Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 4/2/2005, 3:15 PM
As far as cases, I'm a huge fan of the ADS cases. They've had the best result for me, I've had nothing but trouble with LaCie and Belkin cases, have had mostly good result with the Maxtor housings, but I think they've quit selling those separately.
As far as drives, I'm of the opinion that they're all about the same at this particular point in time. WD, Seagate are what we've been using the most lately.
klimvid wrote on 4/2/2005, 4:20 PM
Hmmm. I started with two ADS cases. Had trouble with one and returned it for exchange on now the other is sitting on the shelf after problems with it. I'm ADS shy now.
jlafferty wrote on 4/2/2005, 4:44 PM
I'm officially off the ADS bandwagon, too. Got a Wiebetech dualdock here and all's going well so far. I've got two ADS cases on the cheap if anyone wants them -- DSE? Anyone?

As for drives -- Seagate is the only manufacturer that currently offers a 5 year warranty. All my WD's were under a lengthy warranty, but as of now WD has shortened the length of their warranty to 1 year, if I remember correctly.

- jim
Spot|DSE wrote on 4/2/2005, 4:52 PM
For me, I've had NOTHING but trouble with drives that were Wiebetech connected. 3 different drives sent to me recently had problems. They show up as improperly formatted, or as zero bytes even though Data Recovery shows they are not empty. Can't comment on why you'd have ADS probs. Must be a system compatibility thing...
I've got over 60 cases for ADS, so I'm not in the need for any more, but thanks. Now...if you have a spare ADS RAID tank, I'll buy that!
Cheno wrote on 4/2/2005, 8:21 PM
I've loved my ADS tanks. Have a LaCie Porche drive that's been great however I've got 8 out of 10 Porche drives that all have failed. Having LaCie currently swap them out. Leaves a very bad taste in my mouth for LaCie products. They'd work for a few days then just poop out. Told them the ADS tanks were running fine and LaCie immediately had me send theirs back in. $1800 in drives gone bad.

I recommend anything that you can take a drive in / out of. For me, aside from my little LaCie which isn't used for client projects, this is a must. Saves $$$ in the long run when you can hot swap drives and just store the drive, not the case.

As for drives. Hitachi and Seagate have never let me down. Spot's right though, nowadays just about all drives are decent quality.



jlafferty wrote on 4/2/2005, 8:30 PM
"Must be a system compatibility thing..."

That's funny -- I guess you're suggesting it's my AMD processors, then? Everything else is tops -- Tyan board, Crucial registered memory, SIIG fw card, Belkin UPS, Antec PSU, MSI vid card, etc...
[r]Evolution wrote on 4/3/2005, 9:57 AM
Seagate Hard drives have a 5 yr warranty. <-- that's big for me.

All the others seem to only have 1 yr warranties.
Coursedesign wrote on 4/3/2005, 10:23 AM
jlafferty,

Nothing wrong with any of the components that you do mention, including the AMD processor.

However, a huge number of compatibility problems have been reported over many years by people using AMD CPUs with VIA support chips.

Recently, AMD realized that this was their biggest obstacle to increased sales, so they increased their control over the CPU support chips, and as far as I can tell they have been trouble-free since.

I am writing this on an AMD64 with three ADS DLX-185 datatanks connected without any problems whatsoever, but there are no VIA CPU support chips in this computer of course.

I don't have any problems when the ADSs are connected to my two [Intel-based] editing work stations either.

This weekend the remaining DLX-185s are going for $39.95AR at Fry's and $79.95 at Circuit City. One year warranty that you can double with a good credit card, so no need to fret excessively if there should ever be a problem.

klimvid wrote on 4/3/2005, 2:18 PM
Thanks for all the input. I've ordered a Seagate 250GB drive.

Now, any feedback on the Vantec NexStar 3.5" USB 2.0 external case?