD manufacturers offer good warranties for their internal drives. Not too much to worry about there.

Also, there are tons of enclosures out there, and at least from the places I shop, you should have no problem finding firewire or usb2 or both. They're all pretty cheap these days, almost all support large size drives (save some of the real cheapies), and they come in designs for all tastes. Granted the Maxtor and some of the new WD and Seagate external cases are pretty snazzy looking, but really, I'm not about to shell out 25-35% more for a slightly better looking box.

Maxtor does have that handy dandy one-button backup solution, but I personally haven't met the person that uses it. I'm sure some do, but I think it's only a matter of time that Maxtor dumps the feature. There are tons of software apps out there that help you back up directly to DVD or even to other drives or tape drives.

Mainly I think it's a combo of Edward's #4 and also

5) Just not knowing that all a 'prepackaged' external drive is, is an internal drive stuck inside a standard case that probably uses the same exact chipset as a standard retail package. Some are prettier and more solidly built, some are plastic; some have fans, some do not (A cool drive will last longer than a hot drive); etc.

All you need is a little screwdriver and about 5-10 minutes. Perhaps Only 2 if you've done a few of them...

thanks guys.

Imran: true, but what if the drive overheated due to bad cooling?

I would add something in favour of self matched case+drive.

First you can exchange the drives at your liking. Some case designs are made really easy to open and set up so you can change the HD in few minutes.

Second often makers sets come with inferior drive inside (lower rpm and/or less buffer size)

I have nearly 4 year old external brand HD and recently I tried to open it to see if I can exchange the drive (only 5400rpm in there).
Actually I couldn't unscrew the small screws - they were so tight that any atempt lead to damage of the head thus making the things even worst.

Bogdan: I don't think your last comment holds up today. Any
serious external harddisk manufacturer clearly labels what's
inside and you can confirm and test this with tools available.

I have a Maxtor OneTouch drive with an Maxtor 160 GB 7200 RPM
8 MB cache drive in it. If I ever want a different drive in it I don't
see why I could not open the enclosure and put a different model
in there. Ofcourse I would do this outside the warranty period.

In my mind the only reason to make one yourself is costs...

Agreed. Ultimately it boils down to cost. That same Maxtor 8MB Buffer 7200RPM drive would be much cheaper to buy as an internal drive and stick in your own case.

Yeah, I didn't mention it because it's clear.
In addition most of the ready external hard drives in Japan were coming without stating clearly what drive is inside. I've tried searching info and just few makers had it deep somewhere in there homepages.
The high speed models were rediculisly expensive.
Later Maxtor and other companies steped on japanese market but still ready made sets are way too much expensive and as I said might be not always easy to upgrade.

If you buy aluminum case usually there shouldn't be problems with overheating as it acts as heatsink. Plastic cases might require fan and actually some enclosures has it but this adds to the noise.