External USB Aluminum case for laptop hard drives

**jarubio** · 01-04-2005, 12:15 AM

Guys, a friend of mine showed me today a very cool external aluminum USB powered carrying case for laptop hard drives, here is the link with the info http://www.vantecusa.com/p_nst_250u2.html, and a link with a review and photos http://www.fastlanehw.com/reviews.php?i=106 This is a very cool way of transporting a lot of MP3’s, photos and even movies from your home system, to your carputer.

**Giuliano** · 01-04-2005, 12:48 AM

Originally Posted by jarubio

Guys, a friend of mine showed me today a very cool external aluminum USB powered carrying case for laptop hard drives, here is the link with the info http://www.vantecusa.com/p_nst_250u2.html, and a link with a review and photos http://www.fastlanehw.com/reviews.php?i=106 This is a very cool way of transporting a lot of MP3’s, photos and even movies from your home system, to your carputer.

It's nice, but it's not much different than many of the other USB hard drive cases..

It's an unfortunate trend that most USB hard drive kits take up 2 USB connectors - one for data, and an additional one for power.

At least the usb power cable on this one has a pass-through.

It's an unfortunate limitation of most USB ports being unable to supply more than 500ma of current...

**wizardPC** · 01-04-2005, 11:11 AM

I have that EXACT case, and it's friggin sweet. Fits in my shirt pocket. You only have to use the second usb plug (the one with the passthrough) if you're hooking up to a laptop. Got mine from newegg.com

**judoGTI** · 01-04-2005, 11:21 AM

Cool looking.

**Frigor** · 01-04-2005, 11:37 AM

Looks good, but I preferred a USB/FireWire one for some reasons:

the FireWire is faster and much reliable.
my Epia sit down on boot when you connect an external device on usb, while in firewire it's all ok...
the FireWire (6 pin one) can power up the disk without connect other cables or external adapters.

I bought one on eBay and payed about 23$ eBay link

**knubile** · 01-04-2005, 11:50 AM

I have that enclosure. The eden provides enough power for it from a single usb port. I've had the bios lock up on it twice during boot up. Unplugging it allows the boot up to continue. I hasn't done it the other bunch of times I've booted up. Not sure what the problem is.
Aside from that, it's a great enclosure.
Manual says, some laptops don't provide enough power from one usb port, and that's why there's the passthrough one.

**knubile** · 03-08-2005, 01:15 PM

Bump.

Can anybody provide me with an example of a USB enclosure that actually works well with the Eden boards?
Is anybody storing there music/data on an external usb enclosure. I was using a Nextar brand one. The usb header broke. It didn't work very well in the first place, so I want to replace it with a different one.

Anyone?

**Gobby** · 04-19-2005, 08:18 AM

Not to ressurect an old thread but my question relates to it ... anyone know the pinouts for USB so I can create a Power Only USB port in the car for my enclosure?