Removable Hard Drives For MPC4000

If you've ever wanted to switch between multiple hard drives with your 4000, share the same hard drive between multiple 4000s, have the ability to defragment your drive or backup and write to your drive directly from your computer over fast USB2, Firewire or eSATA, I think I've found a solution:

http://www.addonics.com/products/jupiter/overview.asp

I ordered these two items(the non-cipher versions):

http://www.shopaddonics.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=AJEDIU

http://www.shopaddonics.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=AJMRI

It only cost me $89. This got me two drive enclosures, one drive sled, one USB2 adapter, one optional power supply and one USB power adapter. I'll let y'all know how it works out.

Please do because I WILL be grabbing it. The question is will it fit the drive bay in the front? Will the 4k let it be hot-swappable (doubt it). Maybe by refreshing the LOAD screen...

Makes me think...

YOU DO know that the basic package with just the drive and the bay for the IDE is only $35??? SATA to IDE only $43!

The sled fits the 3.5" slot in the front of the 4000 no problem. It's a little tight in the back when connecting the power and IDE cables, but it fits perfectly.

These aren't designed to be hot-swappable, we're talking IDE hard drives here. The real benefit is the stuff I mentioned before.

Once I get my 2.5" SSDs, I'll let y'all know how it works out.

Mike Boogie wrote:YOU DO know that the basic package with just the drive and the bay for the IDE is only $35??? SATA to IDE only $43!

You don't get the computer interface cable with the basic package. And no point in using SATA drives, you're just converting it back to IDE to make it work in the 4000 so you lose any speed gain or hot-swap ability SATA has to offer.

SATA drives are a tad cheaper now-a-days. You're definitely right about the speed lost though. Now you say you can write directly from the pc to the drive or to the 4k? I'm intrigued yet still a little confused.

Mike Boogie wrote:Now you say you can write directly from the pc to the drive or to the 4k? I'm intrigued yet still a little confused.

You can of course write to the drive from a PC while it's in the 4000, but it will still be a slow USB1 transfer.

To write to the drive over fast USB2, Firewire, or eSATA, you eject it from the removable drive bay in the 4000 and connect it to your computer using the computer interface adapter cable as pictured below.