The Song Fight Bulletin Board

i was gonna buy this (http://shop4.outpost.com/product/4303165) and a usb2.0 or firewire enclosure and use it as an external HD with my laptop. my only concern is this: will it be fast enough? i want it to be pretty much as fast as if it was an internal drive. will the speed depend mostly on the enclosure and the HD i get won't really matter? thanks.

Maybe they make enclosures that are reliable. I haven't had good luck with them. In my opinion, you're better off with an external drive designed to operate as such.

The drive is fast enough. USB 2.0 is fast enough. Whether the enclosure's circuitry is fast enough, I'd suspect so but who knows. Depends how much you're tracking, I guess.

I have one, but had to go through two to get one that worked properly. I find on mine the connector jacks are wimpy and suspect, and since it's portable, build quality might be a consideration. I've had no problems using it (once I got one that worked) for tracking...it's plenty fast. Buying one already encased is probably the most stable solution.

i have 2 that were bought already-encased and they have worked like champs. they can't really cost that much more, can they?

could y'all recommend a good hard drive to get?

also

should i definitely get a fanless, or are they significantly worse at cooling than those with fans?