Making internal drives work externally

[j.kitty]

So I have a few internal hard drives that I don't have room for in my computer and I'm looking for a reliable way to make them work externally.  I've seen a few things on newegg.com that look promising, but I figured I would ask around here to get some definitive answers.  Any advice is appreciated!  Oh and I'm running a PC with Windows Vista (yeah it sucks I know, I hope to upgrade to 7 next year) with both USB and Firewire.  Thanks!

[12TimesOver]

Sata or IDE?

[TrailMyx]

I use USB to either SATA or IDE converters successfully.  You can get them for pretty cheap online.  Some of the converters actually have both interfaces.

[j.kitty]

Pretty sure they're IDE.

[12TimesOver]

I wondered whether IDE or Sata because a friend that sits next to me here at the office just bought a couple of external Sata USB cases and he's very happy with the model he chose this time.

One of the things to pay attention to is how the external device gets it's power. Some require an additional outlet in the wall whereby others pull their power from USB. The ones that use USB will often have a dual-USB cable coming off the back, one for data transfer and one for power. You just have to keep this in mind when picking the device so you chose the right one for your scenario.

X

[Coragin]

ebay "sata usb external case"

[Masscre]

Yes you can buy a usb powered connector/converter usb to ide for less than 10 dollars.  I recomend going with an external powered device if you are not gonna be transporting to other areas alot because it will put extra draw on your case power supply.

[onlyindreams]

j.kitty your avatar made me LOL irl... Big horror movie fan and that just cracks me up.
 
/hijack

[j.kitty]

Thanks for the advice all!  Maddog helped me find one through Tiger Direct that I'm going to order:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4365888&CatId=2779

I think I might get two and figure out how to set up a backup drive.  I can't tell you how many times computers have died on me and I've lost irreplaceable data (images etc) because I didn't know how to properly backup.

PS @onlyindreams... i LOL'ed too

[Coragin]

Thanks for the advice all!  Maddog helped me find one through Tiger Direct that I'm going to order:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4365888&CatId=2779

I think I might get two and figure out how to set up a backup drive.  I can't tell you how many times computers have died on me and I've lost irreplaceable data (images etc) because I didn't know how to properly backup.

PS @onlyindreams... i LOL'ed too

Seriously, you should check ebay.  You can get some nice powered cases usb for $5-$10, yea its from china and gotta wait longer, but they work fine, I got a 600+ scroe on ebay and have bought probably 7 or 8 external cases for 3.5" to 2.5" hard drives, both ide and sata and a few for dvd writers, never ever had a problem except for blu ray laptop slim drive in a case not work with windows xp 64, but it worked with vista 64.  That problem still baffles me, spent many o hour trying to figure that one out.

Just trying to save you some green bro since you said you wanted a few.