Home > Consumer Reviews > Macally PHR-250CC FireWire 400/USB 2.0 2.5-Inch IDE Hard Drive Enclosure
Macally PHR-250CC FireWire 400/USB 2.0 2.5-Inch IDE Hard Drive Enclosure
See it at Amazon.com for $29.99Average Customer Rating
(4.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
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firewire frustrations
(1 out of 5) by Matti's Mom on Oct 27, 2008 (Atlanta, GA)Product is well-built and the drive fits in snugly. Has a cable that connects a second USB port to the power input of the enclosure.
USB works well: the drive powers up with a simple USB connection and quickly appears in My Computer, ready for use.
However, I bought the enclosure to be able to connect using firewire. On my laptops - Dell Latitude D630 (WinXP) and Dell XPS M1330 (Vista business) - the drive is not recognized when connected using firewire. Without a power supply, the drive will not power up at all when connected with firewire. With a power supply (USB power cord provided or AC adaptor) the blue light goes on but the computer does not detect the drive at all. Thought it was a Vista problem (all documentation stops at XP) but it didn't work with the D630 (using a cardbus firewire adaptor).
Annoyingly enough, no information is given on the exact AC adaptor needed.
Other HD enclosures using firewire have worked on both computers.
Rated low as you would be better off getting an enclosure with just the USB connection.
USB works well: the drive powers up with a simple USB connection and quickly appears in My Computer, ready for use.
However, I bought the enclosure to be able to connect using firewire. On my laptops - Dell Latitude D630 (WinXP) and Dell XPS M1330 (Vista business) - the drive is not recognized when connected using firewire. Without a power supply, the drive will not power up at all when connected with firewire. With a power supply (USB power cord provided or AC adaptor) the blue light goes on but the computer does not detect the drive at all. Thought it was a Vista problem (all documentation stops at XP) but it didn't work with the D630 (using a cardbus firewire adaptor).
Annoyingly enough, no information is given on the exact AC adaptor needed.
Other HD enclosures using firewire have worked on both computers.
Rated low as you would be better off getting an enclosure with just the USB connection.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
This is the enclosure to buy older Mac laptop drives
(5 out of 5) by Steven McIntyre on Jul 8, 2008 (New Jersey, USA)QUALIFICATIONS
This enclosure will fit standard 2.5" laptop drives of the older IDE or PATA (parallel ATA) variety. For Macs, that means most of the iBook and Powerbook G3 & G4 drives will work. Do not buy this enclosure if you have a drive that came out of any of the newer MacBooks; they use the newer SATA (serial ATA) technology, for which Macally has another product.
WHY BUY AN ENCLOSURE?
Why would anyone want to buy a hard drive enclosure that doesn't include a hard drive? Mainly because you already have an extra internal drive and you need the enclosure to make the internal drive function as an external drive.
Most people end up with homeless internal drives for two reasons: (1) they got a good deal online and couldn't pass it up, or (2) they upgraded their laptop's main hard drive, leaving the old internal drive as a castoff.
Instead of letting your old internal drive collect dust, give it new life by sticking it into an enclosure. You can then continue using it as a backup drive, perhaps.
REVIEW
I love this enclosure because it looks cool, it's very small, it includes both USB and Firewire 400, and it doesn't require a power supply. And, it was super easy to set up with my old internal drive.
Looks -- the aluminum case looks great, especially because it matches my PowerBook G4. I also like its small size and cool blue light that blinks as the hard drive is used. The drive includes a nicely snug fabric case (feels like soft vinyl). The drive+case+cable should have no problem fitting in even the smallest computer case or backpack.
Installation -- If you buy a new 2.5" PATA/IDE drive without a case, then it will be a breeze installing it in this enclosure. All you do is undo a few screws and you're in. You slide the drive onto a chassis with loads of pin connectors that line up nicely, slide it all back together and redo the screws. That's it.
-- if, like me, you bought a replacement internal drive for your laptop, then you'll first have to swap out the old drive. On some laptops, like mine, this is a difficult and long task, requiring patience and advance prep. Advice for iBooks and Powerbooks can be found at http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/.
-- once you've done the swap, installation of your old drive into the enclosure is a breeze in comparison. It literally takes just a few minutes.
Functionality -- my old 80gb internal drive runs great in the enclosure. It spins up fast and always mounts on my desktop in just a few seconds. The old drive sounds a bit louder than it used to, probably because it's no longer buried deep inside my laptop. I really like the on-off switch that most other enclosures do not include. Another huge benefit of this drive is that it doesn't require an external power adapter.
-- if you're using firewire, the enclosure gets all its power through the firewire cable (included)
-- if you're using USB (older iBooks, perhaps), you'll need 2 free USB ports because USB carries less power than firewire. Luckily, the enclosure also includes the 2 USB cables that you'll need: 1 cable goes from computer USB to enclosure mini USB; the other cable goes from computer USB to enclosure power port. Sounds kind of clunky, but hey, it works... and you still don't need to carry around a heavy power brick.
I researched a lot of competing products and decided it was worth paying a few extra dollars to get a quality drive that includes all the features that I value.
This enclosure will fit standard 2.5" laptop drives of the older IDE or PATA (parallel ATA) variety. For Macs, that means most of the iBook and Powerbook G3 & G4 drives will work. Do not buy this enclosure if you have a drive that came out of any of the newer MacBooks; they use the newer SATA (serial ATA) technology, for which Macally has another product.
WHY BUY AN ENCLOSURE?
Why would anyone want to buy a hard drive enclosure that doesn't include a hard drive? Mainly because you already have an extra internal drive and you need the enclosure to make the internal drive function as an external drive.
Most people end up with homeless internal drives for two reasons: (1) they got a good deal online and couldn't pass it up, or (2) they upgraded their laptop's main hard drive, leaving the old internal drive as a castoff.
Instead of letting your old internal drive collect dust, give it new life by sticking it into an enclosure. You can then continue using it as a backup drive, perhaps.
REVIEW
I love this enclosure because it looks cool, it's very small, it includes both USB and Firewire 400, and it doesn't require a power supply. And, it was super easy to set up with my old internal drive.
Looks -- the aluminum case looks great, especially because it matches my PowerBook G4. I also like its small size and cool blue light that blinks as the hard drive is used. The drive includes a nicely snug fabric case (feels like soft vinyl). The drive+case+cable should have no problem fitting in even the smallest computer case or backpack.
Installation -- If you buy a new 2.5" PATA/IDE drive without a case, then it will be a breeze installing it in this enclosure. All you do is undo a few screws and you're in. You slide the drive onto a chassis with loads of pin connectors that line up nicely, slide it all back together and redo the screws. That's it.
-- if, like me, you bought a replacement internal drive for your laptop, then you'll first have to swap out the old drive. On some laptops, like mine, this is a difficult and long task, requiring patience and advance prep. Advice for iBooks and Powerbooks can be found at http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/.
-- once you've done the swap, installation of your old drive into the enclosure is a breeze in comparison. It literally takes just a few minutes.
Functionality -- my old 80gb internal drive runs great in the enclosure. It spins up fast and always mounts on my desktop in just a few seconds. The old drive sounds a bit louder than it used to, probably because it's no longer buried deep inside my laptop. I really like the on-off switch that most other enclosures do not include. Another huge benefit of this drive is that it doesn't require an external power adapter.
-- if you're using firewire, the enclosure gets all its power through the firewire cable (included)
-- if you're using USB (older iBooks, perhaps), you'll need 2 free USB ports because USB carries less power than firewire. Luckily, the enclosure also includes the 2 USB cables that you'll need: 1 cable goes from computer USB to enclosure mini USB; the other cable goes from computer USB to enclosure power port. Sounds kind of clunky, but hey, it works... and you still don't need to carry around a heavy power brick.
I researched a lot of competing products and decided it was worth paying a few extra dollars to get a quality drive that includes all the features that I value.
2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
This is not for a SATA Drive
(4 out of 5) by Papparazzi on Jul 21, 2007 (Southern California)Beautiful construction. I would have kept it had the specifications noted that it was for an ata drive. I was disappointed that AMAZON did not have that on the info page. If your HD is an ATA drive 2.5 you'll love this. Unfortunately it won't connect to the SATA connector. If you want the one that is F/W and SATA it will cost you twice as much. I had to purchase an OWC version that was USB and SATA. I have a Mac MBP 15" and it will boot from the usb so long as you format it to guid and connect the usb to the right side usb port. It will not run without the included power adapter from the left side usb port.
4 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
good, but cheap
(4 out of 5) by J Wei on Apr 1, 2005 (IRVING, TX United States)I just got this from Amazon. There are many types of 2.5 enclosure on the market and this seems decent in my view.
Pro:
1) sturdy. the case does not bend a bit when you push down
2) fit. the drive fits case quite well. it does not loose
3) work well. this is the most important part. I tried both firewire ports and USB port on read and write. Overall, it could achieve 10MByte/s on fetching and 8MByte/s on writiing. Good speed. One one tough set of files, it got 3MByte/s.
4) with or without USB power cord, drive behaves same.
Con:
1) cheap case. I could tell the case does not have even polish.
2) The major problem is that it keeps drive running all the time even though you do not access this drive. I think it will burn out disk sooner or later.
3) the indication light is too bright, I need to tape a paper over it.
Overall, it delivers the performance. If it could stop disk while not using, I would give it 5 star. If you do not mind larger size, Seagate 160GB and 200GB external are the best. Today, Seagate 200GB is priced at $150 after rebate at my local store. But do not try Seagate 300Gb or 400Gb models. They have bad reputation.
Pro:
1) sturdy. the case does not bend a bit when you push down
2) fit. the drive fits case quite well. it does not loose
3) work well. this is the most important part. I tried both firewire ports and USB port on read and write. Overall, it could achieve 10MByte/s on fetching and 8MByte/s on writiing. Good speed. One one tough set of files, it got 3MByte/s.
4) with or without USB power cord, drive behaves same.
Con:
1) cheap case. I could tell the case does not have even polish.
2) The major problem is that it keeps drive running all the time even though you do not access this drive. I think it will burn out disk sooner or later.
3) the indication light is too bright, I need to tape a paper over it.
Overall, it delivers the performance. If it could stop disk while not using, I would give it 5 star. If you do not mind larger size, Seagate 160GB and 200GB external are the best. Today, Seagate 200GB is priced at $150 after rebate at my local store. But do not try Seagate 300Gb or 400Gb models. They have bad reputation.
3 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Don't buy the wrong version - this is not for recent SATA drives
(1 out of 5) by Doctor.Generosity on May 4, 2008 (New England)Not being a geek I did not realize at first what "IDE" versus "SATA" drives meant - probably many people don't. This is NOT the right unit for a so-called SATA drive such as is found in recent Mac notebooks; IDE is apparentaly an older type. Had to send it back - there is a different box by Macally which starts SPHR for SATA drives. Since Amazon offers these to the general public, would be good to explain a bit in the description.