Back in March, I posted this thread about trying to salvage the hard drive from a dead Dell laptop, and I got a lot of helpful replies. Thanks to all for that!

http://mingle2.com/topic/show/208825

Well, the hard drive enclosure I purchased, a GigaWare model from Radio Shack, (literally) fell apart on me after about 5 uses. Radio Shack admits it's defective but refuses to replace it on the grounds I had it more than 90 days.

Needless to say, I will be doing no further business with GigaWare or Radio Shack.

So I've been checking out some of the other hard drive enclosures on various websites, and was wondering if anyone has had any particularly good or bad experiences with any particular ones....

Sabrent has one which got good reviews on Amazon, and it's only $12.99 (I paid $40 for the first one), but I'm not familiar with the company and could use some advice.

I have a few Vantec enclosures, and they work well. And the laptop ones, SATA or IDE usually run 15-20 bucks.

And to answer your question, I haven't heard of Sabrent, so I couldn't tell you anything about em.

I think I did...it's a Chinese/Taiwanese company. A while ago I bought a Sabrent SATA card. Cheapo, but it did it's job.

even though radio shack will not take back the product the manufacturer might replace the item if it is defective. You may want to contact the manufacturer.

And yes, everything I've looked up from Gigaware does have a 1 year parts and labor warranty. Though I still haven't found a main site for em yet. Hmmm

I always check the reviews on CNET.com before making purchases.

I've got a couple of HDD enclosures from Vantec, and they're pretty good. Some are a little pricey though, so you should probably look around for pricing and stuff.

Okay... I did the same thing you are apparently doing. I had a Dell 8100 that crapped out and I save most of it - including the 40 gig IDE hard drive. Not knowing what else to do, I went and looked on ebay and found that John and Jim and everyone else was selling the same no-name low-budget aluminum external hard drive enclosure. Go figure? Made in Korea or China or somewhere.

Anyhow I figured that for $10 (after shipping) I could afford to take a chance.

I've dropped the dang thing twice (and the foul language flowed) but yet it still works. I save everything to it, and so far haven't lost a thing.

I suggest... check ebay.

Cheers!

Frys.com has a pretty good selection of enclosures to choose from, as well as newegg.com.

check w/

new egg

tiger direct

computer geeks

i have multiple hard drives i have put in external enclosures

the ones that have small multiple pins for the power supply always give me trouble

stay with either the single insert pin or a triple wire plug like on the power supply for you computer

i have had the best service from bytec they are larger enclosure but they have the power supply style plug and built in fans (have not had to replace any of these so have not bought any for at least three years) i even have a cd rom in one of them

good luck

and yes get a hold of the manufacturer of the one you bought

and if radio shack says it was bad it is the manufacturer responsibility to cover the warranty after the initial return policy

you will have this at nearly every business you do business with

ok found some help for you on this email "support@gigawarehd.com" this is the support email for gigaware as listed in the users guide for the product
Jon

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182156 really good, in-expensive, great revues. You should get it. It is only 19.99, and it comes with free shipping. Newegg is the best website for all your tech/electronic needs.

Newegg rules! I built my last computer from parts purchased only from newegg.