External Hard Drive/enclosure Choice Options

[keybie]

I've decided to get a 15" Powerbook and am awaiting to see if Apple will be releasing an updated version next week in case I'll probably get a better machine for the same price as now

The machine will be used for everyday stuff like email, web etc. but also for video editing (iMovie, Final cut express or whatever I find to be usable for editing home videos in a respectable manner). And since I'm a serious hobby musician I'd like to use it for audio/MIDI as well, with internal soft-samplers (possibly also some soft-synths even though I suffice with my external MIDI gear), effects etc. Haven't decided what kind of software to settle for as I'm very new to all of this, but have been suggested to try out the various demo versions when I finally get my Mac.

But getting to the point of this posting: I most likely need a large and fast external hard drive for this, so I need to figure out:

1) Which hard drive should I buy?
and
2) Which external enclosure should I buy?

I don't know anything about which specs I should be looking for, but I do definitely want a silent running drive, that's for sure! I've had computers in the past which sould like vacuum cleaners, and I assure you: it's not much fun trying to be creative with that sort of environment!

As for the enclosure. Apart from ventilating the drive well enough (I've read that some enclosures have no fan, even though they claim that their design is uniquely made and do give sufficent cooling I'm a little sceptical, though still open to the idea if it proves to be correct) it should look good.

Having searched around the web almost in vain (most enclosures look pretty cheesy, tacky and geeky in my opinion. I'm looking for something that looks a little more stylish and "pro") I believe I've found something that is usable:

Macpower 'Pleiades' drive enclosure

Anyone know of other "pro looking" drive enclosures?


Although I'll probably buy the "Superdrive" version of the Powerbook I might actually get an external DVD-writer later on, to save on tear and wear, and possibly higher specs as well, so getting an enclosure for the hard drive that'll match one for the DVD writer would be great!
Perhaps there's an enclosure style that is delivered for both devices?
If possible, I'd like to stack them on top of each other.

As for interfacing, what should I go for? Firewire 400? 800? USB?
What about for the external DVD-writer?

A practial issue: it would be nice not to have an external power supply ("wall wart"), but a built-in power supply in the enclosure itself, but this seems not to be the trend, so I might have to give in here.

Suggestions, comments?

[keybie]

Thanks for all the comments everybody!

Getting an enclosure that fills all my needs looks to become a hard job unfortunately
The "Pleiades" (or whatever it's called -the same enclosure seems to go under several brand and model names) looks very good in my opinion, but the noise-factor is very important as well, so hearing about how "open" the design of it is (probably because of the lacking fan) makes me highly sceptical.

However, I came across this site, which shows all the different drive enclosures that have that G5 Powermac design.

The G-raid from "G-tech" looks very sturdy, stylish and professional, but is a bit bulky for a single drive, and like the majority of enclosures it uses an external power-adapter. And as far as I can see you can only buy it with a drive, which is a pity since I want to hand-pick the drive mechanism to ensure I get the quietest and best performing drive.

Moving on there's the "Dual-G" from MacPower, which is also a bit bulky for a single drive, and again it uses an external power supply.

Mac upgrades' Mini-G comes in different sizes. The single-drive enclosure only has Firewire 400, but from what I've been told earlier (in this thread? Can't remember), a Firewire 800 drive isn't of much use on a Powerbook anyway. Still, the single-drive case looks a bit weird, so there's a Dual drive enclosure. Unfortunately, they both use external power supplies as the rest.

Personally, I think that the OWC "Mercury elite" series looks the most attractive. They're not too bulky and can be stacked on top of each other. They also claim to be "very quiet". They're sold either with drives (above) or just the enclosures. Again, they utilise external power supplies.

So, anyone have any experiences with any of these?
Note: I'm not specifically looking for a "G5 Powermac" matching enclosure (this will be for a 15" Powerbook), but everything else I've come across seems so geeky and silly looking to me, and the enclosures I've referred to seem a little more "pro" looking to me. But if there are other enclosure out there that look "pro" I'm definitely interested. Particularly if there are matching cases which can room a DVD-writer.