IBM Hard Drive enclosures

[o1001010]

i found them here

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.780

i ordered a couple, wel will see how they are when it arrives.

seems legit

[gator]

I have bought from this seller before and it is a genuine IBM product. Dont worry, the enclosure is awesome. They used to sell under the name 'Fifthunit' a while back, but now it has changed. The 'psrivats' who has asked a question there is me

[BillMorrow]

looks like a nice external HDD box..
and it sure looks to be a legit "made for IBM" product..
but the shipping is a bit extreme..
and the HDD interface is a fading spec as it is PATA..

all that said i would buy several if the shipping cost were not so out of line..

[gator]

but the shipping is a bit extreme..
.

It comes from HongKong. I am telling you, it is worth the cost - it looks exactly like the top of the thinkpad - same kind of finish (doesnt sparkle though). It is sleek, has a on-off switch and a power cable apart from the USB cable (power cable isa USB cable that you can plug into another USB port if your laptop has old ports that cant give enough power) and is far, far better than the $5 unit you get from 'deal' sites. It comes with the IBM old rescue and recovery s/w and with a nice leather pouch in a orig IBM box. Can't ask for more!

[pianowizard]

It looks beautiful! If I had a spare PATA HDD, I would buy one.

[tfflivemb2]

I almost bought this, but then I saw that it wont hold the 12.5mm drives, which is where I really need this...

[cinemafia]

Very nice...that would look so much better than the enclosure I got from Fry's. I might just grab one of these!

[jackky]

I do not think it is a authentic one

reason:
1. the real ones I have ever seen have the usb chipset made by ISD300A, not nec ones

2. IBm never sold this without hard drive

If anybody here ever bought it
may I ask for some pics of the chipest, the circuitboard (both sides) and the logo? So I can tell

Thanks

[gzz]

jackky, I agree with you

[Ken Fox]

but the shipping is a bit extreme..
.

It comes from HongKong. I am telling you, it is worth the cost - it looks exactly like the top of the thinkpad - same kind of finish (doesnt sparkle though). It is sleek, has a on-off switch and a power cable apart from the USB cable (power cable isa USB cable that you can plug into another USB port if your laptop has old ports that cant give enough power) and is far, far better than the $5 unit you get from 'deal' sites. It comes with the IBM old rescue and recovery s/w and with a nice leather pouch in a orig IBM box. Can't ask for more!

I'm not commenting on this enclosure which I've never seen, but a lot of the 2.5" enclosures out there don't seem to get enough power from laptop (or even desktop) USB2 ports to power the drives. I've bought several 2.5" enclosures that would not power the drive UNLESS you used the USB power cable; otherwise, the drive just clicked and did not spin well enough for the computer it was plugged into to recognize and use it.

Meritline has sold me some enclosures with this flaw. One enclosure they sold me fried a hard drive that had previously worked fine.

[tomh009]

My old 7K60 won't run off USB; tried two different enclosures (both of which work fine off USB with 5400 rpm drives) with no luck.

So could be the drive, could be the enclosure, or the combination of the two ...

[gator]

I have a 5400 rpm PATA drive inside this enclosure and so far, it has run off every computer I have plugged it into. I don't have a 7200 rpm drive to check. This will not accept a SATA drive, so it is not "new" as things go.

I will also post some pictures of the board inside this sometime later today (dont have a camera, got to borrow). The reason why I thought it was authentic was because it came sealed in an IBM box along with a pressed, original resuce and recovery software CD. Maybe it is old IBM stock that these people got hold of - IBM always doesn't make all components itself all the time.

[Ken Fox]

My old 7K60 won't run off USB; tried two different enclosures (both of which work fine off USB with 5400 rpm drives) with no luck.

So could be the drive, could be the enclosure, or the combination of the two ...

My old 7K60 runs fine in an enclosure without added power other than what it gets through the one USB cable plugged in.

What I hate is the enclosures that are sold that basically need external power regardless of drive put in, and where there is a power port but no power adapter is provided. Tying up TWO (maybe the only two) USB ports on a laptop, in order to power ONE device is not reasonable on a device with limited ports, especially if the box should be able to get enough power out of one powered USB2 port.

[chan_man]

one way to tell if it is real is to look for a part number as well as a FRU number. 7 digits long

[Ken Fox]

I have a 5400 rpm PATA drive inside this enclosure and so far, it has run off every computer I have plugged it into. I don't have a 7200 rpm drive to check. This will not accept a SATA drive, so it is not "new" as things go.

I will also post some pictures of the board inside this sometime later today (dont have a camera, got to borrow). The reason why I thought it was authentic was because it came sealed in an IBM box along with a pressed, original resuce and recovery software CD. Maybe it is old IBM stock that these people got hold of - IBM always doesn't make all components itself all the time.

It is more likely to be an "unauthorized" sale of the item than that it is a copy. For one thing, the market for the thing is fairly limited and when stuff gets counterfeited they usually do that for stuff with a broader potential audience than this item. I can't find any reference to IBM or Lenovo ever having sold this box without a drive in it, which could have been either 20, 30, or 40gb. in size. Perhaps there were some markets where the box was sold without a drive but I sort of doubt it. It probably came off of the assembly line where the authorized product did and was either surplus cases only or an extra run for the benefit of the contract factory and not IBM.

[pianowizard]

I do not think it is a authentic one

IBM made many products just for the Asian market, so this could be one of those. But I personally don't care whether it's authentic or not, as long as it looks nice and works well.

[cinemafia]

I do not think it is a authentic one

IBM made many products just for the Asian market, so this could be one of those. But I personally don't care whether it's authentic or not, as long as it looks nice and works well.

I'll second that!

[tomh009]

My old 7K60 won't run off USB; tried two different enclosures (both of which work fine off USB with 5400 rpm drives) with no luck.

So could be the drive, could be the enclosure, or the combination of the two ...

My old 7K60 runs fine in an enclosure without added power other than what it gets through the one USB cable plugged in.

I know ... I think we discussed this in another thread some time ago. It may be individual variation in the drive, or something else. Don't know, I just gave in and plugged it into power.

[dmdsoftware]

I've bought from them before ultrabay HD units. They do indeed specialize in IBM knock offs, but to someone who doesn't have an authentic product to compare to, you won't know the difference.

In the case of the ultrabay HD units, their units come completely made of plastic with 'authentic' IBM labels, whereas IBM only produces constructed out of metal.

[o1001010]

i do not think the real ibm is metal
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-42699

the whole thing at only 8.3 ouce including ard drive? no way the case will be metal

[JHEM]

i do not think the real ibm is metal

It is, the case is aluminum, at least the one I have is.

James

[Ken Fox]

I succumbed to curiousity and ordered one yesterday; an email I received today seems to indicate it has shipped.

Within a couple of weeks those of us who have ordered these things should be able to come to some sort of conclusion as to whether they are "real" or not. As far as function is concerned, I doubt it will matter at all. The quality and functionality of this type of 2.5" drive enclosure is hugely variable and hardly any of them come from companies whose names are recognizable. So, even as a knockoff it could function well.

My best guess is that this configuration of a branded drive enclosure was never sold as such by IBM or Lenovo, that they have always had grossly overpriced ones they sold with drives inside, but never the enclosure itself. There are too many clues that something is amiss, including the line on the product label about how the product is made in the USA, but now we are buying it from Hong Kong from a seller who says they come from case factories in China.

If in anyway genuine, this will probably turn out to be the case portion of a product made by a Chinese factory under contract to IBM at some point in the past, who either had some remaining cases lying around or who chose to produce more, of the cases only, after their arrangement with IBM expired. This sort of thing isn't at all uncommon with Chinese factories and has been a major splinter in the [censored] of many companies who have used Chinese factories to make a production run of this or that product, only to discover later that the factory continued to make it, or a part of it, for their own benefit after the contract expired.

ken

[BillMorrow]

My old 7K60 won't run off USB; tried two different enclosures (both of which work fine off USB with 5400 rpm drives) with no luck.

So could be the drive, could be the enclosure, or the combination of the two ...

or it could be the USB cable you are using..

my experience:
same box and 7200RPM HDD..
cable "a" works fine..
cable "b" not so good, same clicking as above..

(NOT using any external power)


YMMV

[tfflivemb2]

I'm not sure if the same applies here, but back when I was looking for a cable for my Audiovox phone for connecting and DLing my pics, there was discussion in one of the Audiovox forums about making sure that the USB cable had to be one that has a "bump" in the cable, instead of a perfectly straight cable. I assume by "bump" they mean some kind of fuse, regulator or something. This might be related to the power issue, because the cables that have these "bumps" can handle more power going through them....but, this is just a poorly speculated guess....

[tomh009]

or it could be the USB cable you are using..

my experience:
same box and 7200RPM HDD..
cable "a" works fine..
cable "b" not so good, same clicking as above..

(NOT using any external power)

Hmmm ... that's definitely worth checking! Now just need some time to swap disks, cases and cables!

[gator]

the USB cable had to be one that has a "bump" in the cable, instead of a perfectly straight cable. I assume by "bump" they mean some kind of fuse, regulator or something.

hmm, this itnerests me. I just checked the cable I got with the enclosure, and it does have a "bump" bear the base of the connector on the computer side. I also see that my mouse and keyboard connectors DO NOT have the bump. Can somene check the cables and verify this?

[Ken Fox]

Fascinating. I'm going to have to try a couple of recalcitrant USB boxes with different cables. If Bill's comment about some cables working and others not explains it than still one is left with the fact that some of these boxes are being sold with cables that can't power them. A lot of this cheap computer accessory stuff coming out of China certainly has the appearance that the constituent parts are being made in a number of places and then someone is just throwing parts together into a box for sale. That part could certainly explain incompatibilities such as boxes that are sold as being bus powered but in fact, as sold, they are not, at least not with the cables they are bundled with.

[deodeo]

anyone got it delivered? how is it?

[Ken Fox]

anyone got it delivered? how is it?

I got mine. It comes in an official looking large box with an overly large cheap nylon (not leather) case. Inside of the enclosure itself there are no identifying marks that would tell you it is an IBM product. The outside of the case has been previously described. The part number on the box, 09N4255, corresponds to the 40gb portable HD in an enclosure that IBM sells. The enclosed CD and instruction booklet looks official but it is hard to tell; in any event it is for the enclosure with HD included and not the enclosure alone.

There is nothing inside of the case itself that would tell me whether the innerds are generic or IBM. Specifically, it appears as though the chipset is not visible without further disassembly and I'm not prepared to risk that as the circuit board is held in place with a couple of extruded plastic nibs from the case.

Date of manufacture on the box is stated to be 2006-07-01, which would probably correspond to January 7, 2006, by international dating convention.

My impression is that this is a case that came off an assembly line in China that IBM once used. Whether it is a leftover product being sold this way or an unauthorized product off a formerly authorized assembly line, I don't know. It could also be a reasonably good copy, which can't be ruled out either. I don't think that IBM authorized this case to be sold without a hard disk inside, especially since the part number is for the box with a hard drive in it plus the enclosed manual is for that product as well.

I put a 120gb 5400rpm WD hard drive in there and it has been recognized and is being formatted as I type this.

It seems a cut above in quality than your typical $10 or $12 2.5" hard disk enclosure. It will look good next to your thinkpad. Is it worth the price including shipping? I don't know. It seems to work pretty well however.

[duhmask]

i was just able to pick-up the two enclosures that was ordered last Feb 6 from the Post Office but was reprimanded because DealExtreme declared the package as a LED penlight instead, everything was as what was described above and was very happy with the purchase. the only downside was when i asked the P.O. person if when was it sent to the HK post office, she said that it was received by the HK P.O. only on Feb 23 instead of the Feb 10th or 16th date DealExtreme advised me when i mailed them about the package taking soooo long to arrive.