External Hard Drive/enclosure Choice Options

[keybie]

I've decided to get a 15" Powerbook and am awaiting to see if Apple will be releasing an updated version next week in case I'll probably get a better machine for the same price as now

The machine will be used for everyday stuff like email, web etc. but also for video editing (iMovie, Final cut express or whatever I find to be usable for editing home videos in a respectable manner). And since I'm a serious hobby musician I'd like to use it for audio/MIDI as well, with internal soft-samplers (possibly also some soft-synths even though I suffice with my external MIDI gear), effects etc. Haven't decided what kind of software to settle for as I'm very new to all of this, but have been suggested to try out the various demo versions when I finally get my Mac.

But getting to the point of this posting: I most likely need a large and fast external hard drive for this, so I need to figure out:

1) Which hard drive should I buy?
and
2) Which external enclosure should I buy?

I don't know anything about which specs I should be looking for, but I do definitely want a silent running drive, that's for sure! I've had computers in the past which sould like vacuum cleaners, and I assure you: it's not much fun trying to be creative with that sort of environment!

As for the enclosure. Apart from ventilating the drive well enough (I've read that some enclosures have no fan, even though they claim that their design is uniquely made and do give sufficent cooling I'm a little sceptical, though still open to the idea if it proves to be correct) it should look good.

Having searched around the web almost in vain (most enclosures look pretty cheesy, tacky and geeky in my opinion. I'm looking for something that looks a little more stylish and "pro") I believe I've found something that is usable:

Macpower 'Pleiades' drive enclosure

Anyone know of other "pro looking" drive enclosures?


Although I'll probably buy the "Superdrive" version of the Powerbook I might actually get an external DVD-writer later on, to save on tear and wear, and possibly higher specs as well, so getting an enclosure for the hard drive that'll match one for the DVD writer would be great!
Perhaps there's an enclosure style that is delivered for both devices?
If possible, I'd like to stack them on top of each other.

As for interfacing, what should I go for? Firewire 400? 800? USB?
What about for the external DVD-writer?

A practial issue: it would be nice not to have an external power supply ("wall wart"), but a built-in power supply in the enclosure itself, but this seems not to be the trend, so I might have to give in here.

Suggestions, comments?

[keybie]

I think it's a better move, that's my use too. The enclosure I've seen are either RAID minded, or have evil fans to make some noise. Also, I've never seen one enclosure for 2 drives where you could switch one off while other is on.

With my Atari ST computer I've experienced that it is indeed possible to "power down" a drive (at least SCSI drives), so that's why I got that idea that there might be a "soft power-switch" option in IDE.
But perhaps there's no "default power-off" option available, even by setting the drive jumpers in a specific way?

I have 5 drives near the computer, but only 2 are on most of the time.

5 drives!! Does that make a lot of noise in the end? Why so many drives?

Remember too that it's to switch on/off an IDE drive which kills it in the end.

You mean switching on/off drives will kill them in the end?
Hmmm... that makes me think... perhaps, even IF it's possible to turn a drive on and off via software commands, the drive must have power applied to it somehow, only not to the drive motor, so it doesn't spin.
Still, it's not very common for the drive electronics to fail, is it? I thought it was mostly due to mechanical tear/wear.

Apart from the issue of only having a single AC power adapter and only one Firewire cable when using a RAID enclosure I was thinking that a built-in fan would be reassuring. I've been told elsewhere that I should never use a hard drive in a fanless enclosure for more than 30 minutes at a time because the heat buildup will kill it in the end.
Then again I see so many fanless enclosures around which makes me wonder if they're fine anyway. I'm pretty confused in other words

The RAID enclosure from OWC has a built in fan, and according to this review it's a quiet fan.