enclosures help

can anyone recommend one?
for my harddrive. i have a 300 gig seagate and a 120 gig western digital. i will also get another 300 gig soon.

never thought id need an enclosure, but i now need one.

also...does it matter if the power supply is on the enclosure, versus if the power will be via the pc? im assuming its better to have the power supply on the enclosure?

thanks.

With any 3.5" drive, you will need an external power supply. The drive relies on both the 5V rail for the controller and the 12V rail for the servo. Laptop drives, 2.5" and 1.8" can usually use only USB power, but variations in controller logic can have adverse reactions to power management states. In selecting an external enclosure for a 3.5" drive, vents or cooling fans are a good idea. Most of the controllers are relatively mature, but new release items may still have firmware bugs. Most of these will be power management related and should still be fine for data storage. I prefer to keep drives offline when possible, as I have seen early enclosures develop controller isues in long term usage.

I only have experience with one enclosure but I like it. My Bytecc has a 200 gig Maxtor in it and has performed well over the last 6 months. I keep it offline when not in use.

i dont know about this so excuse me............but do you power the enclosures on and off with a power button? or do you unplug the usb cable from it to keep it offline?

thanks

Both will work(most do have a power switch), but the safer way is to stop it in the OS, if applicable, and then disconnect the cables. If the cables are connected, there remains a chance of toasted data if there is a lightning strike.